Secret trip funding and other political law links

HOUSE TRIP QUESTIONS.  WP.  “The state-owned oil company of Azerbaijan secretly funded an all-expenses-paid trip to a conference in Baku, on the Caspian Sea, in 2013 for 10 members of Congress and 32 staff members, according to a confidential ethics report obtained by The Washington Post. Three former top aides to President Obama appeared as speakers at the event.”

COORDINATION BOUNDARIES.  Bloomberg.  “A second, semi-official super-PAC is being formed to help Hillary Clinton, and in an unusual twist, has announced plans to coordinate with the Democratic presidential front-runner’s campaign.”

OFFICE RENTAL.  CBS.  “Sources with the building management and the PAC confirmed the lease for the space located at the Flagler Corporate Center at 9250 W. Flagler Street.”

16, TESTING, SUPER PACS, AND COORDINATION.    USAT.  “Bush is not alone in advancing his presidential bid through a new crop of big-money groups authorized by a pair of federal court rulings, including the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010. The ruling permitted unlimited spending by corporations and unions in candidate elections. Other candidates also are getting support from super PACs, and several have long-standing non-profit policy arms.”

AZ:  CLEAN ELECTIONS COMMISSION CONSIDERS.  AZ Cap. Times.  “The Clean Elections Commission on Thursday will consider a proposed rule aimed at forcing disclosure from ‘convenience corporations’– nonprofits, LLCs or other entities created for the purpose of dark money-funded electioneering.”

MO:  GIFT ISSUES.  CTS.  “An ethics complaint has been filed against a Missouri House member who says he has helped other lawmakers hide lobbyist gifts from required public reporting.”

MT:  RESEARCHER RENEGADES.  IBA.  “This is a time for a slap on the wrist — a modest fine, maybe — -not the full guns of a DA.”

WI:  PROSECUTORIAL INTENT.  WP.  “Francis D. Schmitz, a veteran federal prosecutor who heads the five-county probe, argued in recent court filing unsealed Wednesday that there is reason to believe that campaign finance violations occurred when Walker’s strategists collaborated with conservative advocacy groups during the state’s contentious recall campaigns in 2011 and 2012.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Coordination and more in today’s political law links

GROUP TO GET CLOSER.  NYT.  “Correct the Record, a group started by David Brock, a staunch ally of Hillary Rodham Clinton, is recreating itself as a stand-alone ‘super PAC’ that has the ability to coordinate with her campaign.”

REFORM PROPOSAL.   CT.  “The good news for those billionaires is that under my new plan, they still get to be billionaires. (You’re welcome!) They just aren’t allowed to be active in politics and they have to surrender a sizable amount of their fortunes. (Sorry.)”

WERTHEIMER ON PILLAR.  HuffPo.  “The bottom line: to have a realistic chance that enacting campaign finance reform will be a top priority in a Clinton Administration, her commitment to achieving this result must be seriously tested during the presidential campaign.”

NEW SUPER PAC.  MH.  “Ron DeSantis already has several conservative political committee lined up to help elect him to the U.S. Senate, and now he has a Super PAC in his corner. The newly created Service.Honor.Country. Action Fund (SHCAF) can raise unlimited campaign donations and make indepdendent expenditures on behalf of DeSantis.”

CT:  TAX DONATIONS?  Courant.com.  “A reader, Elwyn Harp of West Hartford, offers an intriguing idea. What if, he asks, 5 percent of every campaign contribution went to the government?”

MT:  DID RESEARCHERS BREAK LAW?   Mercurynews.com.  “Montana’s top political watchdog says Stanford and Dartmouth researchers broke the law by sending mailers to more than 100,000 voters about the Big Sky State’s supreme court election last year.”

NY:  LLC UPDATE.   Syracuse.com.  “The New York Assembly has voted to close the campaign finance loophole for limited liability companies.”

TX:  ETHICS COMMITTEE CHANGES.  DMN.  “The Texas Ethics Commission would get more enforcement power in a bill overhauling the entity that passed in the House late Monday night.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

5-12 pol. law links

MN:  BOARD APPOINTMENT.  Star Tribune.  “Former Rep. Margaret Leppik, known as Peggy, was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.”

NJ:  PAY TO PLAY ISSUES.  NJ.com.  “The author of New Jersey’s pay-to-play laws says Gov. Chris Christie’s 2016 PAC may have violated them by accepting tens of thousands of dollars at a GOP fundraiser co-sponsored by a company that has a contract with the state Department of Environmental Protection.”

NY:  ETHICS REFORM.  DF.  “Whether it’s three men in a room deciding the fate of the state budget or the recent arrests of prominent and powerful state lawmakers charged with corruption, criticism of New York’s governmental ethics are not difficult to come by.”

WV:  COMPLAINT DISMISSED.  NS.  “A complaint filed with the West Virginia Ethics Commission against City Councilwoman Kim Coram by Mayor Bob Newell has been dismissed.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.