[Political Activity Law]

PAYEE ISSUE.  WP.  “On April 25, a new company called Left Hand Enterprises LLC was formed in Delaware, listing its address at an incorporation service provider in Wilmington.”

BIG AND NEW.  TB.  “A new, well-funded voter mobilization group is gearing up across Florida to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot. For Florida’s Future, a joint super PAC and 501(c)4 organization, aims to highlight and hold accountable candidates for their words and records on specific issues including climate change, student debt, and retirement security.”

CA:  NOW WHAT?  OCR.  “Orange County finally has an ethics commission after more than a decade of advocacy for one, but now the difficult work begins: providing it the people, budget and tools to make it work as intended.”

GA:  300 CHARGES.  AJC.  “Atlanta City Councilman Michael Julian Bond faces 300 civil charges of violating state campaign finance laws – and a whopping $58,000 fine if found guilty.”

MA:  CHANGES PASSED.  ML.  “The Massachusetts House on Wednesday passed three campaign finance bills aimed at increasing transparency and leveling the playing field for special election candidates.”

PA:  AMISH AND INDEPENDENT.  P.  “Amish PAC, which claims to be the first and only Amish-dedicated super political action committee, is spending on flyers and newspaper and billboard advertisements that will target Amish and Mennonite communities in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Each swing state has 60,000 Amish residents, according to the PAC’s website.”

SC:  GOV. ASKS FOR MORE.  PC.  “Gov. Nikki Haley said it was a long campaign to get the General Assembly to make strides on ethics reform as she signed the bill into law Thursday but stressed there is more to be done.”

TX:  AUSTIN ATTACK ON INDEPENDENT MONEY.  MS.  “The city already requires candidates and political action committees to provide reports listing their donors. The rules approved Thursday require other nonprofit organizations, which typically don’t disclose their donors, to list contributors who give at least $500 for spending toward a candidate or ballot measure.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

DONOR PRIVACY URGED.  The Hill.  “By lumping in donors to these causes protected under the donor privacy bill with what they claim to be a bad influence in politics, opponents disparage true and worthy beneficence done for purposes of conscience. And what is America without protecting rights of conscience?”

UBER HYPE.  BG.  “On June 1, Uber disclosed an unprecedented $3.5 billion investment from the Saudi Arabian government. Aside from its stock ownership, which totals more than 5 percent, the kingdom bought itself a seat on the company’s board of directors.”

ANOTHER COMPLAINT.  WMUR. “Cullen said campaign finance reports show that Guinta personally loaned his campaign $81,000 during the 2010 congressional primary. The campaign repaid that money to Guinta in the following years.”

BUSINESS MIX.  KUOW.  “The FEC bars candidates from directly pocketing campaign contributions. And yet, Potter said, companies owned by candidates are barred from giving money to their bosses’ political efforts. So if the Trump campaign is using Trump properties and services, it does have to pay Trump’s companies.”

NEW SUPER PAC.  RC. “The timing of the group’s creation will raise eyebrows, given that it came on the same day that Rubio announced he was running for re-election.”

KEEP THE PROMISE, CHANGE THE NAME.  BN.  “Robert Mercer, the GOP mega-donor and co-founder of Renaissance Technologies hedge fund who once backed Texas Senator Ted Cruz, is launching a super-PAC with a novel twist to get establishment-minded donors off the sidelines.”

IL:  INVESTIGATION SOUGHT.  CT.  “Michelle Fajman, election board director, said that under state law corporations are allowed to contribute $2,000 a year across all campaigns. Companies listed as limited liability corporations do not have the same limits.”

MO:  AIR WAR.  STL.  “The PAC-backed ad, financed by the State Conservative Reform Action PAC, or SCRAP, targets Schaefer for supporting legislation as a member of the Senate that allowed foreign ownership of Missouri farmland.”

MT:  COMEDY ALLEGED.  IR.  “Are Mr. Motl’s other cases capricious and sloppily done? No notification, no verification of data? Is this slipshod incompetence? A Laurel and Hardy comedy?”

SC:  BETTER FUTURE SOUGHT.  FN.  “This is political speech – and politicians have absolutely no right to muzzle it just because it criticizes them.  In fact we’ve repeatedly opposed so-called ‘ethics reforms’ that seek to shut down precisely these sorts of ads.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

FATTAH VERDICT.  NBC.  “A jury has convicted veteran U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah in a racketeering case that largely centered on various efforts to repay an illegal $1 million campaign loan.”

“SELF”-FINANCING.  Forbes.  “According to Federal Election Commission filings, in May alone, Trump spent over a million dollars for goods and services provided by at least 10 of his own companies.”

WHAT IT TAKES.  NYT.    “Charles Spies, a Republican election lawyer who advised Jeb Bush’s ‘super PAC,’ said Mr. Trump would have to put in an enormous amount of his own money to jump-start his campaign and win over big donors. He suggested an appropriate figure would be $100 million to $200 million.”

MEMO COMES TO LIGHT.  DC.  “A leaked 2015 memo appears to give Hillary Clinton staffers advice on how to solicit large-sum donations for super PACs without breaking campaign finance laws restricting that behavior.”

NO TURKEY.  USAT.  “Members of Congress have abandoned privately funded trips to Turkey, once a favorite destination for such junkets, after investigations by House ethics panels and USA TODAY indicated many of these trips had been illegally funded.”

INTERIOR EMAIL.  Hill.  “The email, sent last week to the Interior Department’s 70,000 employees, comes as Congress and the department’s inspector general are paying increased attention to allegations that the department’s employees are breaking important rules.”

CA: CANDIDATES FINED.  LAT.  “The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission fined a former City Council candidate nearly $16,000 Tuesday for failing to pay for campaign services that exceeded city limits on donations, as well as other violations.”

NY:  BROAD CHANGES.  JDS.  “Late last week, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and State legislative leaders announced agreement on a broad set of ethics and campaign-finance reforms focused on increased disclosure, transparency, and public trust.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.