[Political Activity Law]

FEC: QUARTERLY REPORT DUE. FEC. “As detailed in the FEC Operations notice on our website, the Commission does not have statutory authority to extend filing deadlines, but it may choose not to pursue administrative fines against filers prevented from filing by reasonably unforeseen circumstances beyond their control. See 11 CFR 111.35.”

ENTRY OF DEFAULT JUDGMENT AGAINST THE FEC. CREW v. FEC.

URGE TO REVISE. FN. “Citizens United is calling on the Federal Election Commission to end what it calls a campaign finance ‘loophole’ after Mike Bloomberg transferred more than $18 million from his now-suspended, self-funded presidential campaign to the Democratic National Committee.”

SUPER PAC COMPLAINT. CP. “One of the Democrats who was hoping to challenge U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner is accusing the the leading Republican Senate super PAC of making illegal, in-kind contributions to Gardner by paying for fundraising efforts for his re-election campaign, Colorado Politics has learned.”

AL: PARTLY OVERTURNED. YAH. “The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday overturned five of the ethics convictions that ended the political career of former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, while upholding six others.” The opinion is here.

CO: POSSIBLE ACTION. CS. “A new enforcement division at the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office is reviewing campaign finance filings and taking action against possible violations.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

LOBBYING BOOM. NYT. “The coronavirus pandemic has gut-punched global markets, put 6.6 million Americans out of work and raised the likelihood of a recession. But in the Washington lobbying world, business is booming.”

PAY ATTENTION. LEX. “Because of the current economic and employment crisis, many businesses and nonprofits are likely to seek government contracts and grants.  These organizations should be mindful of special ‘procurement lobbying’ rules that impose disclosure obligations and restrictions as a result of efforts to obtain government contracts and grants.”

GROUPS PUSH. LNO. “The plaintiffs asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for injunctive and declaratory relief in hopes of compelling the FEC to act on the FECA lawsuit. They first alerted the FEC with an administrative complaint in late March 2015, claiming that the previous Florida governor Jeb Bush infringed on 52 U.S.C when he allegedly ‘”established, financed, maintained, and controlled” both directly and indirectly through his agents, the Right to Rise Super PAC, Inc., which “acted on his behalf” by raising and spending soft money to promote Bush’s presidential campaign,’ according to the lawsuit.”

NY: BILL IN BUDGET. NYP. “Gov. Cuomo managed to get his controversial overhaul of the state’s election laws and campaign-finance regulations included in the sprawling $177 billion budget, effectively ending a court fight that had tied the proposal up for months.”

TN: SETTLEMENT REACHED. TNN. “The arrangement, reached Wednesday by members of the Registry of Election Finance, allowed Towns, D-Memphis, to pay $22,000 to the state in order to become eligible to appear on the fall ballot.”

WV: NO BADGES. CGM. “A chief deputy sheriff running for county sheriff may not use a photograph of herself wearing her badge in campaign materials, the state Ethics Commission determined in an advisory opinion approved Thursday.”

WI: HERE’S HOW. JSO. “Seizing on an opportunity — and a captive audience — dark-money groups flooded Milwaukee County mailboxes with sometimes dubious claims in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s contest. These groups are usually nonprofits that don’t have to reveal their source of funding and, sometimes, how much they are spending.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

WALL STREET GIVING. FOR. “With stocks falling, businesses shrinking and unemployment soaring, donors of all sizes are feeling the effects. Billionaires counted on to fuel super PAC spending have seen their net worth plummet by anywhere from 10% to as much as 75%.”

VIRUS IMPACT. NYT. “One person close to the Biden campaign said preliminary discussions were underway for how to plan for a situation in which in-person fund-raisers do not happen all the way through the general election in November, though that is not seen as the likeliest outcome.”

FEC: PENDING ADVISORY OPINION REQUESTS. FEC. “Advisory opinion requests (AORs) pending before the Commission as of the end of the month are listed.”

BLOOMBERG HIT. DC. “Bloomberg’s $18 million donation to the Democratic National Committee is an attempt to circumvent contribution limits and violate campaign finance laws, Great America PAC said in the March 26 complaint.”

TWO GROUPS FILE. WSJ. “Two Republican-led groups have filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission against billionaire Michael Bloomberg, alleging the recent transfer of $18 million from his presidential campaign to the Democratic National Committee violates campaign finance laws.”

FEC: ACCEPTING ELECTRONIC COMPLAINTS FOR FIRST TIME. FEC. It looks like the agency, for the first time, is accepting electronically filed complaints.

HAVE A GOOD DAY.