MEGA-DONORS FUEL CLINTON. WP. “An analysis by The Washington Post found that more than a fifth of the $1 billion donated to help her bid was given by just 100 wealthy individuals and labor unions — many with a long history of contributing to the Clintons. The analysis included contributions to her campaigns, joint fundraising committees, national parties, convention host committees and single-candidate super PACs.”
CONVICTION UPHELD. RC. “A judge has upheld a bulk of federal corruption charges against former Rep. Chaka Fattah but dropped other convictions related to mail and bank fraud.”
BUSINESS HELP FOR POLITICS? HLS. “But, this dreary campaign season is a good time for corporate leaders to consider specific changes in political processes—less money, more disclosure, fair facts, balanced proposals, broad coalitions, cooler rhetoric, bi-partisanship—which could help fix our broken politics and rehabilitate business’s own political standing. Such process changes proceed from an understanding that there will always be significant substantive policy differences about societal problems but that those differences require a national politics that promotes common sense, civility and compromise to move the country forward, as has happened before in our history.”
CU FIX. Salon. “If Clinton is serious about reducing the role of money in politics, she should appoint Supreme Court justices willing to revisit Buckley v. Valeo, a 1976 decision that said (among other things) third parties could spend unlimited amounts to influence the outcome of an election, and First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, a decision two years later that struck down state attempts to limit corporate spending to affect ballot initiatives. Those cases formed the basis for our inability to regulate money in politics.”
TRUMP’S REFORMS. NJ.com. “He called for banning executive branch officials, members of Congress and congressional staffs from lobbying the government for five years; expanding the definition of lobbyist to require consultants and advisers to register; banning senior executive branch officials for life from lobbying for foreign governments; stopping registered foreign lobbyists from raising money in elections; and limiting congressional tenure.”
ONCE A LOBBYIST. Politico. “Trump was a registered lobbyist in Rhode Island from April 2006 through the end of that year, according to state records reviewed by POLITICO.”
DISCLOSURE ISSUE. NBC. “Great America PAC on Thursday night erroneously published the credit card numbers and expiration dates belonging to 49 donors, a Center for Public Integrity review of its latest Federal Election Commission campaign finance disclosure discovered.”
SETTLEMENT ELUSIVE. WT. “Attorneys for the Federal Election Commission say former Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell and her campaign committee have withdrawn a settlement offer under which they would pay a $10,000 penalty for violating campaign finance laws.”
IL: CUBS AND ETHICS. CST. “Agency executive director Steve Berlin stepped to the microphone at City Hall on Thursday, a day after he put aldermen on the spot with a recommendation that public officials not be allowed to buy team-issued face-value tickets to Cubs playoff games unless they throw out a pitch or perform some other ceremonial duty.”
MA: SPENDING CONTINUES. SN. “Cousins had announced two months earlier that he would not seek re-election after 20 years in office. But under state and federal campaign finance laws, elected officials are allowed to spend campaign donations even though they are no longer running for office and, in fact, even after they leave office.”
NM: COST OF DISCLOSURE. ABJ. ” New Mexico election officials requested nearly $1 million on Friday to replace an online campaign finance information system that has been widely criticized for obscuring sources and destinations of political spending.”
HAVE A GOOD DAY.
