CU AND “WE THE PEOPLE.” The White House recently launched an online petition tool, “We the People.” According to the site, the “tool provides you with a new way to petition the Obama Administration to take action on a range of important issues facing our country. If a petition gets enough support, White House staff will review it, ensure it’s sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.” Right now in the “government reform” category a petition to “restore democracy by ending corporate personhood” has 8,414 signatures. There are a few other petition related to voting and the electoral college. Petitions with over 5,000 signatures within 30 days will get a White House response.
LABOR AND CU. The Times. “Labor unions are seizing on last year’s landmark Supreme Court campaign finance ruling to change how they engage in politics, developing ambitious plans to influence nonunion households in the 2012 election and counter corporate money flowing into outside conservative groups.”
DOE AND SOLYNDRA. The Hill. “The Energy Department has not disclosed any lobbying by the embattled solar energy company Solyndra, despite its K Street firm indicating it had contacted the department regarding the stimulus package.”
WHITHER THE MICRODONOR. The Times. “The campaign is still in its early stages, and the president is likely to show far stronger numbers than any Republican when the candidates report their third-quarter fund-raising early next month. But his recent political difficulties — a protracted battle over raising the national debt limit, sagging approval ratings — have raised questions about whether he will be able to sustain his fund-raising momentum.”
Q3 CASH CRUNCH. The Post. “With three debates behind them, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney embarked this weekend on a mad dash for campaign cash, each laboring to sway uncommitted Republican donors off the fence and to convince GOP elites that he would be the party’s best standard-bearer against President Obama.”
COMPLAINTS AGAINST OGE’S PROPOSED RULES. Roll Call.
YOUNG GUNS ON FB. Politico. “On Monday, the three leaders will be at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., where they’ll take questions in front of an audience of about 100 Facebook employees and guests – the same staging as Facebook used for similar conversations with President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey.”
MARYLAND CAMPAIGN FINANCE INDICTMENTS. The Post. “A young Prince George’s politician who seemed to embody Maryland’s crisis of conscience over approving same-sex marriage was charged Friday with stealing campaign funds, in part to pay for her wedding.”
ELECTIONS BOARD NOMINEE CAN’T SERVE. The Post. “Mayor Vincent C. Gray on Friday withdrew his nominee to chair the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics after questions arose about his eligibility to serve because he had recently moved to the District from New York.”
DC AND ITS (FORMER) LOBBYISTS. The Post. “The District has shifted its approach toward lobbying the federal government, quietly ending the city’s contracts with a pair of outside firms after paying more than $300,000 for their services in the last two years.”
QUESTIONS ON TN ETHICS COMMISSION. Story here. “Created in 2006 in the aftermath of Operation Tennessee Waltz, an FBI sting operation that netted a dozen arrests and sent former state Sen. John Ford to prison on a bribery charge, the Tennessee Ethics Commission has yet to find any violations of the state’s ethics laws by public officials such as state and local lawmakers and government executives.”
HAVE A GREAT DAY.