[Political Activity Law]

$49,000 LOOPHOLE. CM. “Here’s the catch: These committees are required to list a funder as a ‘top donor’ on their ads only if that contributor has given at least $50,000. If donors give, say, $49,000, then their names need not be disclosed on the ads.”

MONEY AND VOTES. WE. “If campaign spending is less powerful than commonly assumed, we should revisit the laws that make it so hard for average people to finance a run for office.”

WON’T DISCLOSE. CNN. “The group, because of when it organized and filed with the Federal Election Commission, will not have to disclose their donors until March 20, long after millions of people vote on Super Tuesday on March 3.”

MO: ETHICS FINE. KCS. “The Missouri Ethics Commission (MEC) found that Parkville Mayor Nan Johnston’s campaign reports contained inaccuracies and belatedly disclosed expenditures and contributions, including a $5,000 check from a developer.”

COORDINATION SUGGESTED. FB. “Two establishment-backed Democratic candidates face accusations of illegally coordinating with a liberal dark money group, according to ethics complaints filed as voters prepare to cast ballots in the Super Tuesday primaries.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

CA: CITY REFORM. MCW. “Marina’s is indeed a flawed ordinance, capping individual donations at $200 but allowing candidates to self-fund with no limit – something O’Connell, a retired attorney, says was a problem because of free speech protections.”

ME: NO SLUSH. PH. “No candidate or elected official should be profiting off our political system, specifically profiting off political constitutions from lobbyists, special interest groups, and the very corporate entities we are supposed to be regulating.”

MI: COMPLAINT AGAINST GROUP. CNG. “At press time, the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office was reviewing multiple alleged campaign violations filed by the head of a pro-marijuana advocacy group, in relation to the upcoming March 10 ballot proposal.”

NYC: BALLOT MEASURE REPORTING. GG. “City Council Member Brad Lander, a Brooklyn Democrat, is introducing legislation on Thursday that would close a loophole in city campaign finance law that currently allows groups to hide their donors when they try to influence voting on a ballot referendum.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

JET QUESTION. PP. “Adav Noti of the Campaign Legal Center said political nonprofits are operating in a grey area because of the FEC’s failure to outline rules for what sort of contact they are permitted to have with a candidate. ‘To any rational person that looks at this, of course it’s a campaign event. But it might be allowed, which is the scandal.'”

SPANO DEFENSE. TBT. “In a recent television interview, U.S. Rep. Ross Spano, R-Dover, repeated the defense he’s offered since his 2018 election over illegal contributions to his campaign: He says he didn’t know it was illegal to borrow money from friends and then lend it to his campaign as his own money, and that he has honestly reported the situation.”

FUNDING REVEALED. BLM. “When the Internet Accountability Project popped up late last year and joined the growing crusade against Big Tech, the nonprofit group refused to say who was financing it.”

SUPER PAC UP. MSNBC. “Guy Cecil, chairman of Priorities USA, gives Rachel Maddow an exclusive look at new ads set to run in four key 2020 states as the first installment in a $150 million campaign targeting Donald Trump before the Democratic National Convention.”

CHARGE IT. CNBC. “According to a Newsy analysis of Federal Election Commission data, national political campaigns have shelled out more than $220 million to credit card-processing companies, like American Express and PayPal, since the start of the 2008 election cycle.”

MONEY FUNDERS. INT. “The four state-level groups are linked to one another and to Majority Forward, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit group affiliated with Senate Majority PAC, and they also share a network of Democratic staffers and strategists.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.