PoliticalActivityLaw.com is a site with daily links to political law items of interest, and here are today’s links

CHARITIES, 16, AND POLITICS.  Venable Political Law Briefing.  “Charities can advance their position on the issues that they had been advocating before the platforms were adopted; however, they should consider carefully whether to opine specifically on the positions of candidates and the political parties.”

RECURRING DONATION DEAL.  A.  “The email’s author — whose name is not included in the screenshot — alleges that Trump’s campaign doesn’t allow recurring campaign contributions to be canceled.”

CROSSROADS ON TRUMP.  NPR.  “The Karl Rove-founded group that advocates for certain candidates has turned its attention to Senate races and away from the presidential race. Its CEO, Steven Law, talks about why.”

SUPER PAC WALL FALL.  SF.  “This week, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that super PACs can use the names of their candidates they support in their projects and programs.”

HOUSE SALE ETHICS.  ST.  “An online news publication’s story Wednesday about former Washington Gov. Gary Locke raises ethical questions about the private sale of Locke’s Washington, D.C.-area home to family members controlling a Chinese-owned company while Locke served as U.S. ambassador to China.”

CA:  HARRIS SUPER PAC $UPPORT.  B.  “A labor-fueled Super PAC has quietly amassed nearly $1 million this year to support Kamala Harris in her U.S. Senate bid against fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez.”

CA:  MOVE TO LIMIT.  DB.  “Redondo Beach leaders want to set limits on campaign contributions for the first time in the city’s history, but they are divided on just how hard to come down on reforms.”

IA:  JUDGE ENDORSED.  SCJ.  “A political action committee focused on campaign finance reform has endorsed Patty Judge in Iowa’s U.S. Senate race.”

LA:  LARGEST ETHICS FINE.  A.  “Four years after being charged with violating Louisiana ethics laws, Lafayette businessman Greg Gachassin and his Cartesian Company have been found guilty and assessed the largest fine in state history, $1.56 million.”

NJ:  VIOLATION ALLEGATIONS.  NJ.  “Former Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan and two of her aides broke campaign finance laws during her failed 2014 reelection bid, an official state watchdog group that monitors New Jersey elections is alleging.”

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PAY TO PLAY STATUS.  Burr & Forman.  “The latest is the SEC’s position that it didn’t take any action on the new MSRB Rules extending pay-to-play prohibitions to municipal advisors, so it can’t be sued to stop the implementation of the regulations implemented by the MSRB under the SEC’s jurisdiction.”

RNC RULES — HERE WE GO AGAIN.  CNBC.  “Rule 9 of the Republican National Committee rules governs ‘Filling Vacancies in Nominations,’ and stipulates that should the party’s presidential or vice presidential candidate leave the ticket for whatever reason, the hole may be filled either by a reconvening of the national convention or by the party committee itself. The vice presidential nominee is not given any preferential consideration.”

IF T QUITS.  FT.  “What’s unclear is whether delegates choosing a Trump replacement would be bound to any of the primary candidates. It is also unclear how a replacement would be nominated.”

T DUMP RUSH.  DB.  “So, within the GOP rules, it’s not hard to replace Trump if he drops out, and it’s not impossible to kick him off the ticket because of the word ‘otherwise.'”

T PANIC RULES.  LAT.  “‘Serious, senior lawyers’ have begun researching how the rules would work if the party had to replace Trump on the ticket, a senior GOP figure in Washington with close ties to the party hierarchy confirmed.”

ELECTOR RESIGNS.  AJC.  “Baoky Vu, a Decatur businessman selected for membership in the Electoral College that will officially decide the 2016 presidential contest, said he couldn’t bring himself to vote for Trump in November.”

TRUMP FUNDRAISING SURGE.  WP.  “GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump was buoyed an enthusiastic base of small donors in July, helping him raise $82 million in conjunction with the Republican National Committee, the campaign announced Wednesday.”

WHAT DOCUMENTS SHOW.  AT.  “FBI documents released by Judicial Watch include interviews with IRS employees in the Cincinnati tax exempt office run by Lois Lerner that prove employees were under instructions to bury the applications of Tea Party groups.”

SUPER PAC SCALE BACK. Politico.  “Priorities USA Action, the main super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, is cutting its ad buy in Colorado for the next two weeks, reflecting Democrats’ growing confidence in the battleground state.”

SUPER PAC RADIO.  CNN.  “A new super PAC is beginning what is expected to be a $1 million radio buy on behalf of Donald Trump, a campaign that will be one of the largest advertising purchases for the Republican presidential nominee so far.”

PALIN HAUL.  YA.  “During the last fundraising quarter, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s Political Action Committee raised just under $150,000.”

NEW MONEY SEARCH.  CPI.  “The Center downloaded 850,000 forms from about 250,000 nonprofits that were recently released in electronic format by the IRS; we extracted the grant data and made $170 billion reported over five years searchable.”

MCDONNELL REQUEST.  R.  “Lawyers for former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell are asking the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate her corruption convictions in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision tossing out Bob McDonnell’s convictions.”

MENENDEZ CHARGES STAND.  Politico.  “In a long-awaited decision, Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.) failed in a bid to have the bribery and corruption case against him thrown out. A federal appeals court in Philadelphia has let stand the charges against him, rejecting his claims that his constitutional protections as a senator were violated.”

SD:  REVIEW SOUGHT.  SDPB.  “South Dakota’s Secretary of State Shantel Krebs says she wants a review of the state’s campaign finance law.”

NV:  SOFTENED ETHICS.  RJ.  “How Henderson City Attorney Josh Reid can say that his proposed changes to the city’s ethics laws were not loosening them is laughable.”

NJ:  KEAN IN THE GAME.  PNJ.  “On the heels of Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3) firing off letters to the U.S. Attorney and Attorney General concerning allegations of strong-arming tactics by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) and the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean called for the immediate passage of pay-to-play legislation.”

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Wednesday’s political law links are right here

FREE SPEECH RULING.  Hill.  “The nation’s second most powerful court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, ruled that a political committee that supported Mike Huckabee’s unsuccessful run for the White House was entitled to the preliminary injunction it requested to block the Federal Election Commission from enforcing its ban.”

OPINION.  Pursuing America’s Greatness v. FEC is online here.

TRUMP SLUSH.  DB.  “The Trump Foundation, Donald Trump’s nonprofit organization, is under fire for allegedly operating as more of a political slush fund than a charity. The foundation is accused of violating rules prohibiting it from engaging in politics—prompting ethics watchdogs to call for public investigations.”

FL:  CFR PETITION.  MH.  “If enough signatures are verified, county commissioners will have to decide in the coming weeks whether to adopt proposed campaign finance legislation themselves or put the issue before voters.”

SC:  NEW RULES.  PC.  “A House ethics panel gave preliminary approval Tuesday to new rules for appropriate ways to spend campaign money — forbidding its use for living expenses or gifts to lawmakers but allowing certain memberships and clothing purchases.”

ISR:  ETHICS AND PR.  Haaretz.  “The Ethics Committee reminded everyone that MKs are not permitted to provide sponsorship, to help or promote commercial entities, including media outlets.”

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