Political Activity Law/Political Law/Election Law

Category: Const Law Issues

  • TGIF political law links

    AD KICKSTART.  AdAge.  “If all goes according to the Citizen Super PAC plan, funding will come from everyday people pledging small amounts of money to the PAC via a platform developed by Tusk.”

    FINANCING PATAKI.  Yahoo.  “Even the fringiest candidates for president tend to have a wealthy backer or two able to keep them in the race for a few months. But George Pataki, the latest Republican to declare he’s chasing the nomination, may test the threshold for a low-budget campaign.”

    FINANCING SANTORUM.  Yahoo.  “The former Pennsylvania senator was heavily outspent when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. He may face a similar spending shortfall now that he’s declared his candidacy for the 2016 race.”

    WILL ON REFORM.  WP.  “Most political money funds the dissemination of political advocacy to influence elections, and Americans continue to exasperate reformers by finding new ways to speak about politics.”

    GRAHAM SUPER PAC.  NJ.  “Allies of Lindsey Graham have created a super PAC to raise cash for the outspoken Republican senator as he prepares to launch his long-shot presidential bid in South Carolina next week.”

    AZ:  WARNING UPDATE.  AZCentral.  “Fresh off of attacking the Clean Elections Commission for trying to shine a light on dark money, Secretary of State Michele Reagan told Capitol Media Services’ Howard Fischer that the law requiring that a candidate be notified of a last-minute attack is likely unconstitutional.”

    HI:  DECIDING ON DIRECTOR.  CB.  “After meeting for more than three hours Wednesday, the State Ethics Commission retreated into a closed executive session to consider the fate of its executive director, Honolulu attorney Les Kondo.”

    OR:  BROWN PLAN UPDATE.  ORLive.  “With almost no discussion, the Oregon House on Thursday unanimously approved Gov. Kate Brown’s bid to remake the state panel that investigates ethics complaints — making it the second of Brown’s proposed ethics reforms to pass a legislative floor vote.”

    SC:  NO JAIL.  PC.  “Former state Sen. Robert Ford said the way he was treated over the past two years was ‘unhuman’ and unnecessary after his sentencing Thursday to five years of probation and nearly $70,000 in restitution for his ethics-related conviction.”

    TX:  REFORM ALIVE.  TT.  “It’s too early to say exactly what reforms will survive, but as the deadline for getting the work done approaches, several remain viable.”

    HAVE A GOOD DAY.

  • Mon. pol. law links

    FEC AND 16.  NYT.  “‘It’s the Wild West out there in some ways,’ said Kate A. Belinski, a former lawyer at the commission who now works on campaign finance at a law firm. Candidates and political groups are increasingly willing to push the limits, she said, and the F.E.C.’s inaction means that ‘there’s very little threat of getting caught.’”

    R’S AND CFR.  WSJ.  “The campaign finance system is broken. I don’t know how to fix it, but we should at least acknowledge that it is broken.”

    HRC MOVES.  NYT.  “A longtime leading operative for Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton will join Priorities USA Action, the dominant “super PAC” that will seek big-ticket donations to finance what is expected to be the long and expensive presidential campaign of Mrs. Clinton.”

    BUSH MOVES.  MSNBC.  “Super PACs, which sprang to life in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, can accept unlimited donations from wealthy individuals and from corporations. The only rule: they must operate independently of a candidate’s official campaign operation.”

    ABRAMS ON MILBANK.  Mediaite.  “In a Friday letter to the Washington Post editors, First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams (father of our website’s founder, Dan Abrams) took on the newspaper’s columnist Dana Milbank over his claims about Citizen United‘s effects on democracy.”

    MORE EMAILS.  Forbes.  “Lois Lerner’s latest lost and found hoard of 6,400 newly discovered emails may end up not showing much. The IRS didn’t find them. A watchdog did.”

    PACE QUICKENS.  NJ.  “The Office of Congressional Ethics boosted its workload at the start of the 114th Congress, taking a preliminary look at 15 possible ethics violations that came across the non-partisan agency’s desk in the first three months of the year.”

    CA:  CHARITY DISCLOSURE LAWSUIT UPDATE.  LAT.  “California may require charities that raise money in the state to disclose the names of major contributors, a federal appeals court decided Friday.”

    CA:  TRIP ISSUE.  SJI.    “Magdalena Carrasco admitted in a statement to San Jose Inside that she accepted an improper benefit by allowing the Chamber to pay for her $2,400 trip to New York.”

    LA:  RESIGNATION.  King5.  ” State Rep. Susan Fagan sent has sent Gov. Jay Inlsee her letter of resignation following allegations that she falsified travel expense forms.”

    NY:  JUST DINNER.  NYDN.  “Gov. Cuomo earlier this week dined with the executive director of the state ethics commission that oversees his administration at a restaurant in upstate Saugerties owned by her extended family.”

    WI:  1A AT STAKE.  RCP.  “Unhappy with Gov. Scott Walker’s political and policy victories in 2010, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm launched an investigation of nearly every conservative organization that supported Walker’s reforms.”

    JAPAN:  FUNDS CONTROL LAW.  Japan Times.  “The Japan Dental Federation appears to have made questionable political donations in 2010 that could be evidence the nation’s dental lobby has been breaking the political funds control law for longer than previously thought, it has been learned.”

    HAVE A GOOD DAY.

  • 4-30 political law links

    SUPREMES ON SOLICITATION RULE.  NPR.  “Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court’s four liberals in rejecting an appeal by Lanell Williams-Yulee, a lawyer who, in 2009, ran for a county court seat in Hillsborough County. Yulee mailed voters a personal letter asking for money; she also posted it online.”

    NOT GUILTY PLEA.  MH.  “The former chief of staff for Miami Democratic Rep. Joe Garcia pleaded not guilty Wednesday to secretly giving money to a suspected ringer tea-party candidate in 2010.”

    IN:  PENCE TO SIGN.  IS.  “A package of ethics reforms is headed to Gov. Mike Pence — including a last-minute addition that would require lawmakers to disclose businesses in which they have a particularly large financial stake.”

    NY:  LLC UPDATE.  Chron.com.  “The New York Assembly Election Law Committee has approved legislation to close the campaign finance loophole for limited liability companies.”

    OR:  BILL TO FLOOR.  OR Live.  “The first of Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s ethics bills is headed to the Senate floor after receiving approval from a legislative committee Tuesday.”

    TX:  ETHICS BILL MOVES.  TT.  “The state Senate passed a far-reaching ethics reform bill Tuesday, voting in often odd coalitions to reveal more about the money members make, prohibit themselves from immediately becoming lobbyists, post their financial statements online and even subject themselves and all other Texas elected officials to drug testing.”

    HAVE A GOOD DAY.