[Political Activity Law]

INVESTIGATION RECOMMENDATION.  WP.  “A congressional ethics panel said there is ‘substantial reason to believe’ Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), broke House rules by paying his departed chief of staff a three-month severance package in 2015.”

PAY TO PLAY IMPACT.  K&LGates.  “This article summarizes the four principal federal Pay-to-Play Rules currently in effect: Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 206(4)-5 (the “SEC Rule”); Municipal Securities Rule Making Board Rule G-37 (the “MSRB Rule”); Commodity Futures Trading Commission Regulation 23.451 (the “CFTC Rule”); and SEC Rule 15Fh-6 applicable to SBS dealers and major securities-based swap participants.”

CA:  KNOWN UNKNOWNS ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  SFPP.  “Two official city websites offer troves of campaign finance data for San Francisco elections: SF OpenData (data.sfgov.org) and the Ethics Commission (sfethics.org).”

CA:  FLOATING REFORMS.  SB.  “As Rep. Ami Bera’s father prepares for sentencing Thursday for election fraud, the candidate’s Republican challenger Scott Jones is proposing a set of campaign finance changes aimed at the Democratic incumbent.”

BFL:  REPEATED FINES.  MH.  “Filing campaign finance reports on time is one of Bullard’s items on the back burner: He’s been fined seven times, totaling $7,000, for filing campaign finance reports late since declaring his current state Senate candidacy in 2013. The next deadline to file is Friday.”

FL:  EXPENSIVE EMAILS.  MNT.  “Time to play a guessing game: How much would it cost Miami-Dade County officials to search for a week’s worth of emails from commissioners and then print those messages and hand them to someone?”

NY:  PUBLIC FINANCING AN ISSUE.  PS.  “Barkenhagen said a state public campaign finance system, similar to a system already in place in Maine, would bring more candidates into the political system and reduce the influence of political donors.”

TX:  TEC AND SPENDING.  TT.  “The proposed rule sets out to require political consultants to report their spending in the same way that candidates are required to do.”

TX:  STATE DISCLAIMER UPDATE.  TT.  “A political radio commercial without ‘I’m so-and-so and I paid for this message’ or ‘Political ad paid for by so-and-so’ is, for now, legal under state law.”

TX:  RADIO DISCLAIMER BATTLE.  RadioInk.  “It appears there’s a glitch in the state requiring every political ad on the radio to include the tag about who paid for the ad. Of course, as most managers know, the FCC will frown upon you if that isn’t done.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

THE CONSTITUTION AND THE COMMISSIONER.  DC.  “Commissioner Ravel was recently quoted in The Washington Post as saying that her ‘role in the Commission is not to apply constitutional principles’ because she’s ‘not on the Supreme Court.'”

REVISITING DOMESTIC SUBS.  NLR. “But how should the law treat U.S. corporations that are subsidiaries of a foreign corporate parent? Are they ‘American’ if run by U.S. citizens, incorporated in the United States, and U.S. citizens make all funding and spending decisions?  The Federal Election Commission first answered this question in a  1978 advisory opinion and, in essence concluded that if U.S. citizens control the decisions about contributions and the operation of the PAC, using corporate funds raised from U.S. operations, and the PAC contains only funds from lawful U.S. donors, the ban on “indirect” contributions by a foreign national does not apply, even if the U.S. subsidiary is wholly owned by a foreign parent company.”

120 DAY RULE.  NBC.  “Under the FEC’s ‘cooling off’ rule, a Super PAC is prohibited from making communications in support of a candidate based on a former campaign staffer’s knowledge of the candidate’s plans, strategies or needs, within 120 days of the staffer leaving a campaign.”

DC:  JUDGE SAYS JAIL AFTER ALL FOR THOMPSON.  WT.  “U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly went beyond the recommendation of prosecutors in sentencing Thompson to prison.”

FL:  BOARD SLAMS OFFICIAL.  BPB.  “A 70-page report released this morning by the Broward Office of the Inspector General shows that Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Robert McKinzie routinely accepted campaign contributions that were over the city’s $250 limit and submitted campaign treasurer’s reports that contained false, inaccurate, or incomplete information.”

FL:  BALLOT ACCESS SUIT.  NT.  “Gihan Perera, who chairs one of the groups that makes up the Accountable Miami-Dade coalition, tells New Times via phone that the lawsuit is designed to force Gimenez to just start counting the petitions already.”

IL:  CONTRIBUTIONS CLEARED.  CT.  “No violations were uncovered in a Lake County Election Board investigation into campaign contributions from East Chicago-based Lubrifleet Power Wash Inc.”

NJ:  NEW COMPLAINT.  Obs.  “A second complaint with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC) has been filed by Lumberton Democratic council challenger Terrance Benson.”

NY:  COMMON CAUSE WANTS FIX.  WRVO.  “‘What we don’t have is a balancing between the public’s need to know, and First Amendment and privacy rights,’ said Susan Lerner with Common Cause.”

VT:  ALLEGED VIOLATIONS.  VTD.  “Brady Toensing, a Charlotte lawyer and vice chair of the Vermont Republican Party, alleged Tuesday that a Bernie Sanders’ fundraising email on behalf of Rep. Chris Pearson in May — which netted the candidate $80,000 in his bid for state Senate — breaks state campaign finance laws.”

WA:  COMPLAINT AGAINST OFFICIALS.  Q13.  “The complaint accuses port officials of spending $45,000 of public money to oppose the validity of ballot measures in court. The Chamber and Economic Development Board spent about $10,000 for the same purpose.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

 

DEBATE ON DEBATES.  Reason.  “The Socially Liberal and Fiscally Conservative PAC (Solifico) this morning sent a letter to Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), threatening to send the IRS after them over their policy of not allowing all legitimate candidates for president in their debates.”

GOING DARK.  B.  “The pro-Clinton super-PAC Priorities USA is suspending TV advertising in Virginia, Colorado and Pennsylvania until at least the end of September, according to a person familiar with the group’s plans.”

AL:  TRIAL CREATES BACKLOG.  AL.  “Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton said the commission has a backlog of requests for advisory opinions in the wake of the Mike Hubbard trial and will hold a special meeting on Sept. 1.”

CA:  SLATE MAILERS 101.  SMDP.  “California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) states a slate mailer/card is a mass mailing of ‘snail’ or electronic mail that supports or opposes a total of four or more candidates or ballot measures. These slate mailer/card organizations do not include: 1) a candidate/officeholder or their controlled committee 2) an official committee of any political party 3) a legislative caucus committee or a committee formed primarily to support/oppose a candidate, office holder or ballot measure.”

NM:  GLITCH FIXED.  NMPR.  “The Secretary of State’s office fixed a problem in the state’s troubled campaign finance reporting system.”

NY:  FINE FOR EXCESSIVE SPENDING.  BE.  “Councilmember Vincent Gentile’s successful re-election campaign in 2013 committed a series of campaign finance violations that were serious enough for the city to level fines against the Bay Ridge lawmaker, according to a report in the New York Observer.”

TX:  BLACK BOX CAMPAIGNING TARGETED.  TT.  “Political candidates would be required to detail some of what their consultants spend on behalf of campaigns under rules proposed Monday by the Texas Ethics Commission.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.