Disclaimers are everywhere in campaign finance law. Leave them off and you run serious risk of a complaint and fine. Skeptic’s Eye notes one recent case where pre-probable cause and probable cause conciliation failed to conclude the matter. The case is also an interesting data point for respondents considering “rolling the dice” to “see what a court will say.” Maybe another point is, as one Commisioner used to say, “What’s the point when you can’t read these disclaimers when you’re going 55 mph down the highway?”
State Issues: New York
New York’s Commission on Public Integrity, created by the 2007 Public Employee Ethics Reform Act, has already released two advisory opinions and some enforcement actions.