AZ: PHOENIX LOBBYIST RULES. AZC. “Lobbyists paid to influence decisions at Phoenix City Hall likely will face harsher penalties if they don’t comply with the city’s regulations, an expansion that follows a report in The Arizona Republic that showed the city’s rules were useless.”
CT: CAMPAIGN FINANCE IN MIX. CM. “There is little agreement among House and Senate leaders on how to tackle the many issues surrounding campaign finance reform, from banning ‘dark money’ – independent expenditures made by groups not required to disclose the names of their donors – to avoiding significant cost overruns in the state’s Citizens’ Election Program, which provides public financing for campaigns that meet certain requirements.”
ME: JAIL POTENTIAL. CM. “Federal prosecutors will ask a judge to sentence former Maine developer Michael Liberty to six months – possibly to be served in home confinement – and a fine between $67,500 and $250,000 for illegal political donations.”
MO: CHANGES AGAIN. STL. “Two weeks after a federal judge blew a major hole in Missouri’s new campaign finance law, another decision has been handed down that further chips away at limits on contributions even though Missouri voters approved limits last November.”
MO: GOV. ON DISCLOSURE. MT. “Less than a month after Gov. Eric Greitens’ campaign admitted to the Missouri Ethics Commission that he failed to report a fundraising list, the governor seemed to question Missouri’s practice of disclosing donors to the commission.”
TX: ETHICS UPDATE. TT. “It’s hard to get the players in an entrenched industry to self-regulate — especially if the business in question is politics.”
VA: MONEY IRONY. USN. “A series of federal court decisions, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, loosened campaign finance laws and added more clout to political groups that aren’t directly associated with a candidate. Some of those groups disclose donors and others don’t. ”
WY: GROUP SEEKS AMENDMENT. JHN. “Wyoming Promise, an offshoot of American Promise, is attempting to gather popular support across the state for legislation amending America’s political finance laws.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.