[Political Activity Law]

FEINGOLD SLUSH.  WD.  “U.S. Senate candidate Russ Feingold, the godfather of campaign finance reform, is nothing more than the founder of a ‘legalized slush fund,’ according to an expert on campaign finance law.”

ETHICS SCRUTINY.  USAT.  “Democrat Hillary Clinton accepts campaign money from lobbyists and relies on them to collect political donations from others. In all, federal lobbyists have raised a little more than $7 million on her behalf through the end of June, Federal Election Commission records show.”

T SPEND ANALYSIS.  B. “Responding to a question from Bloomberg News, Trump finance chairman Steven Mnuchin said in an e-mail on Sept. 8 that his staff was looking into the discrepancy, but he hasn’t responded to further inquiries. Neither have two spokespeople for the campaign.”

SUPER PAC ATTENDEE.  P.  “One of Donald Trump’s sons, Eric Trump, attended and spoke at a fundraiser for a super PAC backing his father on Tuesday, the closest yet that Trump and his campaign have come to blessing one of the competing groups that have jockeyed for support among big donors.”

GR BIZ GOOD.  WP.  “This year, for the ninth consecutive time, the number of registered lobbyists in Washington has fallen.”

LOBBYIST DENIAL.  WE.  “Democratic Senate candidate Evan Bayh unveiled a new ad Tuesday that argues that he is not a lobbyist.”

AL:  BENTLEY BLAME.  WNHT.  “Under federal tax rules, 501(c)(4) organizations are not required to disclose who is giving them money.”

FL:  LIMBO FOR REFORM.   WLRN.  “The initiative spearheaded by a group called An Accountable Miami-Dade would ban campaign contributions by people who receive county contracts worth more than $250,000 a year.”

OH:  SUPREME REPORTS.  C.  “Ohio Supreme Court nominee Cynthia Rice’s campaign filed two required campaign finance reports with the state on Tuesday, several weeks after they were due.”

PA:  $75K FOR GAS DEAL.  WT.  ” Pennsylvania’s government ethics agency said Tuesday a retired state Game Commission official who had once been considered for the agency’s top job agreed to pay a $75,000 ethics fine over his side business helping land owners negotiate natural gas drilling leases.”

TX:  BAN STRUCK.  TL.  “In a win for free speech rights—and a loss for those tired of election year campaign ads—Houston appellate lawyer Meredith Parenti recently won a ruling from Austin’s Third Court of Appeals that will make it easier for politicians to post outdoor billboard advertising along Texas interstate highways.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

PAY TO PLAY AND SWAP DEALERS.  HLS.  “As election season enters full swing, with political candidates at all levels actively soliciting campaign donations from individuals and companies, it is an ideal time for all companies to review the policies and procedures in place for political donations.”

UNLIKELY DONOR.  Time.  “The Center for Public Integrity has determined that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump accepted an illegal contribution from a Canadian Muslim with a soft spot for Syrian refugees earlier this year.”

MONEY SHIFT.  Hill.  “The Senate Leadership Fund will cut back on advertising scheduled to air in the Erie, Johnstown and Harrisburg media markets between Oct. 4 and Oct. 24, according to both Democratic and Republican sources watching the advertising market. The group had reserved a total of $6.1 million on advertisements backing Toomey.”

CO:  COURT TO HEAR APPEAL  DP.  “The Colorado Supreme Court will decide whether legal help to those engaged in political speech must be treated as political contributions under state campaign finance laws.”

NY:  NONPROFIT MUST COMPLY.  WSJ.  “A political nonprofit tied to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio must hand over documents to a state ethics panel investigating the group’s conduct, a state justice ruled.”

AUS:  MOVE TO BAN FOREIGN MONEY (IN AUSTRALIA).  DT.  “While current MPs fought over who had the strongest plan to crack down on an important means of democratic participation, another former prime minister — John Howard — was resolute in his defence of political donations…”

CAN:  INCREASED LIMITS.  CH.  “At Monday’s meeting of the special committee on ethics and accountability, NDP MLAs proposed a $4,000 annual limit on political contributions, with no change in election years.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

REPORT OF COMPLAINTS IN FL.  TCP.  “The Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust, known as FACT, filed the latest complaint against Murphy Wednesday.”

SUPER PAC STRETCH.  B.  “The top super political action committee backing Hillary Clinton will begin to dramatically accelerate its advertising spending this week following a rough patch on the campaign trail for the Democratic presidential nominee that included some slippage in her poll standings, a controversial remark, and a bout with pneumonia.”

SUPER PAC STAR.  LAT.  “An Orange County super PAC formed to support Rep. Loretta Sanchez’s U.S. Senate campaign has invited her to be the featured guest at its Newport Beach fundraiser Friday.”

INVESTIGATION SOUGHT.  Hill.  “The Democratic Party of Wisconsin wants the Senate Ethics Committee to investigate $10 million in compensation that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis) received from his former company.”

AL:  FUN IMPACT.  AL.  “‘Whoever was the mastermind of this ethics bill totally screwed up the camaraderie and fun in the Alabama Legislature.'”

MA:  GROUP URGES REFORM.  R.  “With support from Represent.us, which was founded by former Shelburne resident Josh Silver, the local support plans to call on the Greenfield Town Council and on other towns to pass resolutions calling on their state and federal legislators to pass the proposed ‘American Anti-Corruption Act,’ targeting lobbyists’ political contributions, mandating full campaign finance transparency, allowing publicly funded campaigns, closes the ‘revolving door’ between Congress and lobbyists and enhances the Federal Elections Commission’s powers.”

VT:  SPLIT ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  VTD.  “The Democrat and Republican candidates for attorney general squared off in their first debate of the general election on Thursday in a discussion where they often agreed but split on the issues of private prisons and campaign finance law.”

EU:  ETHICS PROBE OPEN.  R.  “EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker has launched an unprecedented ethics investigation into his predecessor, Jose Manuel Barroso, questioning whether he broke EU law by taking a job at Goldman Sachs.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.