Wednesday’s political law links, 6-12-13

RENZI CONVICTED. Politico. “A federal jury on Tuesday convicted former U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi on more than a half dozen corruption charges accusing him of using his office for personal financial gain and looting a family insurance business to help pay for his 2002 campaign.”

CA: FORMER CANDIDATES FINED. LA Times. “Two former state lawmakers have agreed to pay fines for violating campaign finance rules, according to documents released Monday by the state Fair Political Practices Commission.”

CT: RELL CHIDES. Story here. “Former Gov. M. Jodi Rell is criticizing legislative Democrats and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy for undoing many of the changes to campaign finance she signed into law in 2005.”

NY: BILL WOULD LIMIT PARTIES. Story here. “A bill proposed today by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to fix New York’s lax campaign finance laws would turn the $518,000 Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver spent on Al Stirpe’s last campaign for Assembly into just $5,000 in future campaigns.”

PA: LOBBYIST FEE HIKE. Story here. “State officials are proposing to have lobbyists completely underwrite the cost of the program that regulates them through a major hike in their registration fees.”

PA: UNIONS NOT FOLLOWING RULE. Story here. “Despite a contract requiring unions representing Pennsylvania state workers to reimburse the state for deducting voluntary contributions to political action committees, no such payments have been made, according to a sworn affidavit obtained by the Tribune-Review.”

UK: NEW SCANDAL. Story here. “A lobbying scandal that has tarnished the reputation of Britain’s parliament widened on Sunday after a newspaper secretly filmed a senior lawmaker from Prime Minister David Cameron’s party making what is said were improper remarks.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Tuesday’s political law links, 6/11/13

FEC MEETING. The agenda for Thursday’s Federal Election Commission meeting is online here.

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE ALERT. The Post. “Hundreds of federal employees were given advance word of a Medicare decision worth billions of dollars to private insurers in the weeks before the official announcement, a period when trading in the shares of those firms spiked.”

LDA ENFORCEMENT ACTION. InsidePoliticalLaw.com. “On Friday, June 7, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia filed what appears to be the first ever complaint in a Lobbying Disclosure Act (‘LDA’) enforcement action that was not the product of a negotiated settlement.”

SEBELIUS FUNDRAISING SPOTLIGHT. WFB. “Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius solicited funding from a foundation that holds a significant share of its assets in Johnson & Johnson stock, a move that appears to run afoul of ethics rules, according to a former chief White House ethics counsel.”

“DARK MONEY” AND MARKEY. WFB. “Two liberal dark money advocacy groups have dropped hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past week either supporting Markey’s candidacy, or attacking Gabriel Gomez, his Republican opponent.”

“DARK MONEY” TARGETED. USAT. “Political spending by groups that don’t disclose their donors has exploded after a recent series of court rulings relaxing longstanding spending and advertising restrictions.”

CO: GESSLER WAITS. Story here. “For Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, next Thursday’s ruling by the state ethics commission means very little. In another sense, it means a lot.”

DC: BROWN PLEADS GUILTY. The Post. “Former D.C. council member Michael A. Brown pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to accepting $55,000 in bribes, and he agreed to serve up to three years and one month in prison in a deal worked out with federal prosecutors.”

VA: MCDONNELL DEVELOPMENT. Here. “A Virginia state delegate has confirmed that he’s been called to appear next month as a witness before a federal grand jury as part of an investigation related to Gov. Robert F. McDonnell.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are Monday’s political law links, 6/10/13

JACKSON’S RECOMMENDED SENTENCE. Story here. “Prosecutors Friday recommended four years in prison for former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., following his guilty plea this year on criminal charges that he engaged in a scheme to spend $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items.”

31 DAYS OF THE IRS SCANDAL. TaxProf Blog.

COMMISSION NOMINEES SENT TO THE SENATE. WH.gov has the nominees to the EAC.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE EPHIMERA. Looking for that perfect Father’s Day for the campaign finance enthusiast? Ebay usually has some interesting items. How about a “Senator Buckley!” pin purportedly from James Buckley’s (of Buckley v. Valeo fame) campaign? Perhaps a photo of former FEC Chair Joan Aikens? See (and bid) on these items and more here.

CT: SENTENCING WED. Here. “A Middlebury man is facing sentencing for his role in a scheme to direct illegal contributions to former House Speaker Christopher Donovan’s failed congressional campaign.”

DC: BROWN TO PLEAD GUILTY. The Post. ”On Friday, prosecutors charged Brown, 48, with bribery, alleging he accepted the cash in exchange for a promise to help the business secure contracts with the city and a key government certification.”

WI: BILL UPDATE. Here. “Assembly Democrats and Republicans are collaborating on a bill that would increase political donation limits – doubling them – and allow voters to register online.”

WI: LAWSUIT ON LIMITS. News here. “A nonprofit Wisconsin law firm filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a Racine man on Thursday challenging the constitutionality of the state’s law capping campaign contributions to politicians and political organizations during a campaign year.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.