[Political Activity Law]

IT’S STARTED.  WP.  “[L]obbyists have raised millions of dollars for Clinton’s campaign over the last 18 months, and could be opening their checkbooks and fundraising networks in one more area between now and January: raising money for inaugural activities and parties.”

SUPER PAC BET.  WP.  “That crucial decision leaves Senate GOP campaigns remarkably reliant on late cash from Republican-leaning super PACs that by law cannot coordinate with GOP candidates and party leaders.”

EX-CONGRESSMAN TO PAY.  STL.  “Documents show that former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock has agreed to pay a $10,000 Federal Election Commission fine for a campaign finance violation.”

TODAY AT THE FEC.  The agenda for today’s Federal Election Commission meeting is online here.

ACCUSATIONS FLY.  KCS.  “The Missouri Democratic Party has accused Sen. Roy Blunt of violating federal campaign rules by coordinating his re-election effort with an anti-abortion independent expenditure group, or super PAC.”

AL:  TACKLING CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  ABC.  “Preliminary estimates show the federal election will cost $6.6 billion when all is said and done. With so much money in the mix, an Alabama-based nonprofit called Take Back Our Republic is trying to make political contributions more transparent.”

CA:  COUNTY PROMOTION INVESTIGATION.  SLO.  “The California Fair Political Practices Commission will investigate allegations that San Luis Obispo County, a regional transportation planning agency and the committee supporting a half-cent sales tax measure for transportation projects have violated campaign reporting laws.”

ME:  ETHICS INVESTIGATION.  PH.  “A leading Republican lawmaker is now facing two state ethics investigations as well as a civil lawsuit over his handling of assets in a family corporation and the fundraising activities of his political action committee.”

OR:  LIMITS ON BALLOT.  ORL. “The next path they’d like to clear is campaign finance, hoping a policy limiting contributions and expenditures and requiring disclosures on advertising could help more — and more diverse — candidates run for office.”

SD AND WA AND VOUCHERS.  V.  “But 2016 might still be a noteworthy year for campaign finance reform. That’s because two states — South Dakota and Washington — are voting on ballot initiatives that could make either or both of the states the first in the nation to implement a new and promising approach to campaign finance reform: vouchers.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

FUNDRAISER STOP.  WP.  “Donald Trump’s campaign said Tuesday that it has scheduled no more big-money fundraising events to benefit the Republican Party, another sign of the GOP nominee’s struggling campaign and a serious blow to the party’s get-out-the-vote operations with less than two weeks to go until Election Day.”

ALLEGATION AGAINST MILLER.  ADN.  “The Alaska Republican Party is accusing Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller of breaking federal campaign finance law by using his for-profit news website, JoeMiller.us, as an extension of his campaign. But Miller says he has done nothing wrong.”

COMPLAINTS ON TRUMP ADS.  Politico.  “A conservative-leaning watchdog group is accusing the DCCC and a dozen of its candidates of using illegal advertising practices this fall, arguing in new complaints that the committee has used its ad strategy to direct extra money to a number of its campaigns.”

SUPER PAC FUNDRAISING.  BB.  “He also advised that it might be time to rely on Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to encourage bigger donations to the Super PAC, but added that the president was ‘prissy’ about the ethics behind it.”

SUPER PAC SMOKE SIGNALS.  BB.  “It is unclear whether the campaign implemented their strategy or whether EMILY’s List agreed to serving as a third party surrogate for the campaign.”

EMAIL AND ETHICS.  TU.  “Should a private individual’s stolen correspondence be read? How does someone respond publicly when they’re the subject of a private email? Have the emails been altered?”

FARA ISSUE.  WFB.  “A high-dollar lobbyist and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign failed to file legally required disclosures for his advocacy on behalf of a foreign government in discussions with Clinton’s future campaign chairman, according to a political law expert.”

LOBBYISTS UNITED.  NYT.   “From the political right and the left, AT&T’s $85 billion bid for Time Warner has provoked pushback. But AT&T, in addition to its billions of dollars of capital, has another arsenal at its disposal: one of the most formidable lobbying operations in Washington.”

CA:  DOCUMENTS SOUGHT.  LAT.  “The campaign of Assemblyman David Hadley (R-Manhattan Beach) has delayed turning over documents related to an official investigation into his campaign practices, according to court documents filed by the state Fair Political Practices Commission.”

MO:  RULING ON PAC.  CT.  “The Missouri Ethics Commission has ruled a candidate who lost a bid for a Columbia City Council seat in April and a political action committee that contributed to his campaign violated state laws by not immediately disclosing donations and expenditures.”

MO:  SOURCE OF FUNDING.  STL.  “When Missouri gubernatorial candidate Eric Greitens landed a record-setting political donation of almost $2 million in July, it arrived via a federal superPAC that didn’t specify the source of the money.”

RI:  STATE POLICE INVESTIGATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  NBC.  “The NBC 10 I-Team has learned the Rhode Island State Police are looking at two potential cases of politicians criminally breaking campaign finance laws.”

MALAYSIA:  ROW AND REFORM.  B.  “Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will consider a ban on foreign political donations that would potentially prevent a repeat of the funding scandal that has shadowed his administration for more than a year.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

DUCK LINK.  DM.  “Hillary Clinton personally ordered a consultant to use a nonprofit group to troll the Trump campaign with a ‘Donald Duck’ mascot, according to the Democratic operatives who say they arranged it with a nonprofit organization.”

FUNDRAISING ISSUE.  UKT.  “Senior figures involved with the Great America PAC, one of the leading ‘independent’ groups organising television advertisements and grassroots support for the Republican nominee, sought to channel $2 million from a Chinese donor into the campaign to elect the billionaire despite laws prohibiting donations from foreigners.”

FUNDRAISING ISSUE II.  NYT.  “[T] the video does not show how the reporters identified themselves and reflects only snippets of the reporters’ conversations with Mr. Benton, making it difficult to verify exactly what Mr. Benton had offered or whether any laws were broken.”

SCHOCK CIVIL PENALTY.  CT.  “Former Rep. Aaron Schock has agreed to pay a $10,000 civil penalty from the Federal Election Commission after he asked a top GOP official for a $25,000 contribution to help another Illinois Republican, documents released Monday show.”

IL:  CUBS PULL TICKETS.  CST.  “To the delight of the newly-appointed Ethics Board chairman and the disdain of the City Council, the Cubs have pulled the lucrative offer to let aldermen purchase tickets at face value for the third, fourth and fifth games of the Series.”

MT:  COMMISSIONER CITED.  MTS.  “Montana’s commissioner of political practices has cited Madison County Commissioner Dave Schulz for a second campaign-finance violation in his bid for re-election this year.”

NC:  SOCIAL WELFARE ISSUE.  NO.  “An ethics watchdog group on Monday asked the federal government to investigate a super PAC, the Government Integrity Fund, claiming the group had violated its tax-exempt status as a ‘social welfare’ group by taking ‘extraordinary steps’ to disguise its work as a political group.”

OR:  REFORM ON THE BALLOT.  ORL.  “Oregon is one of six states without limits on campaign contributions. Measure 26-184 would change that, at least in Multnomah County races.”

SC:  PANEL TO DECIDE.  PC.  “Retiring state Sen. Ray Cleary of Murrells Inlet admits that campaign finance reports filed on his behalf contained insufficient details but contends they were not deceitful.”

VA:  DONATION QUESTIONS.  WSJ.  “The political organization of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, an influential Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who later helped oversee the investigation into Mrs. Clinton’s email use.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.