3-31 spring break political law links

PROGRAMMING NOTE. I’ll only have a few sets of political law links this week.  Regular posts will appear starting next Tuesday.

FUNDING LANDSCAPE.  CBS.  “Between campaign committees, leadership PACs, super PACs and 527 committees, there’s a confusing collection of ways to collect funds that all come with different disclosure requirements, campaign limits, and spending restrictions, and that are being used in ways that test legal boundaries.”

ANOTHER PATH FOR IE’S.  Perkins Coie.  “An overlooked enforcement decision by the Federal Election Commission involving Senator John McCain’s 2010 campaign may put another type of player onto a campaign field that has become increasingly dominated by super PACs, nonprofits and non-candidate groups—other candidates’ campaigns.”

REGULATION OF NONPROFITS SUPPORTED.  Politickernj.com.  “It has now come to light that the IRS is drafting a regulation that will be more precise in defining what constitutes political activity.”

CO:  FEEDBACK SOUGHT.   Chieftain.com.  “Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams is asking for feedback from the public concerning campaign and political finance rules.”

LA:  NEW SUPER PAC.  Theind.com.  “There are no laws on the books whatsoever to guide super PACs in Louisiana. There is case law, however, allowing them to receive unlimited donations, but it relates only to the Fund For Louisiana’s Future. Technically, under state law, there are no super PACs — just independent political action committees.”

MN:  REVOLVING DOOR.  Chron.com.  “Many states and the U.S. government have limits against quick moves for lawmakers to become lobbyists. Minnesota does not have a law, but the state House has a rule calling for a one-year cooling off period that’s often ignored. There’s no penalty for violating it.”

MT:  CFR PASSED.  MT Standard.  “The House, on a 51-48 vote Saturday, passed a major campaign finance bill aimed at requiring so-called ‘dark money’ groups to report their donors and their expenses.”

NJ:  PAY TO PLAY CHANGE.  Covington.  “A little-noticed sentence in a bill sitting on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s desk could, if it becomes law, threaten to curtail the ability of national party committees to raise money from Wall Street and financial industry executives.”

OH:  FINES NOT COLLECTED.   DDN.  “State officials collect only a sliver of the millions of dollars in fines they levy against local and state candidates who fail to file campaign finance reports on time.”

TX:  FUNDS RETURNED.  ABC13.  “Two Houston city councilmen returned campaign contributions received from finalists for lucrative airport concessions and another council member raised questions about the transparency and relationships connected to the airport deals — all in the wake of an ABC-13 investigation into perceived coziness between the contract’s winners and City Hall.”

TX:  LOBBYISTS TARGETED.  TX Tribune.  “Texas lawmakers considered legislation Monday that could bar several elected officials from holding their posts in the future, including a moderate member of the ideologically divided State Board of Education.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Thurs. political law links

REPORT DISMISSED.  WSAU.  “Walker told a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter he has not engaged in any of the conduct mentioned in the Yahoo account.”

SERIOUS ABOUT ETHICS.  RC.  “In the middle of a highly charged atmosphere on Capitol Hill, there is one center of bipartisanship in each chamber of Congress that remains above politics: the Ethics committees. And while they do most of their work outside the political theater with good reason, there is evidence of their productivity in little reported documents, in compliance with rigorous disclosure regimes and in the fact that so many members have resigned before the conclusion of ethics investigations.”

SENTENCE IN FEDERAL CASE.  Courant.  “Congressional candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley was sentenced Tuesday to five months in prison and five more of home confinement for concealing the paid position that her disgraced political mentor, former Gov. John G. Rowland, played in her 2012 campaign.”

BUNDLERS’ LAMENT.   WP.  “Who needs a bundler when you have a billionaire?”

CA:  SF CFR.  SFE.  “You should not need a legal team to file campaign reports, nor a law degree to understand them.”

KY:  CFR FAIL.  Daily Independent.  “House Bill 203, sponsored by Rep. Tanya Pullin, D-South Shore, would have established a consistent minimum level of contributions for a Kentucky political campaign before filing reports with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance.”

TN:  ONLINE DISCLOSURE.   Nashville Scene.  “Finally, after years of whining from political observers and reporters like us, Metro campaign finance disclosures are available online.”

CAN:  TIME TO TALK BAN.  Ottawa Citizen.  ”At Wednesday’s council meeting, Nussbaum gave notice that he’ll be moving a motion next month to ask his colleagues to consider one specific thing: that council request the province allow the City of Ottawa to pass a bylaw banning corporate and union donations.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.  I’ll send around the next set of links early next week.  Have a great weekend.

Wed. political law links

PRO-CRUZ PAC NEWS.  Forsythnews.com.  “Forsyth County resident Maria Strollo Zack is the founder of the Stand for Principle political action committee, or PAC.”

CONTRIBUTION IN THE NEWS.  JSonline.com.  “Citing anonymous sources, Yahoo reported that Menard backed the Wisconsin governor and likely 2016 presidential candidate by making more than $1.5 million in secret donations to Club for Growth, which doesn’t disclose its donors and spent heavily to defend Walker in his recall election.”

UNRESOLVED.  WP.  “U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. defended his leadership of the corruption investigation into former District mayor Vincent C. Gray and claimed credit for curbing payoffs and other political corruption in the city.”

LOBBYIST POLICY SCRUTINY.   WP.  ”The number of registrations dropped from 13,367 when Obama took office to 11,509 last year, according to an analysis by American University government professor James Thurber.”

PAY TO PLAY SUIT QUESTIONS.  Reuters.  “A U.S. federal appeals court raised doubts on Monday about whether two state Republican parties can legally challenge a federal pay-to-play rule that puts restrictions on investment advisers who make contributions to certain political candidates.”

ID:  SCHOOL BOARD DISCLOSURE.   Magicvalley.com.  “The Idaho House has passed a plan requiring school board candidates in roughly half of Idaho’s school districts to file campaign finance reports.”

WI:  REFORMS URGED.  Madison.com.  “The state’s chief elections official told lawmakers in a joint Senate and Assembly hearing that Wisconsin’s laws governing campaign contributions, disclosure and the activity of candidates and independent groups are outdated in the wake of federal court decisions made in recent years.”

VT: AG SUED.  WCAX.  “Dean Corren used public money for his campaign, but now he is accused of violating Vermont’s public campaign financing law during his unsuccessful bid last year to unseat Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, R-Vermont.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.