Political Activity Law/Political Law/Election Law

Category: Voting

  • Tues. 9.30 political law links

    OHIO STAY. WP. “The Supreme Court’s conservatives cleared the way Monday for Ohio to restrict early voting in the state, on the eve of the day it was to start.”

    HIGH LEVEL OF DONATIONS. Seattle Times. “The entrepreneurs of the young U.S. marijuana industry are taking another step into the mainstream, becoming political donors who use some of their profits to support cannabis-friendly candidates and ballot questions that could bring legal pot to more states.”

    CONTRACTOR ISSUE IN COURT. WSJ. “A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday will consider a fresh challenge to campaign-finance rules, this time a 74-year-old law prohibiting government contractors from making political contributions tied to federal elections.”

    ME: VIEW ON TREND. Press Herald. “The record is destined to get smashed every election cycle since the Supreme Court passed a series of freedom-of-speech decisions that allow essentially unlimited spending in races by wealthy individuals and corporations as long as the spending is done outside of campaign organizations.”

    MT: COMPLAINT DISMISSED. Flathead Beacon. “The Montana commissioner of political practices has dismissed a citizen’s complaint that Attorney General Tim Fox improperly accepted $47,000 in excess campaign contributions during his 2012 campaign.”

    OH: ANOTHER PLEA. Cincinnati.com. “Another Indian Hill lobbyist has pleaded guilty to failing to report a gift of Cincinnati Bengals tickets to outgoing state Rep. Dale Mallory, D-West End, who already faces investigation for neglecting to disclose gifts.”

    HAVE A GOOD DAY.

  • Good morning – here are today’s political law links

    RETIREMENT HINTS. Roll Call. “Recently filed fundraising reports give some clues this week about which House members are gearing up for re-election fights — and who might be ready to call it quits after this term.”

    VRA MOVE URGED. Here. “A liberal civil rights hero and a conservative Wisconsin Republican joined forces Wednesday in an uphill fight to restore the voting protections shot down last month by the Supreme Court.”

    COUNSEL’S OFFICE IMPLICATED.  The Hill.  “House Republicans charged Wednesday that the Internal Revenue Service’s chief counsel’s office and an agency official at the center of the targeting controversy helped delay applications for tax-exempt status from Tea Party groups.”

    VOICE OF RUSSIA ON FEC WITH VON SPAKOVSKY INTERVIEW. Here.

    KIRK CASE. Story here. “The Federal Election Commission has determined that U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s campaign did not violate election law when his then-girlfriend received more than $143,000 for campaign work not listed in financial disclosure forms.”

    SUPER PAC AIMS. Story here. “A super PAC set up to support Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is poised to launch a new round of ads against Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes, according to two strategists tracking the Kentucky air war.”

    SUPER PAC RISING. Here. “The former high command of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign plans to gather in Washington next week to boost the new GOP super PAC America Rising, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO.”

    CA: GRAND JURY NEWS. Story here. “A grand jury is now involved in a high-stakes California probe that is looking into whether a PAC and three so-called dark-money groups—including one with ties to the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch—broke a campaign disclosure law by funneling $11 million from secret sources to influence ballot initiatives in the state’s 2012 election, The Daily Beast has learned.”

    GA: GIFT LIMIT APPLICABILITY. Here. “Several issues complicate the rule limiting gifts.”

    IN: PRISON IN FRAUD CASE. Story here. “The plot successfully faked names and signatures on both the Obama and Clinton presidential petitions that were used to place the candidates on the ballot. So many names were forged — an estimated 200 or more — that prosecutor Stanley Levco said that had the fraud been caught during the primary, ‘the worst that would have happened, is maybe Barack Obama wouldn’t have been on the ballot for the primary.’”

    NY: FUNDRAISING ISSUES. Daily News. “Loopholes? What loopholes?”

    VA: NEW LEGAL TEAM. BLT. “Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has tapped attorneys from Jones Day and Holland & Knight to replace the legal team handling state and federal investigations over his alleged acceptance of improper gifts.”

    HAVE A GREAT DAY. I’ll send around the next set of links on Monday. Have a great weekend. Here in DC we’ll be trying to stay cool…

  • Wednesday’s political law links, 6.26.13

    VRA DECISION IMPACT. Roll Call. “The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling to gut the 1965 Voting Rights Act will change the country’s politics. And in some cases, the change could come as soon as 2014.”

    FREE SPEECH OPINION. Here.

    DID LERNER WAIVE? The Hill. “The House Oversight Committee will vote Friday on whether an Internal Revenue Service official central to the agency’s targeting of conservative groups waived her Fifth Amendment rights before the committee last month.”

    COFFEE AND PASTRY HIT. ABC News. “The Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group advocating for government transparency, crunched the numbers for ABC News and found that the House of Representatives spent nearly $2 million on coffee and food in 2012 for events in and around the Capitol.”

    POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE: GRASSLEY QUESTIONS GAP. Story here. “Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is demanding that the Obama administration explain a four-hour gap in emails that he requested as part of his investigation into the political intelligence industry.”

    KLOBUCHAR COSPONSORS.  News here.  “U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar cosponsored a constitutional amendment to allow Congress to override the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling and move forward with campaign finance reform.”

    FEC MEETING. The agenda for tomorrow’s FEC meeting is online here.

    MO:  CFR PROSPECTS.  Story here.  “Legislation carried this year by Rep. Kevin McManus, D-Kansas City, would make sweeping changes to Missouri’s election and campaign finance laws. House Bill 139 is almost identical to legislation sponsored in 2012 by then-Rep. Kander. The bill was referred to committee and never received a hearing or a vote.”

    NJ: ENGINEERING FIRM AND CONTRIBUTIONS. Story here. “After a newspaper report Sunday exposed the company’s list of contributions, some of the Central Jersey officials who benefited from the tainted donations now say that they, too, were unaware of the shady dealings.”

    NY: PROVISION PULLED. Story here. “In the Governor`s initial casino proposal, the bill given to the legislature, had a stipulation that read ‘prohibition of political contributions from gaming licensees and applicants’. However, in the final bill that was voted on and passed last week, article 1347 was removed.”

    VA:  ROLEX ISSUE.  The Post.  “A prominent political donor purchased a Rolex watch for Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, according to two people with knowledge of the gift, and the governor did not disclose it in his annual financial filings.”

    HAVE A GREAT DAY.