Wed. political law links

CONYERS QUALIFICATION ISSUE.  RC.  “Two individuals collecting signatures for Conyers’ ballot-qualifying petition were found to not be registered voters and thereby the signatures were ruled invalid.”

JFCS LAUNCH.  RC.  “The Federal Election Commission has received five new registrations for political committees that will operate as joint fundraising committees, allowing a donor to easily write one check for a large amount.”

MUCH ADO ABOUT PAC LOAN.  RC.  “A Daily Beast posting indicates a bank official stated this afternoon that there was collateral, and the PAC treasurer stated they were looking into amending their FEC report.”

RAMAN TALKS FCPA AND MORE.  FCPA Blog.  “She spoke to Julie DiMauro about aggressive enforcement, facilitation payments, deferred prosecution agreements, and her move to private practice.”  No mention of the reference to Ms. Raman’s testimony cited in McCutcheon.

WEINER ON WALKER CASE. Daily Beast.  “Coordination, once the obscure preserve of election lawyers, has become a hot topic.”

AK: INITIATIVE BOUNCE.  RC.  “Alaska Sen. Mark Begich is all of a sudden the likely beneficiary of a legislative blunder that may send more voters to the polls this fall.”

AZ:  STAFFER ALLEGATION.  AZdailysun.com.  “An attorney for a former staffer at the Attorney General’s Office filed a formal complaint Monday alleging that Tom Horne and top staffers repeatedly violated campaign finance laws.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Tues. political law links

CFR FIX.  WP.  “Many may find current levels of campaign spending problematic. But continued efforts to simply set limits on it will likely end like the previous ones, with even more money being spent in even less transparent ways.”

SUPER PACS POURING.  KGW.  “Big donors are making their voices heard in Oregon’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate.”

CA:  LOBBYIST HOME FUNDRAISING BAN.  Sacramento Bee.  “Responding to a campaign finance transgression that produced an unprecedented fine, the California Assembly voted on Thursday to ban fundraisers at the homes of lobbyists.”

FL:  BECKHAM REGISTERS.  Miami Herald.  “Beckham had to fill out the form before meeting with county commissioners to speak to them about a potential Major League Soccer stadium on public land.”

MA:  SUPER PAC BURDEN.  Boston Herald.  “Attorney General Martha Coakley called Monday for a change in state campaign finance law that would require super PACs disclose their donors and expenditures more frequently.”

MA:  LOBBYIST DONATIONS.  Boston Herald.  “House Speaker Robert DeLeo said his decision to accept tens of thousands of dollars in donations from registered lobbyists in 2013 had no effect on his votes or positions he’s staked out as a lawmaker.”

NJ:  PAY TO PLAY ADOPTED.  Burligton County Times.  “As the municipality gets ready to hold partisan elections for the first time since voters approved them last November, the [Mount Holly] Township Council has finalized a pay-to-play ordinance.”

WA:  CFR INITIATIVE.  SeattleTimes.com.  “Fed up with U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have unleashed a torrent of political spending by wealthy mega-donors, local activists have launched an initiative campaign to amend the Constitution to reduce the influence of money on politics.”

CAN:  HOW MUCH CAN YOU GIVE?  Here.  “With Ontario general elections approaching on June 12, 2014, Toronto municipal elections set for October 27, 2014, and federal nominations in full swing for the 2015 election, requests for political contributions have increased significantly. The following is a short summary of restrictions on political contributions by jurisdiction, and available credits and rebates.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Mon. 5-12-14 political law links

BYZANTINE CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  RC (Lisa Gilbert).  “In the case of this hearing on transparency in money in politics, there couldn’t be a more apt descriptor for our out-of-date, patchwork system of required disclosures of election spending, as recent U.S. Supreme Court cases have riddled the system with even more holes, making it still harder for the public and shareholders to determine the sources of outsized campaign spending by elites and corporations.”

BITCOIN UPDATE.  USAT.   “Bitcoin, the fast-growing digital currency, is coming to political campaigns.”

AZ: DECISION DUE. WT. “Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne should learn this week if a campaign finance case against him officially ends or it he must continue to fight the allegations.”

CA:  BILL TO GOV.  KFBK.  “Proponents say this legislation would close a loophole that allows such donors to hide by funneling money through nonprofits.”

NH: ARGUMENTS HEARD. Union Leader. “Assistant N.H. Attorney General Brian Buonamano Thursday sought to persuade the justices of the state Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that the state cannot regulate what’s called push-polling in federal election campaigns.”

NJ: PAY TO PLAY ISSUES. Boston Herald. “GOP hopeful Charlie Baker yesterday denied he violated New Jersey’s so-called ‘pay-to-play’ law when he donated $10,000 to the New Jersey Republican State Committee just seven months before Gov. Chris Christie’s administration committed up to $25 million for a public pension contract to General Catalyst Partners, where Baker is listed as a partner.”

NY:  CFR HUDDLE.  CapitalNewYork.com.  “As he re-engages negotiations to expand a system of public campaign finance, Governor Andrew Cuomo has met with good-government advocates and a top Working Families Party official to gauge support for a possible compromise.”

OK:  CHANGES FOR LOCAL RULES.  NewsOK.com.  “Local campaign finance regulations in Oklahoma have become virtually impossible to enforce, say backers of a measure that would scrap these laws in favor of a new system.”

VA:  DELAY REJECTED.  RTD.  “A federal judge today denied former Gov. Bob McDonnell’s request that he wait until 14 days before the trial to decide whether to separate his case from his wife’s.”

WY:  CHANGE SOUGHT.  Trib.com.  “The Cheyenne-based Wyoming Liberty Group and the Alexandria, Va.-based Center for Competitive Politics are calling on the state to change election rules to conform to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.