[Political Activity Law]

CASE DROPPED.  NPR.  “Federal prosecutors will abandon their effort to retry former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s June reversal of his conviction on corruption charges.”

INDEPENDENT GROUP CODE.  B.  “In announcing its plans for an ‘aggressive $4.2 million persuasion canvass’ across three states—Pennsylvania, Nevada and North Carolina—the LCV Victory Fund has taken the unusual step of including in a press release the specific ranges of microtargeting scores that define the voters it will attempt to sway in Clinton’s favor and against Trump. It amounts to a direct and precise signal to Clinton’s campaign, state parties and other super-PACs not to bother duplicating those efforts, or perhaps to layer on specific digital or direct-mail communication targeting those individual voters.”

ROBOCALL CONSIDERATIONS.  CH.  “In the midst of the campaign season it is important for campaign committees, political party committees, third-party advocacy groups, and vendors to be aware of the laws regulating prerecorded voice messages and autodialed calls (‘robocalls’).”

SUPER PAC TECH.  M.  “One of Hillary Clinton’s biggest spenders is going beyond television and tapping into Facebook’s most advanced ad units in its effort to explain to young voters what a Donald Trump administration could mean for them.”

GUNNING FOR THE MEDIA AT THE FEC.  WT.  “A key Federal Election Commission Republican warned Wednesday that liberals are moving aggressively to ‘amend the First Amendment’ so that conservatives are silenced and businesses are chased ‘out of the democracy.'”

EVOLVING CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  ABC.  “The beginnings of PACs date back to unions and how they initially directed portions of their members’ dues towards political campaigns, but after that spending plan got squashed, they later created PACs as the way around the new law.”

SCRUTINY FOR DONATION.  NPR.  “The foundation incorrectly reported that the money went to an unrelated charity in Kansas with a similar name.”

USE OF FUNDS.  WJHL.  “News Channel 11 combed through federal data to see how Tennessee U.S Representatives in Congress spend individual election campaign contributions. A candidate for federal office is required to report campaign expenses to the Federal Election Commission. The contributions can pay for almost anything related to campaigning.”

FOREIGN FUNDS CONFUSION.  CNN.  “Sen. Tim Kaine mischaracterized the Clinton Foundation’s donation policy during a recent interview, saying it no longer accepts foreign and corporate money when, in fact, it has only pledged to renounce these sources of funding if Hillary Clinton is elected president.”

PA:  CUMBERSOME SITE.  WITF.  “The search portal for the reports says, in small print, that it was copyrighted in 2004.”

TX:  ESCALATING BATTLE WITH TEC.  TT.  “The influential conservative group Empower Texans is escalating its long-running battle against the Texas Ethics Commission, accusing a former member of the state watchdog agency of improperly seeking to influence state legislation.”

EU:  LOBBYIST MEETING NOTED.  EUO.  “Germany’s EU commissioner Guenther Oettinger had a meeting last January with Volkswagen Group about the cheating scandal, despite the issue not being part of his portfolio.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

PLI TODAY AND TOMORROW.  PLI.  “Federal and state lobbying, campaign finance and ethics rules are changing, making compliance with those laws more challenging than ever. Congressional ethics rules, the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) and pay-to-play laws place additional responsibilities on companies and their executives and directors. To stay current on the latest developments, be sure to attend this acclaimed program led by high-level officials from the Federal Election Commission, the Department of Justice, Congressional ethics committees, and state ethics agencies, as well as corporate compliance officers and expert private practitioners.”  I’m not attending this year, but it looks like a great conference, as always.

FARA ENFORCEMENT WATCH.  WT.  “FBI agents and federal prosecutors disagree over the intent of a foreign lobbying disclosure law, creating confusion within the Justice Department and complicating enforcement, according to a government watchdog report released Wednesday.”

BIPARTISAN CFR?  BM.com.  “What Gosar describes as a ‘commonsense bill’ would require federal candidates who accept political donations by credit card to verify the donor’s identity by obtaining the credit card verification code (the three- or four-digit number that most commercial vendors already insist on having with a purchase), as well as the card’s billing address.”

ACCESSING CAMPAIGN FINANCE DATA.  TC.com.  “Coupled with the increasing interest in who is spending and contributing money and how, the governmental agencies that gather the campaign money information are redesigning their websites to be more accessible to the public.”

TRUMP HISTORY.  CNN.  “In some cases they’re legal violations and he has been fined by the local entities, largely here in New York City. We can look at a list of some of them, I believe. In 1985, he evaded a limit by 18 subsidiary companies there. In 1990s, he was fined for exceeding limits by nearly $50,000.”

MERCER AND SUPER PAC.  USAT.  “Rebekah Mercer, whose wealthy family has played an increasingly prominent role in boosting Republican Donald Trump’s candidacy, has taken over management of a super PAC aiding his White House campaign.”

ESTUPENDO PAC.  WP.  “The super PAC backing Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign is hitting the Spanish-language airwaves on Wednesday, the same day her campaign is launching a similar ad blitz.”

GOLDMAN AND PENCE.  Fortune.  “Goldman Sachs has enacted a set of rules that bans the firm’s top employees from contributing to certain campaigns, including the Trump-Pence ticket.”

D’S FINE WITH IT.  DB.  “If hypocrisy is the coin of the realm in politics, then spending by a Democratic dark money group in New Hampshire’s Senate race could be Exhibit A.”

IL:  LAW UPHELD.  SJR.  “Current Illinois law that limits how much political action committees, or PACs, can contribute to candidates, but permits political parties and their legislative leadership to contribute as much as they want, is constitutional and can remain on the books, a federal judge in Chicago ruled Wednesday.”

MT:  ALLEGATIONS SETTLED.  BG.  “A former Montana legislator has agreed to pay $19,599 to the state to settle allegations that he took illegal corporate contributions from a dark-money organization not required to disclose its donors or spending.”

WI:  MAYOR CHARGED.  NBC.  “Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt has been charged with violating campaign finance law, according to his attorney.”

TX:  SUBPOENA LAWSUIT DROPPED.  SA.  “The Texas Ethics Commission is backing off a long-running battle to force conservative powerbroker Michael Quinn Sullivan to comply with subpoenas as part of an investigation into his nonprofit’s political activity.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

SPACE VALUE ISSUE.  HP.  “The use of Mar-a-Lago alone was a donation of some value. Space at the resort is expensive to rent, and Trump has charged his own presidential campaign roughly $140,000 per event for use of the mansion.”

SUPER PAC QUESTIONS.  STL.  “On Monday, the same day Schlafly died at the age of 92, a so-called ‘super PAC’ was created in her name, Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle PAC.”

FL:  RULES TO COMMISSION.  MH.  “The proposal would ban county contractors and their lobbyists from supporting candidates for county office.”

MT:  IT’S MESSY.  Hill.  “Montana shows the danger of setting strongmen lose to prosecute political minutia. Deadlock in defense of free speech is no vice.”

OR: PUBLIC FINANCING MOVE.  PT.  “Six years after Portland voters repealed the city’s public campaign finance program by a narrow margin, Commissioner Amanda Fritz is preparing to ask the City Council to enact another one she is calling the Open and Accountable Elections.”

OR:  NO ACTION.  SJ.  “The Aug. 23 complaint alleged that Evans used his legislative email account to coordinate a political fundraiser and suggested to a lobbyist that they must attend the fundraiser to secure a policy meeting with him.”

VT:  COMPLAINT DISMISSED.  WT.  “Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ request to his supporters to donate to a candidate for the state Legislature did not violate the state’s campaign finance laws, Democratic Attorney General William Sorrell concluded.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.