[Political Activity Law]

SPOTLIGHT ON MORRIS.  HP.  “…Brody Mullins published an expose into what it describes as an affair that is ‘shaping up to be one of the biggest U.S. investigations into Washington’s influence business since the bribery and corruption case surrounding lobbyist Jack Abramoff rocked the nation’s capital in the mid-2000s.'”

TRADEMARK ETHICS.  Fox.  “Ethics lawyers from across the political spectrum say the trademarks present conflicts of interest for Trump and may violate the emoluments clause of the U.S. Constitution, which bars public servants from accepting anything of value from foreign governments unless explicitly approved by Congress.”

MO:  NEW HEADACHES.  SL.  “Several St. Louis mayoral candidates scrambled Monday after they discovered tens of thousands of donations from corporations and unions are barred under the new campaign finance law that Missouri voters approved in November.”

MT:  CUT OFFICE.  TE.  “ Lawmakers in the Montana House endorsed a measure Monday to get rid of the independent office that regulates their election campaigns and investigates ethics complaints filed against them.”

OR:  BAN UNIONS, CONTRACTORS.   BME.  “Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, has proposed a law to prohibit state contractors and public unions from contributing to political campaigns.”

PA:  GET MODERN.  SI.  “A Democratic state lawmaker is calling on Governor Tom Wolf’s administration to modernize Pennsylvania’s archaic campaign finance website.”

SD:  GET ME REWRITE.  WT.  “South Dakota legislators are weighing a rewrite of state campaign finance laws that could replace provisions of a government ethics overhaul that lawmakers recently repealed.”

HAVE A GOOD DAT.

PAC BUSES ROLL.  DC.  “Political action committees that fundraised for President Barrack Obama during the 2012 presidential election, bused protesters to Republican town hall events nationwide earlier in February, according to a Sunday report from The Washington Post.”

SUIT UNLIKELY TO WIN.  Cleve.  “Two important jurisdictional hurdles could prevent a court from ruling on the merits of the case.”

NEW LOBBYING RULES SPOTLIGHT.  Salon.  “Instead of banning lobbyists from working at agencies they lobbied, the Trump pledge, which has to be signed by all executive appointees, imposes restrictions on what such officials can work on.”

POTENTIAL ETHICS PENALTIES.   CNN.  “More than 1,500 federal workers were accused of violating government ethics rules in 2015, the most recent year for which data is available. Those employees were hit with disciplinary actions ranging from reprimand to dismissal.”

NJ:  PAY TO PLAY WEIGH.   NJ.  “Council members are poised to repeal the city’s pay-to-play regulations that cap municipal political donations by contractors at $300.”

NY:  PAC GEARS UP.   TU.  “A national pro-Republican political action committee is preparing to ramp up efforts to oppose Gov. Andrew Cuomo — not in expectation of his likely run for a third term next year, but with an eye to his potentially seeking the presidency in 2020.”

NY:  DEBT HOWLING.  NYP.  “Mayor de Blasio’s announcement that he’ll have donors pay his mounting legal bills tied to suspected City Hall corruption is drawing howls of protest from government watchdogs and ethics experts.”

TX:  CONFLICT REDUCTION.  EPT.  “City attorneys should no longer determine which complaints against elected officials should be heard by the Ethics Review Commission, the City Council recommended to the commission this week.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

OSC:  TRUMP FAIR GAME?  OSC.  “The U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has received numerous questions from federal employees regarding President Donald Trump’s status as a candidate in the 2020 Presidential election and, in particular, its impact on the Hatch Act’s prohibition against engaging in political activity while on duty or in the  workplace.”

OCE ON DEFENSE.  Hill.  “The House’s independent ethics watchdog is offering a defense of its policies governing investigations of lawmakers after Republicans tried to weaken it at the start of the new Congress last month.”

JOINING FIGHT.  WFB.  “The top lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has joined the board of a major Democratic Super PAC funded by liberal billionaire George Soros to lead its efforts against state voting laws.”

OBAMA OFFICIAL ON TWEET.  Hill.  “Former President Barack Obama‘s ethics czar said Thursday that President Trump’s criticism of retail outlet Nordstrom for dropping his daughter’s apparel brand is ‘an abuse of the office of the presidency.'”

ABE TO MAR-A-LAGO.  MW.  “If the Japanese government were to pay for the cost of Abe staying at Mar-a-Lago, experts said, the president would likely violate a constitutional provision that federal officers cannot accept payments or gifts from foreign countries without the consent of Congress. Violations of the clause — which largely hasn’t been litigated — could result in forfeiting the payments to the U.S. government.”

AR:  BILL CLEARS COMMITTEE.  KASU.   “A bill to require Arkansas political candidates file their campaign finance reports through an online system advanced out of a committee in the Arkansas House of Representatives Wednesday.”

MN:  DID BOARD ERR?  MS.  “Nekima Levy-Pounds this week chided the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board for its advisory opinion giving Jacob Frey the go-ahead to use money he raised as a City Council member in his run for mayor of Minneapolis.”

MO:  SENATE PASSES BILL.  CL.  “The Senate unanimously passed its version of campaign finance reform that would restrict politicians using campaign money for personal expenses.”

MT:  COMMISSIONER UPDATE.  MN.  “So far three people have applied to step into Motl’s shoes: former Billings City Commissioner Michael Larson, former political practices investigator Robert Hoffman, and Jaime MacNaughton, acting attorney for the OPP. Candidates will be screened by a four-member bipartisan legislative committee, submitted to Bullock for nomination and, barring any hiccups, confirmed by the state Senate before session’s end.”

NM:  LOBBYIST SPENDING.  NMI.  “Plenty of wining and dining of lawmakers occurred in the past week, as lobbyist spending during the session neared $107,000.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.