[Political Activity Law]

KOCH CONSOLIDATION.  WP.  “Billionaire Charles Koch is consolidating the array of conservative advocacy groups financed by his donor network, merging all the organizations into the main political arm, Americans for Prosperity, officials announced Friday.”

501(C)’S AND POLITICS.  TheStreet.  “The non-disclosure can shield the true description of even a highly political organization. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling in 2010, outside groups such as super PACs and political non-profits legally started to raise unrestricted money for or against candidates on the condition that such advocacy is independent of candidates.”

AL:  WHAT CANDIDATES SHOULD KNOW.  AS.  “Whether through ignorance, laziness or nefarious intentions, our City Hall candidates too often find themselves on the wrong side of the state’s campaign-finance regulations.”

FL:  BALLOT UPDATE.  MT.  “Last week, a county judge said Miami-Dade’s highest governing body had dragged its feet and made up excuses to kill the bill. But the county appealed, and yesterday the appeals court voted 2-1 to effectively keep it off the ballot this November.”

IL:  HOSTING EVENT.  WSIL.  “The director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform will speak about campaign finance at Southern Illinois University Monday night.”

IL:  LAWMAKER TO LOBBYIST.  Fox.  “Former State Senator Matt Murphy left his seat in the Senate to work as a lobbyist for the Mac Strategies Group.”

TX:  TEXANS AND TICKETS.  SA.  “New data from the Texas Ethics Commission shows lobbyists for Houston Texans owner Bob McNair provided free tickets and food valued up to $9,600 to host Harris County lawmakers, their family, staff and guests in his luxury box for a preseason game last month.”

WI:  DOE AND CFR.  USN.  “The documents published by the Guardian indicate that Walker’s campaign committee worked closely with a group called Wisconsin Club for Growth, which was operated by one of his campaign consultants.”

WI:  RULING APPEALED.  MR.  “Liberty Justice Center and its political action committee are joined in the appeal by State Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) and Edgar Bachrach. They argue that the state’s statutory limits on campaign funding violates First Amendment rights by limiting donations to the campaigns of candidates by individuals and political action committees while allowing corporations, political parties and legislative leaders to make much higher or unlimited donations.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

OPENSECRETS ON FEC.  OS.  “Federal law states that foreign nationals cannot donate or spend money in U.S. elections. Period.”  This topic lends itself to a lot of hyperbole, and I’m afraid this article and some unfortunate tweets I read yesterday proves that.

FOUNDATION INVESTIGATIONS.  F.  “But what legal problems does the Trump Foundation really pose for the Republican candidate?”

CROWFUNDING AND LOBBYING.  Hill. “A new lobbying nonprofit is riding the populist wave of the 2016 election cycle, aiming to crowdfund lobbying campaigns in order to give people a voice on K Street.”

WALLETS OUT FOR HARAMBE.  IJR.  “The Justice For Harambe PAC currently has $20, according to Hall.”

FL:  REVIEW SOUGHT.  MH.  “Former state Rep. David Rivera isn’t giving up yet on his attempts to vindicate himself on charges that he broke Florida ethics rules while in office six years ago.”

FL:  PUSH FOR FEDERAL LOOK.  MYAJC.  “New York’s attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, announced Tuesday that his office was looking into Donald Trump’s nonprofit foundation, which is facing intense criticism in light of a political donation it made in support of the Florida attorney general.”

FL:  NAME OF ANOTHER ALLEGATION.  TB.  “Because of the reimbursement from Trump’s personal wealth, they say, he has essentially donated to Bondi under the name of his foundation, which has separate accounts.”

MT:  COMPLAINT DISMISSED.  BDC.  “Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jon Motl published his decision Thursday dismissing a campaign practices complaint against Americans for Prosperity.”  The opinion is here.

NY:  ETHICS SLAM.  NYP.  “Saying New York could be a ‘market leader’ for corruption, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara on Thursday slammed the state Legislature and Gov. Cuomo for not moving more aggressively on ethics reform.”

TN:  HEARING SET.  T.  “Adam Wagner, who lives just outside the city limits on New Shackle Island Road, filed a complaint on Aug. 18 with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance against candidate Tommy Elsten. Wagner alleges Elsten has violated campaign finance laws by not disclosing how he is paying for his West Main Street campaign headquarters. Wagner also says that Elsten didn’t disclose sponsorship he received at a fundraising event.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

POLITICAL SPENDING PERIL.  HLS.   “No publicly traded company would consider a request for a sizable donation from a newly formed charity without exercising rigorous due diligence on how its money will be spent. Doing otherwise would risk its reputation and violate the managers’ fiduciary duties to the company shareholders. Good business practice requires no less of a company when it engages in political spending. Indeed, when it comes to political spending, the risks may even be greater because of the myriad of laws, federal and state, that regulate political spending and reputational challenges posed by greater media scrutiny.”

SPEAKING OF PERIL.  FEC.  On today’s agenda are several proposals relating to the political activity of U.S. subsidiaries of foreign corporations.  Listen or watch at the link.

MERCER PROFILE.  WP. “[Rebekah] Mercer exemplifies a new breed of activist donors that has risen since the Supreme Court kicked off a flood of big money into elections in 2010.”

SUPER PAC PLAYBOOK.  WP.  “Unlike candidates, super PACs can accept unlimited amounts of money from donors, so they typically focus on getting the biggest checks possible. Then they often spend most of their money on TV ads, one of the most expensive parts of any race and the easiest way to reach millions of voters. Great America sees another way.”

SUPER PAC LEAK PROJECT.  NBC.  “Correct the Record, one of the well-funded super PACs Brock founded, is creating a WikiLeaks-style project to pay anonymous tipsters for scoops, which they’re calling Trump Leaks.”

AD ISSUE.  RGJ.  “A professor featured in a super PAC ad against Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Catherine Cortez Masto said he appeared in the ad unwillingly and wants the group to take it down.”

CO:  FIXING SPENDING.  CI.  “A federal lawsuit is currently challenging Colorado’s unique system under which private citizens enforce campaign finance laws at their own expense in an administrative law court. The suit was filed by the target of one such lawsuit and is being prosecuted with the help of Washington, D.C. based lawyers.”

MT:  COMMISSIONER RULES.  KRTV.  “Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl said that Republican state Senate candidate Kantorowicz didn’t timely or fully report his spending on ads in the newsletter or to distribute the newsletter to voters.”

SD:  LOOKING AT REFORM.  RCJ.  “A proposal by a bipartisan panel has the potential to shed more light on campaign contributions in South Dakota while cutting out the middleman.”

TN:  STAND FOR CHILDREN TARGETED.  TN.  “The petition by the consumer rights group questions whether Stand’s political action committee illegally coordinated with several pro-charter school candidates during the election.”

TX:  TEC COMMISSIONER WON’T QUIT.  TT.  “A member of the Texas Ethics Commission is rejecting what he says was an effort by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to get him to resign.”

WI:  DOE DOC LEAK.  Guardian. “The John Doe Files published today open a door onto how modern US elections operate in the wake of Citizens United, the 2010 US supreme court ruling that unleashed a flood of corporate money into the political process.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.