Monday’s political law links, 4-21-14

SUPER PAC FRAMILY PLAN.  HuffPo.  “As super PACs supporting a single politician proliferate across the country ahead of the 2014 elections, some are reaching out for contributions from the family and friends of the candidates they support, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.”

SENATOR DONATES TO SUPER PAC.  Politico.  “The wealthy West Virginia senator cut a personal check for $250,000 to Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC focused on defending Democrats’ majority this fall, according to first-quarter campaign finance reports filed this week.”

FUNDRAISER GUILTY PLEA.  The Hill.  “A federal grand jury indicted two Virginia men on Wednesday for allegedly trying to illegally reimburse donors who gave to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate and presidential campaigns.”

ZEALOTS DAMAGE DISCLOSURE CAUSE.  Krauthammer.  “Coupling unlimited donations and full disclosure was a reasonable way to reconcile the irreconcilables of campaign finance. Like so much else in our politics, however, it has been ruined by zealots. What a pity.”

LERNER AND DOJ.  DC.  “Former head of the IRS tax-exempt division Lois Lerner communicated with the Justice Department about the possibility of criminally prosecuting certain tax-exempt groups, new documents reveal.”

MCCUTCHEON NOTED.  FEC.  “While the Court’s decision removes the overall cap on individual contributions, it does not affect the Act’s base limits on individual contributions to federal candidate campaigns, PACs or party committees.”

PURPLE HAZE.  FEC.  “Printed copies of the 2014 edition of Title 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) are now available from the Commission.”

MA:  COAKLEY PAYS.  Boston Globe.  “Attorney General Martha Coakley’s state political committee will turn over $17,813 to charity as part of an agreement with campaign finance regulators who found that she violated Massachusetts laws by using her federal US Senate funds for state political activities.”

NM:  REPORTS SNAFU.  ABQJournal.com.  “Technical issues with the New Mexico Secretary of State’s online database for tracking campaign finance reports contributed to errors in Wednesday’s story on campaign finance reports filed by candidates for the June 3 primary in Sandoval County.”

NY:  LOBBYIST CONFLICT ALLEGED.  Buffalonnews.com.  “When Anthony M. Masiello’s lobbying firm filed its required reports with New York State over the last six months, it noted working on ‘Peace Bridge reconstruction matters’ for a local construction trade group.”

VA:  MCDONNELL CASE UPDATE.  WP.  “Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) has lost another legal fight in the federal corruption case against him and his wife.”

WA:  FREE MEALS A TARGET.   Oregonlive.com.  “Washington lobbyists might be picking up the tab on too many steak dinners and sushi plates in Olympia.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Thurs. political law links, 4-17-14

FIVE LARGE DONORS.  USAT.  “Wealthy donors gave millions to independent super PACs during the first three months of the year – a sign that these independent political action committees are gearing up for big spending in the fight over which party controls Congress and on hot-button issues such as gay rights.”

BLOOMBERG $50 MILLION PLEDGE.  Fox.  “Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will spend $50 million this year to build a nationwide grassroots network on gun control in a direct challenge to the National Rifle Association, The New York Times reported.”

INHOFE ON MCCUTCHEON.  Ada News.  “The Supreme Court’s decision striking down overall limits on campaign contributions protects Americans’ right to support as many candidates as they like, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said Tuesday.”

FEC CHAIRMAN ON MCCUTCHEON AND MORE.  C-SPAN’s Washington Journal.

NEW CHALLENGE.  Businessweek.  “Now, just two weeks later, Backer has filed a lawsuit looking to strike down some of the restrictions still on the books.”

LERNER AND DOJ.  Fox.  “Newly uncovered emails show Lois Lerner, the key figure in the IRS scandal, was talking with the Justice Department about going after groups seeking tax-exempt status, just days before she publicly acknowledged the agency was targeting Tea Party and other organizations.”

GOLDEN TICKET.  The Hill.  “House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp would be coveted by the private sector if he were to chose to head downtown after his retirement.”

READY FOR ONLINE ADS.  Roll Call.  “A Super PAC encouraging a presidential run by Hillary Clinton has spent over $1.5 million for online advertising during the last 15 months and raised over $5.7 million.”

DC CIRCUIT ON FILIBUSTER CASE.  Roll Call.  “Advocates asking the judiciary to declare the filibuster unconstitutional were dealt a major setback Tuesday by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.”  The opinion is here and notes the DISCLOSE Act.

NJ:  CFR PROSPECTS.  PolitickerNJ.  “State Senator James Beach (D-Camden, Burlington) issued the following statement regarding Gov. Chris Christie’s call for changes in the way campaigns are financed.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.  I’ll send around the next set of links on Monday.  Have a great weekend.

Political law links, friends

CHRISTIE ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  RCP.  “New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday called for the abolishment of current federal and statewide campaign finance rules, and instead supported allowing unlimited donations to individual candidates with a public notification required within 48 hours.”

POTTER TO PRINCETON.  PU.  “His talk, ‘Can Our Democracy Survive the Supreme Court?,’ will discuss developments in campaign finance law, particularly with regards to the recent Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court.”

D SUPER PAC RAISES BIG.  USAT.  “The Senate Majority PAC raised $11 million during the first three months of the year — a big sum as the group focuses on helping Democrats retain their majority in the U.S. Senate, new Federal Election Commission reports show.”

THE WAKE OF MCCUTCHEON.  DLA Piper.  “In McCutcheon, the Court was not forced to address comparable limits imposed under state law. At the time of the decision, eight states had in place aggregate individual contribution limits similar to the federal law, with one more state law set to go into effect next year.”

IRS AIMS AT PAUL.  Examiner.  “Ron Paul’s nonprofit Campaign for Liberty will fight the Internal Revenue Service’s demand that it reveal its donor list to the agency, despite having already been fined for refusing to do so.”

RNC SUES IRS.  WFB.  “The Republican National Committee (RNC) has filed a lawsuit against the IRS for delaying its response to the committee’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.”

GA:  OCR’ING CAMPAIGN FINANCE DATA.  InformationWeek.  “Faced with a deadline for electronically processing and making publicly available financial disclosure information, officials at the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission needed to deploy a system for digitizing a multiplicity of forms — some of which were even handwritten in crayon.”

IL:  STATE SUPER PAC FORMED.  News-Democrat.  “Former East St. Louis mayor Carl Officer says he has formed a SuperPAC to support Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, signaling a possible shift in Democratic support.”

MO:  BILL DROPPED.  Springfield News-Leader.  “An attempt at ethics reform fell flat in the Senate today after the bill’s sponsor withdrew the latest version of his legislation. The move came after a Senate leader expressed concern with the proposal.”

NJ:  WASH. TOWNSHIP EASING PAY TO PLAY.  NorthJersey.com.  “At the Monday, April 7 council meeting, a new ordinance was adopted in a 3-1 vote, which places a $300 threshold for contributions to a municipal candidate and a $500 cap on those to a county candidate, committee or political action committee. If an entity exceeds those limits, it is disqualified from receiving a contract with the township for one year.”

WI:  MORE TO COME.  TwinCities.com.  “The cameraman behind the video that led Republican state Senate President Mike Ellis to announce that he would not seek re-election has a message for politicians across the country: You could be next.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.