Fri. political law links

MAYDAY PAY DAY.  Politico.  “Mayday PAC, the self-styled anti-super PAC super PAC fighting big money in politics, raised $1.5 million since mid-August, with $650,000 coming from just five super-rich donors.”

TIMES ON THE POLITICAL MONEY ECOSCAPE. NYT. “With the advent of Citizens United, any players with the wherewithal, and there are surprisingly many of them, can start what are in essence their own political parties, built around pet causes or industries and backing politicians uniquely answerable to them.”

AZ:  ADMISSION IN CASE.  AZ Capitol Times.  “Republican Corporation Commission candidates Tom Forese and Doug Little now admit they broke Arizona’s campaign finance laws, and each has been assessed a $1,000 fine by the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission, meaning the two will avoid a deeper investigation into their campaign finance reports.”

CA:  ANONYMOUS MAILER.  Palo Alto Online.  “An anonymous mailer urging recipients to vote for the three female candidates for Palo Alto’s school board went out to an unknown number of local homes this week, creating a stir due to its negative tone and apparent targeting of one candidate.”

IL:  EMANUEL EDGE.  Chicago Tribune.  “Mayor Rahm Emanuel widened his financial advantage over challengers in the upcoming mayoral election, reporting more than $1.1 million in contributions to his political organization in the latest state campaign finance report.”

IL:  BREAKING RECORDS.  Herald Review.  “The heated race for Illinois governor is shattering state records for campaign fundraising and spending, fueled by a deep-pocketed GOP candidate and intense national interest in what’s expected to be one of the closest contests in the country.”

LA:  COMPLAINTS FILED.  KTBS.  “Ethics Complaints for excessive contributions to mayoral candidates Ollie Tyler and Patrick Williams were put in the mail in Shreveport Wednesday, and sent to the Ethics Administration in Baton Rouge, sources tell KTBS.”

MA:  REFORM DEAD.  Boston.com.  “Close to home, officials in Somerville sought to pass a law limiting campaign donations for those looking to build in or do business with the city.”

MN:  CAMPAIGN FINANCE DASHBOARD.   MinnPost.com.  “MinnPost is tracking fundraising totals for candidates for governor, U.S. Senate and U.S. House in 2014.”

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND.

Political law links

SUPER PAC REPORTS.  ABC.  “Some of the most powerful political committees faced a Wednesday deadline to reveal how much cash they raised and spent during July, August and September. It was likely to be one the last times before Nov. 4’s elections that voters could see how millions of dollars were flowing into outside campaign groups.”

BLOOMBERG GIVES.  AJC.  “Former New York City mayor, media tycoon and gun control advocate Michael Bloomberg gave $350,000 to a pro-Michelle Nunn Super PAC last month, making him easily the biggest single benefactor to her campaign.”

AD HALT.  Courier Journal.  “The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee appears to be pulling out of Kentucky and leaving Alison Lundergan Grimes by herself to battle Mitch McConnell and the political action committees that have been hammering her with millions of dollars in television ads for months.”

CA:  CALPERS NEWS.  SacBee.com.  “The FPPC is fining Mathur for failing to file four campaign finance statements in connection with her recent successful bid for re-election to the CalPERS board.”

FL: DEBATE MOU NEWS. WP. “On Wednesday night, Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) refused (for a short time) to take the debate stage with former governor Charlie Crist (D), reportedly because Crist had a fan — something he often uses during public appearances — at his feet.”

MT:  RADIO AD COMPLAINT.  Helenair.com.  “Democratic candidate for Senate District 42 Jill Cohenour has filed a complaint with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices against her Republican opponent Joe Dooling over a radio ad that both candidates agree did not include his party affiliation.”

NV:  STATE OF PLAY.  Las Vegas Sun.  “Nevada voters get a new look today at who’s spending money to influence upcoming state and local elections.”

PAY TO PLAY AWAITING SAY.  ABC.  “Legislation to end pay-to-play politics in state contracts is awaiting the signature of Governor Tom Corbett.”

PA:  RULES TIGHT.  Philly.com.  “Philadelphia’s Board of Ethics approved a series of amendments to the city’s campaign-finance rules Wednesday, the most significant aimed at tightening restrictions on what constitutes a third party’s support of a candidate.”

VA: THE JUROR. WP. “The juror who was mysteriously excused midway through the public corruption case against former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, was let go because he called a lawyer he knew and mentioned his jury service — although both he and the lawyer said their conversation did not go far beyond that, court records show.”

WI: RANDA RULES.   JSOnline.com.  “U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa on Tuesday barred state election officials and Milwaukee’s top prosecutor from enforcing their interpretation of campaign finance laws limiting the ability of candidates and purportedly independent groups from collaborating.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Wed. political law links

RULES OF THE GAME.  Roll Call.  “Advocates of political money restrictions have long decried the FEC’s paralysis, but they are even more irate now that the agency has finally sprung into action.”

STEYER MONEY MOVES. Seattle Times. “In late September, political reporter Jim Brunner wrote about how California billionaire and climate activist Tom Steyer had decided to drop $1 million into Washington state’s elections to help Democrats regain control of the state Senate.”

I WATCHED SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO. WFB. “As Lachlan reported last week, the left-wing activist group MoveOn.org is running a contest to see who can produce the best campaign ad highlighting ‘the importance of money in politics, and why we need to fundamentally reform the way elections are funded.'”

CONVICTION IN CASE.  Roll Call. “A Chicago man who bragged to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in 2008 about his close ties to then President-Elect Barack Obama was convicted Friday of violating federal law as he lobbied for relief of sanctions against the African nation.”

40 YEARS LATER.  NYT.  “Should what remains of this legislation be used as the foundation for additional reforms, or is the system so badly damaged that lawmakers should start from scratch?”

KOCH SUPER PAC.  Slate.  “[T]hey’ve now launched a super PAC called the Freedom Partners Action Fund that does back individual candidates, and as such the identities of the group’s donors are public.”

TO CHAIRITY. Cleveland.com.  “Democratic congressional candidate Michael Wager says he’ll donate money he got from Steris Corp.’s political action committee to charity because of its decision to move its corporate headquarters abroad for tax purposes.”

CA: CHEVRON IN RICHMOND. LAT. “So far this year, Chevron has poured an astounding $2.9 million into three campaign committees in Richmond. Of that, at least $1.4 million has gone to a committee supporting the pro-Chevron candidates and $500,000 to a committee opposing the candidate critical of Chevron, including the current mayor, Gayle McLaughlin. The figures suggest that Chevron is preparing to spend at least $33 for the vote of every resident of the city 18 or older.”

CT:  DEMOCRATS SLAMMED.  CTMirror.org.  “In unusually blunt language, the State Elections Enforcement Commission is asking the Federal Election Commission to prevent the state Democratic Party from using funds from a federal campaign finance account to pay for a mailing supporting the re-election of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.”

LA:  DONATIONS QUESTIONS.  KTBS.  “Among those candidates who received questionable donations—Sam Jenkins. Jenkins received one donation that raised a red flag. $1000 from a church: the New Elizabeth Missionary Baptist Church.”

AU:  VICTORIAN’S SECRET.  WAToday.com.  “What Victorians need to know, from any party fielding candidates in the forthcoming election, is exactly who is donating to them, how much they have given and over what period of time and what, if any, are the donors’ affiliations with corporations/businesses and so on.  This information is not available because Victoria does not have a donations disclosure policy (although all parties must lodge with the Victorian Election Commission a copy of their Federal annual return, which refers to the $50,000 cap on any donations received from casinos and gambling licensees).”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.