EO ON LOBBYING. NPR. “In signing an executive order imposing tough ethics standards on executive branch employees, President Trump followed a path laid by the two Democratic presidents who preceded him, almost word for word.”
TOUGHENED LOBBYING BAN. NYT. “Executive branch employees, including those in the White House, will now be barred for five years after they leave government from lobbying the federal agency where they worked.”
LOBBYING DISCLOSURE TRENDS. Bloomberg. “The ethics pledge that President Donald Trump has ordered all his appointees to sign looks tough: When they leave the federal government, they’ll have a five-year ban on lobbying the agencies where they worked.”
ETHICS TEMPLATE. NPR. “Ethics experts say that using the Bloomberg template won’t be good enough because Trump’s two roles — one as president and the other as business owner — will come into perpetual conflict, with more serious consequences that could reach far beyond just one city.”
AL: LATE LOAN REPORT. WHNT. “Gov. Robert Bentley violated campaign finance law by waiting more than two months to report a $50,000 loan he made to his campaign committee on Nov. 15, two years after his last campaign for governor, campaign records show.”
NM: BILLS MOVING. WT. ” Efforts to reform New Mexico’s political ethics and campaign finance regulations are off to a fast start in the New Mexico Legislature amid recent high-profile corruption scandals and public pressure for change.”
OH: USE OF FUNDS QUESTIONED. ABC6. “Judge Timothy Horton of the Tenth District Court of Appeals has agreed to a plea agreement in which he admits he misused more than $2,000 in campaign money before the 2014 election. Horton spent $1,014 on a steak dinner at Hyde Park in Downtown Columbus with some of his supporters to celebrate his opponent dropping out of the race in March. Earlier that month he spent $978 for a dinner for his staff and one other person at Due Amici downtown. In July he spent $173 on cigars from Tinderbox Tobacco and Gifts.”
PA: ETHICS IN ORDER. PG. “It’s a shame that it’s necessary, but there’s a push on to embed ethics in the state attorney general’s office. On his first full day in office, Attorney General Josh Shapiro signed a new code of ethics and invited his 800-some employees, covering all job classifications, to do the same. By Wednesday, a week later, all had done so.”
TN: NEW RULES FOR LOBBYIST EMPLOYERS. T. “State law allows companies and organizations to report how much they paid lobbyists and how much they spent on other related expenditures as a range, not specific amounts.”
WI: MEETING SET. PG. “United to Amend is hosting an informational session to discuss why campaign finance reform is needed and the potential for a resolution or state referendum to affirm that campaign spending should be regulated, according to a news release from the organization.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.