Good morn., here are today’s top political law links

CHARITABLE DONATIONS.  Roll Call.  “Over $100,000 in leftover campaign funds of a deceased member of Congress have been donated to ten charities.”

MEMBERS TRADE.  Roll Call.  “Members of Congress continue to report their periodic stock transactions as required by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act.”

DELAY FOIA CASE.  The Hill.  “A federal appeals court on Tuesday said that the Justice Department did not provide good enough reason to withhold documents related to its investigation into former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.”

CA:  IT’S TRICKY.  CBS.  “Even seasoned lawmakers will admit it: campaign finance reform can be a tricky issue for legislators and constituents to tackle. But with the recent indictment of state Sen. Leland Yee, the topic is again circulating in Sacramento and beyond.”

MT:  MOTL ALLEGATIONS.  The Missoulian.  “The Montana commissioner of political practices said Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Art Wittich broke state campaign laws by coordinating with and failing to report contributions from a conservative group during his 2010 primary election campaign.”

NJ:  PAY TO PLAY AND CONTRACTORS.  Roll Call.  “Yet a long list of New Jersey contractors and pension fund managers have given generously to groups that either back or are closely linked with Christie. Such contributions have repeatedly raised questions as to whether Christie supporters are skirting the state’s pay-to-play laws — a suggestion that the state Treasury Department, which enforces those statutes, has rejected.”

OH:  WHO TO VET.  Cleveland.com.  “Democratic Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald’€™s decision to have a county employee — Inspector General Nailah Byrd — vet political donations to his gubernatorial race to ensure compliance with county ethics laws may have been well-intentioned but it is a totally inappropriate use of taxpayer dollars.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Political law links, 4-1-14

GUILTY PLEAS.  New Haven Register.  “A former Republican congressional candidate and her husband pleaded guilty Monday in a scheme to set up a phony contract to hide the role played in the campaign by ex-Gov. John G. Rowland, who resigned a decade ago in a corruption scandal.”

VON SPAKOVSKY TESTIMONY ON IRS INVESTIGATION.  Heritage.  “When combined with the refusal of the Justice Department and the FBI to provide even basic information about the status of the investigation, as well as the seemingly unjustifiable delays in talking to key witnesses in the conservative organizations targeted by the IRS, it raises substantial questions about whether or not a serious, objective, unbiased investigation is being conducted.”

SUPER PACS COULD OUTSPEND.  Ad Age.  “It’s unlikely that the 2014 midterm elections are going to blow away any ad spending records, with the exception of one. Some say this will be the first time that Super PACs outspend actual campaigns.”

BIG SPENDING BROTHERS (THE STEYERS) IN THE NEWS.  WFB.  “A conservative group put out a new ad on Monday that ties Democrats to billionaire former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer, casting him as the Democratic equivalent to libertarian industrialists Charles and David Koch.”

CA:  VOTES AND DONATIONS.  SFGate.com.  “Sifting through the layers of alleged criminality in a years-long FBI probe that ensnared Yee, notorious Chinatown gangster Raymond ‘Shrimp Boy’ Chow and 24 others last week, the picture that emerges of Yee in a 137-page FBI affidavit is not the sleeves-rolled-up, 65-year-old Democrat with a knack for retail politics that Yee projected.”

CA:  PAY SHOULD BE SUSPENDED.  SFGate.com.  “If Sacramento is committed to cleaning up its image in the wake the Yee scandal, it should take steps to bar pay for lawmakers facing criminal charges who don’t have the decency to resign.”

NJ:  MAYORAL CANDIDATE QUERIES.  PolitickerNJ.com.  “Trenton mayoral candidate Jim Golden has publicly called on rival candidate Eric Jackson to account for approximately $24,000 in campaign contributions allegedly missing from his unsuccessful 2010 mayoral campaign.”

NY:  SOROS AND PUBLIC FUNDING.  NY Post.  “The activist son of leftist billionaire George Soros nearly derailed an on-time state budget as he threatened to launch multimillion-dollar TV campaigns against Gov. Cuomo and legislative leaders unless they approved a sweeping system of publicly financed campaigns, The Post has learned.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Monday’s political law links, 3-31-14

BALZ ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  WP.   “Many people have had a role in bringing the system to this point — the courts, special interests, incredibly wealthy individuals with their own agendas and candidates seeking to gain political advantage in the fierce competition that is presidential politics.”   He might want to add those responsible for BCRA if we’re listing those with a role in bringing the system to this point.

NONPROFITS IN OK.  The Oklahoman.  “The group was registered with the Oklahoma secretary of state as a for-profit corporation, but an attorney said that was a mistake.”

SUPER PACS GOING DOWN BALLOT.  Tampa Bay Times.  “If 2012 was the breakout for super PACs in the presidential campaign, 2014 marks their down-ballot arrival.”

SUPER PAC BILLBOARDS.  News & Observer.  “A Charlotte-based super PAC announced Friday it had purchased billboards to attack Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan for repeating President Barack Obama’s pledge that people could keep their existing health care plan if they wanted.”

CA:  SENATOR SUSPENSIONS.  Contra Costa Times.  “After a fiery and passionate debate about how to punish lawmakers accused of criminal wrongdoing, the state Senate on Friday voted 28-1 to suspend — with pay — three disgraced colleagues, marking the first time any lawmaker has faced the penalty in the Legislature’s history.”

NY:  PUBLIC FINANCING FOR COMPTROLLER RACE ONLY.  Capital New York.  “State budget bills printed late Friday include public campaign financing for just one political office this year: The state comptroller, something good government advocates balked at as an overall failure to accomplish comprehensive campaign finance reform.”

RI:  SCRUTINY FOR DEPUTY WHIP.   WPRI.  “One of the members of the leadership team chosen by Rhode Island’s new speaker of the House has been facing scrutiny over his campaign finance filings since 2012, according to the R.I. Board of Elections.”

VA:  GOV. DIDN’T APPROVE.  WJLA.  “Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Thursday he did not approve a fundraising appeal his newly formed political action committee sent promising big-dollar donors personal access to him and also said he’s giving to charity a past contribution that came from a D.C. businessman who recently pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.