Good morn. political law links

MIDDLE CLASS AND CFR. HuffPo. “On Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, House and Senate Democrats aimed all the spotlights at campaign finance reform.”

CURB SNUB. WSJ. “Mr. Obama — who made good government and transparency centerpieces of his 2008 campaign — has long disappointed many of his own supporters on the issue of curbing the influence of big donors and runaway money in politics.”

CA: LIMIT CHANGE EXPLORED. SMdailyjournal.com. “Increasing the maximum amount of campaign contributions and whether businesses should be allowed to donate money to candidates are among the considerations the Belmont City Council will explore as it evaluates whether its current policies are both legal and timely.”

CA: COMPLAINT FILED. LAschoolreport.com. “A section of the act requires that committees report within 24 hours the receipt any contribution of $1,000 or more that comes within 90 days of the election, which in this case, is scheduled for March 3.”

IL: ETHICS MOVES. Sun Times. A mayoral challenger has some proposals to regulate lobbyists.

ME: REFORM URGED. Lacrossetribune.com. “Recently I was invited to the White House to speak about my state’s experience with clean elections and what the citizens of Maine are doing to fight back against big money in politics.”

MT: ROBOCALL UPDATE. GF Tribune. “A Montana legislator wants to crack down on the waves of robocalls residents receive in the final months of political campaigns.”

VA: M. MCDONNELL SENTENCE RECOMMENDATION. Richmond.com. “Federal sentencing guidelines call for former first lady Maureen McDonnell to serve from five years and three months to six years and six months in prison, according to an informed source.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Here are today’s political law links

CU THERE.  CCP.  “On the fifth anniversary of the Citizens United ruling, top journalists will interview a variety of experts to explore the impact of the case on politics, liberals and the future of the First Amendment.”

NEW SUPER PAC.  The Hill.  “Republicans with ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) have formed a new super-PAC to ‘protect and expand’ on the new GOP majority in the Senate.”

SUPER PAC SINGLES.  HuffPo.  “The phenomenon of single-candidate super PACs is significant because it is unlikely that many groups would focus all of their efforts on helping just one congressional candidate if they did not have ties to him or her.”

SUPREMES WILL STRIKE.  New Yorker.  “The Roberts Court’s deregulation of campaign finance—one of the principal projects of the court’s conservative justices—is rolling along with merciless efficiency.”

WHO HUCK PAID.  Arktimes.com.  “Mother Jones reports in detail what has long been obvious — Mike Huckabee used his personal PAC to funnel money into his family and for fund-raising for his personal political operation.”

LOBBYIST SENTENCED.  Sun Times.  “A former South Sider who illegally lobbied black Chicago politicians to end U.S. sanctions against Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe was on Tuesday sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.”

CA:  TAX CREDIT IDEA.  LAT.  “Rather than simply rehearsing the same stale debates, we need to find different approaches. One is to enact a federal tax credit to encourage small donors to contribute up to $200 to a candidate or political party.”

IL:  EMANUEL SUPER PAC HAUL.  Sun Times.  “The $2 million super PAC created to re-elect Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his City Council allies has received a $100,000 contribution from a Laborer’s union that endorsed Gery Chico in 2011.”

MT:  STRONG COMMISSION SOUGHT.  Missoulian.  “If we citizens want to be heard above the din of corporations and money, we must have a strong Commission on Political Practices or the relentless national campaign to destroy election laws will pay no attention to the laws we have left.”

NJ:  OPINION ON LEGAL FEES.  Trentonian.com.  “Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James and an associate improperly used about $94,000 in campaign funds to pay for legal fees surrounding James’ federal indictment in 2007, a state appeals court wrote in a decision published Friday.”

NJ:  NEW IN NJ.  Northjersey.com.  “A new ‘super’ political action committee that can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money was created last week by Lyndhurst attorney Donald Scarinci to help Democratic candidates for state and federal office.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

1-20 political law links

SUPREME REVIEW.  CBS.  “Five years after the Supreme Court freed corporations and labor unions to spend freely in federal elections, the justices will hear arguments Tuesday in Williams-Yulee’s challenge to the Florida rules, which she says violate her right to speak freely.”

PROBE SOUGHT.  Newsleader.com.  “The Republican Party of Virginia filed a formal ethics complaint Friday against Democratic Sen. Mark Warner for ‘brainstorming’ about jobs for a state senator’s daughter as he tried to dissuade the legislator from quitting in the middle of a bitterly partisan Medicaid battle.”

AZ:  SUPERBOWL ETHICS.  KPHO.  “Phoenix residents were promised ethics reform in the city of Phoenix nearly three years ago. Now, just weeks before the biggest sporting event in the world is played in the Valley, some city leaders are asking what happened.”

CT:  WHAT’S NEXT.  CT Mirror.  “Needless to say, prescriptions for fixing Connecticut’s system of publicly financing campaigns vary wildly.”

FL:  LOBBYING ACTIVITY.  Naplesnews.com.  “Roughly $1.6 billion was spent in Florida on lobbying in the five years from 2008-13, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. Since Florida lists lobbyist compensation in ranges, that dollar amount is more of a median, said Pete Quist, the institute’s research director.”

MT:  CHANGE AFOOT.  Missoulian.  “The first-time registration of a Missoula law firm as a political action committee appears to indicate a shift in the political landscape since the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.”

VA: GIFTS DOWN. WP. “Year to year, Republicans accepted about 35 percent fewer gifts and Democrats accepted about 15 percent fewer gifts, the data shows.”

WI:  SOURCE OF FUNDS.  DC.  “A report released Monday found that an influential Wisconsin progressive group quietly changed its tune on union contributions only after Scott Walker became governor.”

AUS:  EXPLAINING DONATIONS.  The Australian.  “Rex has been unable to explain why it made unprecedented, massive donations to political parties two years ago, at the same time as an investigation into the crash of one of its aircraft was being conducted. ”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.