Term limits support and political law links

SUPPORT FOR TERM LIMITS.  WP.  “Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he’ll push for a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress if he’s elected to the White House.”

D TAPE FALLOUT.  WE.  “A top staffer at the progressive advocacy group Americans United for Change was fired from his post on Tuesday after he was caught on camera claiming the organization paid mentally ill people to instigate violence at campaign events for Donald Trump.”

TEAM RIP.  WE. “Hillary Clinton’s chief legal counsel excoriated one of President Obama’s most high profile appointees on the Federal Election Commission for what he said was an ‘endless desire to be portrayed in the press as a profile in courage.'”

EVALUATING RIGGING.  WP.  “But stealing an election in this country isn’t easy. In fact, experts say it’s nearly impossible given how voting works. And documented instances of voter fraud are actually very

BIG V. SMALL DONORS.  Atlantic. “The truth is that small donors aren’t as important to campaigns as they were before internet fundraising became popular, while the very biggest donors have become significantly more prominent in recent years.”

VISUALIZE CAMPAIGN MONEY.  WP.   “Campaign-finance.org is an artificial intelligence tool to help journalists quickly and efficiently uncover story ideas in campaign finance data.”

BUS WASTE ISSUE.  WP.  Maybe wait a few hours after breakfast before reading this one.  “The DNC later apologized in statements to local media and USA Today, calling the bus leak an ‘honest’ and ‘unacceptable’ mistake.”

CO:  DISCLOSURE NOTED.  DP.  “Dark money — millions of dollars spent on political messaging across the nation that can’t be tracked to a specific donor — is playing a role in politics right here in Colorado.”

MA:  CALL FOR PANEL.  BH.  “State lawmakers are weighing a proposal by House Speaker Robert DeLeo to create a special panel to review ethical guidelines for public officials in Massachusetts.”

MT:  JUDGES PREFER YOU DON’T MENTION CANDIDATES, OK?  MTS.  “This letter is prompted by our concern over recent dark money attacks on a current candidate for the Montana Supreme Court. The anonymous and inflammatory communications have a significant potential impact on the integrity and independence of the Montana Judiciary.”

TN:  HIT WITH COMPLAINT.   TN. “Democratic state Senate candidate Erin Coleman has been hit with a complaint from a past Republican operative who contends she’s ineligible to run for office until she resolves campaign finance matters from her previous Metro Council campaign.”

TX:  MOBILE VOTING CHALLENGE.  VC.  “The lawsuit claims mobile polling places approved by the Commissioners Court were selected to favor the Healthcare District. Rice and Quintana want a judge to sign a temporary restraining order, which would block mobile polling places during early voting.”

VA:  GUNS A WORRY.  WP.  “The Prince William County electoral board, wary of the heated atmosphere of the coming Election Day, considered seeking a one-day ban on weapons at polling places located on private property but was rebuked by a gun-friendly state legislator.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Political law links for today — not rigged

TRUMP PROPOSES REFORM.  Politico.  “Trump’s five-point plan includes instituting a five-year ban on lobbying for executive branch officials, lawmakers and their staffers after they leave government. The plan would ban senior executive branch officials from ever lobbying on behalf of foreign governments.”

PONY EXPRESS COORDINATION.  Breitbart.  “New video from James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas exposes a system called the ‘Pony Express,’ which Democratic consultants allegedly use to relay messages between Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and a constellation of super-PACs funded by wealthy donors.”

WHAT DOES VIDEO SHOW?  Townhall.  “The investigative journalism group headed by James O’Keefe spent a year infiltrating what appears to be a dark web of progressive group fomenting violence at Trump rallies, among other things, in order to create a narrative that Trump supporters are unhinged and volatile.”

SUPER PACS SUPREME.  BNA.  “Major campaign spending organizations closely tied to Democratic and Republican leaders and funded by undisclosed donations—known by critics as ‘dark money’—have spent $26 million in key Senate races in 2016 but have significantly reduced their TV ad spending in the final weeks of the campaign, according to a Bloomberg BNA analysis of Kantar Media/CMAG data.”

MEMBER SCRUTINY.  IND.  “The House Ethics Committee is reviewing an unspecified allegation about Rep. Marlin Stutzman and will respond by the end of November, according to a statement released Monday.”

LEAHY RAISES.  VTD.  “Over the past three months, incumbent U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has raised a mountain of money in his quest to beat maverick Republican Scott Milne, who, so far, has fulfilled his biggest campaign pledge of running on a shoestring budget.”

PRISON AND THE PAC.  MJ.  “It’s unusual for a publicly traded corporation to donate to a super-PAC, but in August, private prison company GEO Group steered $150,000 to Rebuild America Now, a pro-Donald Trump outfit launched by the GOP nominee’s longtime friend, developer Tom Barrack.”

SUPER PAC DABBLE.  LAT.  “The super PACs dabbling in California’s U.S. Senate race between Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Orange) and state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris aren’t exactly breaking fundraising records.”

CA:  LOOPHOLE TARGET.  MAI.  “The loophole allows unlimited contributions to political parties and permits parties to make unlimited contributions to candidate campaigns.”

MT:  CASE SETTLED.  BDC.  “Ron Murray signed the settlement with Commissioner of Political Practices Jon Motl on Oct. 12. He agreed to pay a civil fine of $19,599, with $6,000 to be paid in cash, and the remaining $13,599 to be paid in public service to Gallatin County’s 4-H club.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Reformers hit and today’s other political law links

REFORMERS HIT.  CBS.  “But now, with McCain facing a tougher-than-expected re-election and Feingold seeking to win back the seat he lost six years ago, the authors of McCain-Feingold are benefiting from the same sources of funding they once scorned.”

FOREIGN LOBBYING CHATTER.  CBS.  “Clinton National Finance Director Dennis Cheng wrote in April that the campaign needed to make a policy decision on whether to allow those lobbying on behalf of foreign governments to raise money for the Clinton campaign.  After some debate, campaign manager Robby Mook responded that he was ‘OK just taking the money and dealing with any attacks.’ Jennifer Palmieri agreed: ‘Take the money!!””

SUPER PAC TKU.  WFB. “Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta personally thanked high-dollar donors to a Democratic Super PAC with which the campaign is legally prohibited from coordinating, according internal campaign memos.”

NEWSPAPERS AND THE LAW.  BEZ.  “One of several startup newspapers tied to a conservative Illinois activist is being challenged as political campaign material in a complaint before the Federal Election Commission.”

LOBBYISTS RAISE.  WP.  “Between July and September, lobbyists bundled nearly $11 million for the Clinton campaign and the Hillary Victory Fund, the campaign’s joint fundraising committee with the Democratic National Committee, according to new Federal Election Commission filings. That marks a sharp uptick from the roughly $2.7 million that lobbyists bundled during the second quarter and the $1.8 million they bundled during the first quarter of 2016.”

WHO’S BANKROLLING?  CST.  “The biggest individual Democratic donors in Illinois have joined with pro-Democratic unions to pump jumbo dollars into a new super PAC to punch at Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.”

VIDEO GAME ADVOCACY.  TECH.  “A new Anti-Trump billboard from The Nuisance Committee has been spotted in Florida, and it makes the claim that Trump ‘Mains Hanzo And Complains About Team Comp In Chat’ while depicting a caricature of Trump yelling at a computer screen.”

SUPER PAC HAUL.  WP.  “The super PAC working to protect the Republican House majority is ballooning with money from mega-donors determined to keep Paul D. Ryan as speaker, scooping up a record $31.3 million last quarter, officials told The Washington Post.”

FEC MOVER AND SHAKER.  WE.  “The Federal Election Commission member who sought to regulate online political speech is a top candidate under consideration by California Gov. Jerry Brown for a possible appointment as state attorney general, according to experts in the state and in Washington, D.C.”

CA:  GOOGLE FLOOD.  SFE.  “Tech and real estate leaders are spending big on two supervisor races in an attempt to strengthen their hold on San Francisco policy decisions ranging from tech shuttles to affordable housing.”

MA:  FOCUS ON ETHICS.  WT.  “House Speaker Robert DeLeo is pushing for a special panel to review ethical guidelines for public officials in Massachusetts.”

MI:  LIMITS IN BILL.  WMUK.  “The amount of money candidates in Michigan can get from special interest groups could get cut in half. That’s if a proposed bill finds its way through the legislature.”

TN:  LOBBYIST REGISTERS.  TN.  “The day after The Tennessean published an August investigation into the activities of Mark Cate, Gov. Bill Haslam’s former chief of staff, Cate registered with the state as a lobbyist.”

TX:  MAIL ISSUE.  AM.  “The outspoken conservative possibly broke city campaign rules, the commission decided Wednesday, when he failed to include the following disclaimer on a mailer he sent to voters in his Northwest Austin district: ‘This campaign has not agreed to comply with the contribution and expenditure limits of the Austin Fair Campaign Chapter.'”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.