Political law links

MCCONNELL AND CFR.  Courier-Journal.  “Campaign finance reform groups are charging that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is using a spending bill to mount a ‘sneak’ attack on party spending limits.”

SUPER PAC FTL.  WP.  “Trevor Parkes and Henry Longley, neither of them from Ohio, filed paperwork for the ‘Draft Rob Portman’ super PAC and set up Facebook and Twitter accounts that consist mostly of sharing or retweeting Portman himself. They planned to really ramp up their efforts after this semester, they told Bloomberg in an interview last month.”

COMPLIANCE NOW.  State and Federal.  This month’s edition contains a number of interesting updates, as usual.

REVOLVING DOORS.  NYT.    “Why, the letter asked, do banks routinely pay out special compensation packages to executives who leave to take government jobs when those packages were intended to retain them?”

AR:  MORE REFORM ON BALLOT.  UALRPublicRadio.  “The Arkansas Attorney General’s office is considering the wording of campaign finance reform proposal that one grassroots group would like to get on the 2016 general election ballot. The ballot question was submitted Monday.”

CA:  DISCLOSURE BILL.  The Californian.  “To date, the California Legislature has managed to keep the state Fair Political Practices Commission a budget-starved, emaciated waif of an agency. So for a member of the Assembly to actually write a bill that would beef up disclosure — well, it’s just not something you see or hear of everyday.”

IL:  IS IT ENOUGH?  Evanston Now.  “It takes money to run a political campaign. But how much is too much? At what point does the money donated to political campaigns become a hindrance to democratic elections?”

MD:  NEW RULES PROPOSED.  Baltimore Sun.  “New rules proposed by the State Board of Elections would forbid candidates from dipping into their political funds to pay for such things as foreign travel, tuition or mounting a legal defense to charges unrelated to the campaign.”

MD:  WINNING WITH PUBLIC FINANCING.  WP.  “Gov.-elect Larry Hogan (R) this month became the first candidate in Maryland history to win a gubernatorial election while participating in the state’s public financing system. The question now is whether he’ll be the last.”

VA:  MCDONNELL UPDATE.  Timesdispatch.com.  “‘Substantial evidence exists to support the jury verdict that Mrs. McDonnell acted with corrupt intent. However, obstruction of justice requires more than just a misleading note,’ wrote U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Political law links

RYAN ON TWITTER.  Brookings.  “Recent revelations about the creative use of social media illustrate how the parties and outside groups are anything but ‘independent’ in any meaningful sense of the word and are pushing the boundaries of the FEC’s weak ‘coordination’ rules.”

JACKSON DECIDES.  FEC.  “The United States District Court for the District of Columbia today issued its Memorandum Opinion and Order in Van Hollen v. FEC (Case No. 11-0766 (ABJ)), granting plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and denying defendant FEC’s cross motion for summary judgment. The Court ordered further that 11 C.F.R. § 104.20(c)(9) is vacated.”

CA:  OC OVERSIGHT.   Voiceofoc.org.   “The Orange County Board of Supervisors appears ready today to renew its effort to have the state’s campaign finance watchdog monitor contributions in local elections.”

NC:  STATE INVESTIGATION.  WCNC.  “A complaint has been filed against Fuller accusing him of signing campaign finance reports that are allegedly inaccurate, and at times, misleading.”

OH:  MAYOR DEFENDS.  Cleveland.com.  “Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic and city council President Garry Moneypenny jointly asked for an outside investigation into local politicians’ campaign finance practices Monday, after hearing allegations last week that some members of council violated the city’s campaign finance laws.”

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HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING.  I’ll be taking a few days off from sending around links to enjoy a little Thanksgiving break.  I hope you and yours have a wonderful and safe holiday.

Political law links

CRAIG APPEALS. Magicvalley.com. “Former U.S Sen. Larry Craig is appealing a D.C. judge’s ruling that he broke the law by using campaign funds to cover legal fees after his 2007 arrest in an airport bathroom sex sting.”

DEPARTING SHOT. The Hill. “Begich introduced legislation Thursday that would add super-PACs and other outside groups to the list of groups that must comply with the National Do Not Call Registry.”

DEBT AND REPORTING. Star Tribune. “In multiple interviews, Monti Moreno of Marine-on-St.-Croix and Phillip Parrish of Medford, confirmed Andy Parrish [no relation to Phillip Parrish] approached them both separately during the balloting for the Republican Party of Minnesota‘s endorsement for U.S. Senate with a request to endorse Ortman.”

CA: COAT COMPLAINT. Daily Pilot. “Foley was told by city CEO Tom Hatch and City Attorney Tom Duarte that her using a public place for a political purposes was a potential violation of state law enforced by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).”

CA: COUNCILMAN FINED. OC Register. “Buena Park Councilman Art Brown was fined $8,500 by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to disclose contributions and expenditures of at least $100 during his unsuccessful run for the county Board of Supervisors in 2010 and successful campaign for re-election to the City Council in 2012.”

MA: INAUGURATION LIMITS. Boston Globe. “Governor-elect Charlie Baker is imposing a $25,000 limit on corporate contributions and a $250 cap on lobbyist gifts to his inauguration committee.”

NM: PUBLIC FINANCING AND NO OPPONENT. ABQ Journal. “A candidate must return any unspent public financing to the Secretary of State’s Public Election Fund, and Lyons says he expects to return about half of the $41,630 he received.”

NY: TEXT DONATION RULES. Capital NY. “By the middle of the next year, local candidates who already have an eye on raising money for 2017 will be able to raise money through text-message donations, in addition to mobile credit card donations.”

OH: AKRON HIRES. Ohio.com. “The city of Akron will hire an outside attorney to look at the campaign finances of mayoral and council candidates in the past two municipal elections.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.