Have a great 4th and here are today’s political law links

DEBATE CASE UPDATE.  WP.  “So just what happened here? Based on Everson’s complaint and the factual record, commissioners considered three separate motions on the Everson-Fox News proceeding.”

DEBATE CASE UPDATE ][.  WT.  “Upholding constitutional principles is not an appropriate role for a member of the Federal Election Commission, Democratic Commissioner Ann Ravel said on Thursday.”

DEBATE CASE UPDATE ]I[.  Fox.  “The commission operates by law under a press exemption designed to protect journalistic independence. By legally challenging what Fox did in Cleveland, the FEC is taking on what is, in essence, a newsroom decision on how to cover a campaign.”

BAUER BEMOANS.  PC.  “Of course, the conclusion that this amounts to a violation of law seems more than a little peculiar.”

NEW SUPER PAC.  WP.  “A new super PAC taking aim at Donald Trump has formed, with the focus on mobilizing Democrats against him. The group, named Keep America Great, has been set up as a grass-roots coalition spanning all 50 states and the District of Columbia.”

SNAP CHAT INNOVATION.  USAT.  “In advance of Saturday’s national election, the  Liberal Party of Australia is unveiling Snapchat’s first political ‘lens’ ad, an animated graphic that users can ad to their snaps urging their friends to ‘Vote Liberal.'”

STAFF MOVES.   PP.  “Donald Trump’s choice to run his campaign in Colorado, a key battleground state, is a veteran political consultant who was accused in the last election cycle of defrauding a top conservative super PAC.”

TAX ISSUES.  WP.  “Afterward, three experts on tax law questioned whether Trump had violated IRS rules against ‘self-dealing’ — which are designed to keep nonprofit officials from using their charities to help themselves.”

RULES FIGHT.  TG.  “A draft rule for the GOP convention, obtained by MSNBC, would effectively lock-in Donald Trump as the GOP nominee and kill the “Stop Trump” movement once and for all.”

CASE EXPEDITED.  BAN. “The case has a hearing on July 7, Thursday.”

MA:  COMPLAINT FILED.  B.  “The Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol filed a complaint against Walpole Police Chief John Carmichael with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance on Thursday.”

NJ:  PAY TO PLAY CONFLICT.  NJ.  “A storm is brewing at City Hall over proposed revisions to the city’s pay-to-play ban that will pit Mayor Steve Fulop against a group of antagonists that includes a possible 2017 reelection opponent.”

NJ:  LATE FILING.  N.  “As they prepare to take the oath of office on Friday, four of the six winners in Paterson’s May City Council elections have yet to file their final campaign finance reports for the election, records show.”

TX:  CHANGES APPROVED.  HC.  “City Council approved changes to Houston’s campaign finance law Wednesday with no discussion, effectively doubling contribution limits per general election cycle and boosting the amount many candidates can reimburse themselves for personal loans.”

WA:  PROBST VIOLATION.  C.  “The state’s Public Disclosure Commission ruled Democratic legislative candidate Tim Probst violated state campaign finance law by not filing a personal financial affairs report in a timely manner.”

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.  I’ll send around the next set of links early next week.  Have a great 4th!

Every day I collect political law links, here are today’s

KAINE TRIPS.  Politico.  “While legal under Virginia’s unusually permissive ethics rules, the gifts could become attack-ad fodder after similar presents led to corruption charges for Gov. Bob McDonnell, whose conviction the Supreme Court overturned Monday. Republicans could also use the records to portray Kaine as part of the self-dealing establishment in a cycle animated by hostility toward the political class.”

MISSING DOC.  NBC.  “A week later, NBC News has learned the FEC has posted no record of Trump converting his loans to donations. The Trump Campaign has also declined requests to share the legal paperwork required to execute the transaction, though they suggest it has been submitted.”

STRUGGLE REAL.  NBC.  “A number of super PACs supporting presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump are struggling to meet expectations and fundraising goals, forcing them to retool their efforts with just four months until Election Day.”

AD QUESTIONS.  ABC.  “The National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund is behind a new anti-Hillary Clinton ad released today that appears to have been filmed in a U.S. national cemetery, which would be a violation of government policy.”

SUPER PAC BACK.  HP.  “The alleged fraudster behind a purportedly pro-Bernie Sanders super PAC that seemingly scammed ‘James Bond’ actor Daniel Craig is out of jail and back in the political fundraising game.”

COSTLY CAMPAIGNING.  WP.  “Last month, the Labor Department decided to expand the universe of workers who are entitled to overtime compensation — that is, time-and-a-half pay for working beyond 40 hours per week. Starting later this year, salaried workers earning up to $913 a week, or $47,476 annually, will be covered by overtime protections.”

DEBATE CASE RELEASED.  WT.  “Finally making good on long-harbored anger at conservative media, Democrats on the Federal Election Commission voted in secret to punish Fox News’ sponsorship of a Republican presidential debate, using an obscure law to charge the network with helping those on stage.”

HISTORY OF POLITICAL ADVERTISING.  ADWEEK.  “Videology, a digital video ad platform that works with political campaigns on both sides of the aisle, took a look at the evolution of political advertising all the way back to before the United States of America was even a thing.”

AL:  GROUP WANTS OUT.    MA.  “Attorneys for the Alabama Council for Excellent Government (ACEGOV), formed last year to advance the governor’s agenda, wrote in a filing Tuesday that Collier had failed to state a claim against them.”

CA:  BUDGET APPROVED.  VO.  “Orange County supervisors signed off Tuesday on a $549,000 budget and staffing plan for the county’s upcoming ethics commission that calls for two-and-a-half workers to investigate and help enforce the county’s campaign finance limits and ethics rules.”

MT:  GROUP TO REGISTER.  IR.  “The Republican Governors Association agreed to register as a political committee in Montana after spending more than $450,000 prior to the state’s June 7 primary to benefit Bozeman businessman Greg Gianforte’s campaign for governor.”

NM:  TRANSFER ALLEGATION.  NMPR.  “A Secretary of State candidate is accusing her opponent of an ethics violation for campaign contributions in 2014 from PACs unconnected to the campaign.”

WI:  FINALISTS.  WPR.  “Wisconsin’s new ethics board held its first meeting Tuesday to interview three finalists hoping to lead the new agency.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Wed. political law links

CHALLENGE REJECTED.  ABC.  “The justices on Tuesday left in place a lower court ruling allowing the 2012 law to be enforced. The measure requires third-party groups working independently of candidates to influence elections to disclose the source of donations.”

CONTRACTOR LAW IN THE NEWS.  Hill.  “There are also loopholes in the federal contractor ban. The biggest allows employees and corporate officers of companies with federal contracts to contribute to any candidate or committee of their choosing. They can also establish super-PACs in the name of their own.”

NAME OF ANOTHER ISSUES.  STL.  “A Washington-based watchdog group is alleging that a Belleville law firm used its secretaries and office staff as ‘straw men’ to funnel illegally high campaign donations to Metro East congressional candidate C.J. Baricevic.”

SOLICITATION ISSUES.  TPM.  “Accepting contributions from foreign nationals is illegal of course though in this case it seems more a matter of incompetence than criminal intent, as though Trump has bought his email list not for a party list vendor but maybe from a Nigerian email scammer.”  More from The WSJ:   “For the Trump campaign, sending fundraising emails to non-Americans could raise questions with the Federal Election Commission, which prohibits campaigns from soliciting or accepting foreign donations.”

SUPER PAC SPENDS.  RC.  “The Senate Leadership Fund plans to spend big money defending Republicans in a quartet of battleground seats this fall, the super PAC said Tuesday, a strong indication of which states the group expects — and doesn’t expect — to be competitive in November.”

MOYERS THANKS FCC.  BM.  “On June 24, the Federal Communications Commission began requiring the nation’s radio broadcasters and cable television stations to upload all of their political ad contracts to a public online database.”

CA:  DONORS DISCLOSED.  LAT.  “Individuals named in the group’s report include  Silicon Valley tech and investment executive John H. Scully ($500,000), investor and Hyatt Hotel heir Anthony Pritzker ($100,000), developer Geoff Palmer ($100,000) and private equity investor Gerald Parsky ($50,000).”

KY:  APPOINTMENTS UPDATE.  CJ.  “Gov. Matt Bevin on Tuesday issued an executive order stripping the state attorney general and auditor of their abilities to nominate candidates to the governor to appoint to the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.”

MT:  SPECK SAYS LEVEL THE FIELD.  IR.  ” Are we to conclude that citizens of modest means who have little or no money to fling into political campaigns have ‘limited free speech’ — or none at all?”

NV:  UBER ATTACK.  BF.  “The super PAC affiliated with the Koch network is up with a new ad in Nevada, attacking Democratic Senate candidate Catharine Cortez Masto for driving Uber out of the state.”

NC:  HARTSELL INDICTED.  WT.  ” A longtime North Carolina state senator misused campaign contributions and falsely labeled the spending as expenses and charitable donations on finance reports, according to an indictment issued Tuesday.”

PA:  SODA TAX SUPPORT.  PM.  “Known as Philadelphians for a Fair Future, it aired TV ads, funded polls, and partnered with an army of volunteers to help persuade lawmakers to support the tax.”

TX:  COMPLAINT FILED.  SA.  “Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington recently asked the IRS to look into whether a 501(c)4 nonprofit called the American Dream Initiative was created specifically as a vehicle to influence elections, which would violate the group’s tax-exempt status. CREW has also asked the IRS, FBI and U.S. Department of Justice to probe whether the American Dream Initiative lied about how much money it reported spending on political activity in 2014.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.