Today’s top political law links, Thurs., 10/10

KOCH GIVES.  Politico.  “Conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch have another political cause — Heritage Action Fund.”

OCTOBER QUARTERLY REMINDER.  Here.  “The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as amended by the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, requires all active registrants to file quarterly activity reports with the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Secretary of the U.S. Senate. The third quarter report is due October 21, 2013, covering July 1, 2013 through September 30, 2013.”

NO FUNDRAISER SHUTDOWN.  Here.  “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is scheduled to raise money for his party in Florida next week with the help of deep-pocketed Democratic trial lawyer John Morgan, according to an event invitation obtained by POLITICO.”

BLUNT ON CFR.  Businessweek.  “Assessing all of the justices’ arguments, it sounds like Scalia’s sarcastic defense of First Amendment principles will prevail over Ginsburg’s anxiety about drowning out the voice of the ‘little people.'”

CHARADE AND SUPREMES.  The Post.  “The early read from the proceedings suggests that the court might be leaning toward doing nothing about our ridiculous campaign finance system.”

BITCOIN SUPPORT.  Politico.  “Bitcoin political contributions will expand the number of Americans who can get involved in campaigns to support the candidates they want, how they want.”

CO:  LOBBYIST SUIT.  Here.  “The lawsuit was filed by Neville, a lobbyist for the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Association. It was filed in federal court in which Neville claims he was ordered out of the Capitol at the request of Rep. Cheri Gerou.”

MT:  INITIATIVE READY.  News here.  “The petition for a voter initiative to shine a light on political ‘dark money’ in Montana is ready to gather signatures to attempt to place it on the 2014 ballot, supporters said Tuesday.”

NJ:  BUONO QUALIFIES.  Here.  “State Sen. Barbara Buono, New Jersey’s Democratic candidate for governor, has finally qualified for public matching funds for her campaign.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s top political law links

MCCUTCHEON ARG. TRANSCRIPT.  SCOTUS.

LIPTAK ON MCCUTCHEON.  NYT.  “The justices seemed to divide along familiar ideological lines.”

ALTHOUSE ON LIPTAK ON MCCUTCHEON.  Here.  “Scalia responded ‘sarcastically.’ Why an adverb for Scalia’s statement and not for Ginsburg’s?”

SKEPTICAL OF LIMITS.  Roll Call.  “If anything, today’s arguments revealed that the court’s conservative majority remains reluctant to defend campaign finance restrictions of any kind.”

FEC ENFORCEMENT OF BIENNIAL LIMIT.  Off the top of my head, there are only a few post-BCRA FEC matters with a conciliation agreement involving an allegation of exceeding the biennial limit, the issue in McCutcheon.  Here’s another.

RING UPDATE.  Here.  “Former lobbyist and congressional staffer Kevin Ring, whose long legal ordeal began in the wake of the Jack Abramoff case, has lost what appears to be his last shot before the Supreme Court.”

FEC RECALL.  Levinthal.  “A computer server crash is forcing the government shutdown-idled Federal Election Commission to recall “a few staff people” to address the issue with major campaign finance filing deadlines looming.”

SUPER PAC UP.  Here.  “American Commitment Action Fund released an ad on Tuesday responding to Bloomberg’s ad, which highlighted Booker’s record on education, saying money the Newark mayor secured from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg didn’t go to Newark school classrooms and the schools were still failing.”

EMAIL QUESTIONS. WFB. “Leaked emails in which a left-wing nonprofit promotes events by the President Obama-aligned Organizing for Action and circulates Democratic Party talking points on the government shutdown may be a possible violation of rules governing tax-exempt status for such organizations, experts say.”

CA:  SUNSHINE IN CA.  LAT.  “Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Tuesday to give Californians a better peek into the wallets of their elected officials and to provide the state’s ethics watchdog agency with more tools to hold politicians accountable for misconduct.”

DC:  FILE FOOD FIGHT.  The Post.  “The battle simmering for months between the D.C. government’s ethics board and its investigative watchdog got a full public airing Monday, and it wasn’t pretty.”

IN:  ETHICS QUESTIONS.  Story here.  “The State Ethics Commission is taking up questions from officials considering leaving their state jobs.”

NY:  ETHICS BOARD REINED IN.  Story here.  “Now some of the groups that had cheered the commission’s creation say they fear that the effort to investigate corruption is losing credibility.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Tues. top political law links, 10/8/13

AN ELECTION WITHOUT THE FEC?  Roll Call:  “On Oct. 15, a handful of top Democratic candidates will run in the definitive special primary for the open 5th District.”  The FEC, of course, is mostly dark due to the government shutdown.  Dave Levinthal noted on Twitter that some of the website wasn’t working; the agency’s chair also used Twitter to ask filers to self-disclose.  In terms of the practical impact of the shutdown on the agency’s business, presumably the pending advisory opinion requests, including one involving Bitcoin, will not be considered until the shutdown ends.  The agency has a statutory deadline to consider these requests, though extensions are routinely sought and granted.  There’s no new news about previously-scheduled Commission meetings.  An FEC Regional Conference is scheduled for Oct. 23-24 in San Francisco.

RING CASE UPDATE.  Roll Call.  “The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal from an Abramoff-scandal lobbyist who had been convicted of providing free meals and event tickets to public officials.”  The order is here (see p. 15).

TOTENBERG ON MCCUTCHEON.  NPR.  “The U.S. Supreme Court returns to the campaign finance fray on Tuesday, hearing arguments in a case that could undercut most of the remaining rules that limit big money in politics.”

MCCUTCHEON AND SUPER PACS.  Roll Call.  “An Alabama businessman whose challenge to campaign contribution limits goes before the Supreme Court on Tuesday has already spent well beyond the current limit through an unrestricted super PAC, public records show.”

KC STAR VIEW ON MCCUTCHEON.  Here.  “The worry is that the Roberts court, which regrettably equates outlandish political spending with free speech in its rulings, will use the McCutcheon decision to again empower the wealthiest of donors.”

NEW CU?  CSM.  “At issue in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (12-536) are aggregate contribution limits that restrict the total amount of money an individual can give a candidate and committees during a two-year election cycle.”

NEW CU?  NRO.  “These critics are right about one thing: McCutcheon is a big deal, and possibly a bigger deal than Citizens United. But that’s cause for celebration, not despair.”

REP. WAXMAN WRITES.  Variety.  “Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Energy & Commerce Committee, fired off a letter to Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt on Friday over an email that one of the company’s lobbyists apparently sent to appeal to the anti-Obamacare instincts of Republican staff in the House and the Senate.”

AZ:  RULE CHANGES IMPACT.  Here.  “The new laws increase limits on contributions by individuals and political action committees, which could make private financing more attractive to candidates.”

CO:  GIFT BAN ALLEGATIONS.  Here.  “A Republican-aligned activist group has filed a complaint with the Colorado independent ethics commission alleging that Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper violated the state’s constitutional gift ban.”

NY:  ETHICS LAWS OUTDATED.  Here.  “Numerous government agencies across the Capital Region have not updated their ethics laws in decades and are relying on defunct oversight panels to monitor the conduct of local public officials.”

SARKOZY CLEARED.  Story here.  “Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was cleared Monday of allegations that he illegally took donations from France’s richest woman on the way to his 2007 election victory, his lawyer and an official said.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.