[Political Activity Law]

TRIAL MOVED. LAW. “A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday postponed the trial of Lev Parnas and another associate of Rudy Giuliani after prosecutors and defense attorneys raised concerns about their ability to ready the criminal campaign-finance case amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”

CLOSE ELECTIONS. TD. “Since the passage of the 12th Amendment, Congress has decided two elections: In 1825, the House chose John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, who had won a plurality of the popular vote and 99 electors to Adams’ 85. In 1877, Congress intervened after a dispute over ballots in a handful southern states, forming the Federal Election Commission and ultimately granting victory to Rutherford B. Hayes over Samuel Tilden.”

ON PAYROLL. MT. “U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s campaign continues to work with a political firm founded by a longtime consultant she recently married, campaign finance filings show.”

SUPER PAC FAVOR. YAH. “Joe Biden’s campaign signaled to donors Wednesday that they should direct their money to a longstanding Democratic super political action committee rather than a group founded to support the former vice president during the primaries.”

NH: OPERATIONS BEGIN. WMUR. “Two leading progressive groups – pushing for campaign finance reform and voting rights – plan to launch a significant field operation in the Granite State ahead of the state elections later this year.”

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FACEBOOK SUED FOR REPEATED VIOLATIONS. WAAG. “Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a campaign finance lawsuit today against Facebook for selling Washington state political ads without maintaining information for the public as required by Washington state campaign finance law. The complaint asserts that Facebook intentionally violated the state’s campaign finance disclosure law, which was first adopted by initiative in 1972 and reenacted and amended multiple times since 1976 by the Legislature.”

STOCK GIFT QUESTION. WFB. “A prominent Democratic group poised to spend millions backing former vice president Joe Biden received $100,000 in the form of stock shares in the Chinese technology giant Baidu from an anonymous donor. Baidu, like many Chinese technology companies, is closely affiliated with China’s ruling Communist Party.”

STATION SUED. HILL. “President Trump’s reelection campaign on Monday filed a defamation lawsuit against a Wisconsin television station for running an ad cut by the liberal super PAC Priorities USA alleging the president called the coronavirus a ‘hoax.'”

GA: COVID LIMBO. NWG. “Georgia lawmakers cannot legally raise campaign contributions while the General Assembly’s 2020 session remains suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, the state agency board tasked with enforcing the state’s campaign finance laws decided Tuesday.”

NY: PUBLIC FINANCING VIEW. KCP. “The State Legislature can right this. Repeal these provisions and pass your own campaign finance reform in a normal vote, during a normal time.”

TN: SOURCE OF FUNDS. TNSN. “Williamson County’s state House members have received nearly $1 million in campaign contributions over the past five years.”

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DISCLOSURE DANGER. CS. “Back on the FEC site, the attacker could see which vendors a staffer might use, such as travel services like airlines or hotels. It’s not hard to imagine a phishing email spoofing a hotel chain, complete with logo and corporate typeface. The now defunct Warren for President campaign, for instance, listed Hyatt as a vendor. With a single click on a fraudulent email, malware can be injected to scope a network for sensitive files.”

CT: SIGNATURE GATHERING ISSUE. CTM. “Gov. Lamont can either lift this requirement now, or he can open the state, now, if there is such a lack of an emergency which would warrant the burdensome collection of signatures.”

ME: INCLUDING MORE. USN. “A new law in the state defines caucus political action committees as subject to the same rules as other PACs. Supporters of the proposal said Tuesday the rule change means the Maine Ethics Commission will be able to fully enforce ethics rules about caucus political action committees that are led by legislators.”

MT: GROUP DRAWS COMPLAINT. SH. “Sidney state Rep. Joel Krautter on April 10 filed a campaign finance complaint against a Montana group, which he called a Political Action Committee (PAC), for alleged false representation.”

NM: FUNDRAISING FORCE. ABQ. “Recently created New Mexico legislative caucus committees that leading lawmakers – both Democrats and Republicans – can use to assist their members have raked in big amounts of money during the last six months.”

NY: SMALL PARTY RUSH. GG. “The new thresholds to secure an automatic ballot line will be daunting for most, if not all, minor parties in the state, considering their showing in recent elections for governor and president.”

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