Wed. political law links

COMPLAINT AGAINST WJLA.  Multichannel.com.  “The Campaign Legal Center,  Common Cause and the Sunlight Foundation have filed another complaint against WJLA-TV Washington alleging that it ‘refuses’ to  disclose the true identity of political advertising—it was one of two stations cited in an earlier complaint filed by the groups but dismissed by the FCC.”

LOOPHOLE AKA THE LAW.  Yahoo.  “Thanks to a contentious quirk in federal law, at least six new super PACs may hide their funders from public scrutiny until early December, no matter how much money they raise or spend from now until Election Day on Nov. 4.”

ADELSON #2.  CBS.  “Tom Steyer, the Democrat-aligned hedge fund manager intent on making climate change a campaign issue, has set a new record as the biggest single donor to super PACs in one election cycle.”

CATCH UP.   Politico.  “Despite being outraised by Democratic super PACs all year long, the top conservative groups played to a draw in September and are in a strong position to continue matching — and possibly surpassing — their rivals leading up to Election Day.”

FAMILY DONATIONS.  Modbee.com.  “Republican U.S. Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land’s father was among Michigan residents who gave heavily last month to a conservative group that has spent at least $4 million on TV ads against Democrat Gary Peters.”

CA:  BROWN CRITICIZED.  News10.  “Governor Jerry Brown is facing criticism from an anti-smoking group over a campaign contribution.”

WA:  LOBBYISTS AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  KPLU.  “The top political spenders in Washington this election year include environmentalists, unions, trial lawyers and business interests.”

NEED TO SUBSCRIBE?  Prefer to get the day’s political law links via email?  Sign up here and follow the simple instructions.  Your email address isn’t sold, rented, or used in any other way and Google’s Feedburner service automatically handles requests to unsubscribe.

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Political law links

NEW FILINGS SHOW.   USAT.  “Dozens of the Republican Party’s biggest donors — including several hedge-fund billionaires — helped a super PAC associated with Republican strategist Karl Rove raise more than $11 million in September, new filings show.”

SOROS AND SPIELBERG.  WFB.  “The Democratic Party’s top super PAC disclosed more than $9.2 million in September contributions on Monday, listing a who’s who of wealthy liberal donors, many associated with the secretive Democracy Alliance donor network.”

SUPER PAC PAYDAY.  Marketplace.org.  “A super PAC is sometimes born out of a strong sense of mission – maybe its founder cares about gun control or education reform. But other times, says Stefan Passantino, a partner at McKenna Long & Aldridge, ‘part of that mission is to create a client for their own consulting firm.'”

CT:  RECORD AWARDS.  Courant.com.  “State officials said Monday that public campaign financing awards to candidates for 2014 will total more than $33 million – a record amount for Connecticut’s taxpayer-funded election system.”

CT:  MAILINGS FUEL DISPUTE.  Courant.com.  “The increasingly competitive gubernatorial race has led to a debate over whether publicly-financed candidates running for the General Assembly can use their taxpayer-funded grants to support their party’s nominee for governor.”

IL AND IN:  CROSSING THE LINE.  NWTimes.com.  “Crossing the line separating Indiana and Illinois sometimes means dealing with different laws and customs.”

ME:  LOOPHOLE DECRIED. CentralMaine.com.  “Unless reforms are made, outside interest groups and out-of-state contributors will continue to have undue influence over and access to legislators, to the detriment of Maine residents who cannot afford large contributions but must nevertheless live with the decisions made in Augusta.”

MT:  SOMETIMES THE LAW IS AN…  Missoulian.  “The kicking donkey was printed on both sides of Dudik’s campaign fliers (3/4 inch and 3/8 inch in size) and Motl ruled that particular symbol has ‘some objective basis’ to serve as the Democratic symbol as it was used by other Democratic candidates in 2014, notably Candidate Janet Ellis, who is running for HD 81.”

RI:  HEARING YESTERDAY.  RIPR.  A complaint says “the group Citizens Concerned About Casino Gambling failed to report spending for newspaper ads, and a video produced on the group’s website.:

WV:  5 WAYS TO IMPROVE.  WVPublic.org.  “Representatives of the Brennan Center for Justice told state lawmakers Monday they’ve done a good job keeping up with the changing rules of campaign finance disclosures, especially after the 2010 Citizen’s United decision, but said West Virginia can do more to make the process more transparent for voters.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Political law links

HEDGE FUND BETS.  USAT.  ” A small band of ultra-wealthy hedge fund managers is pumping last-minute donations into newly organized super PACs to help tip the U.S. Senate to Republicans, new campaign filings show.”

HARKIN HEAT.  DMR.  “Retiring U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin has so far refused pleas from top national Democrats to spread some of his nearly $2.4 million campaign bankroll to the candidate hoping to succeed him, as well as other endangered Democrats in this year’s Senate races.”

CA:  KASHKARI ADDS.  Mercurynews.com.  “Former U.S. Treasury official Neel Kashkari is contributing another $1 million of his own money to his campaign for California governor.”

CA:  MAXIMUM FINE.  SF Gate.  “A San Francisco property management company and one of its top executives will pay $40,000 — the maximum allowed under state law — for laundering $4,000 in campaign contributions to Mayor Ed Lee and then-Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting during the 2011 mayor’s race.”

KY:  LOBBYIST PAY.  Courier-Journal.  “Through the first eight months of 2014 Frankfort’s top lobbyists have made much more money in lobbying fees – MUCH more money – than Steve Beshear will make in salary all year as governor.”

NH:  VIOLATIONS ALLEGED.  Concord Monitor.  “Walt Havenstein’s campaign violated state campaign finance rules earlier this year but will not face penalties because it has since corrected its errors, the attorney general’s office ruled yesterday.”

NH: PUSH POLL RULING.  Nashua Telegraph.  “If you hate it when political campaigns call you at dinner time during election season, there’s some bad news and some good news in the latest state Supreme Court ruling.”

NJ:  BILL MOVES.  Northjersey.com.  “The rules that prohibit New Jersey’s public employee pension funds from being invested in firms whose investment managers make contributions to political candidates here would be expanded to cover donations to national political groups under a bill approved by a state Senate committee on Thursday.”

NY: SUPER PAC ISLANDER.  Newsday. “Some late financial help is coming to the aid of Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino.”

NY:  FINE FOR KING.    NYDN.  “Bronx Councilman Andy King was fined $12,048 Thursday for campaign finance violations stemming from a 2012 special election.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.