5-22 political law links

BOLO-GATE DAY 12. Tax Prof Blog has the latest.

CA: TRACFONE COMPLAINT. Press Release. “We have hereby requested that the FPPC investigate our claims in accordance with California’s ethics laws in order to determine the true sponsors of TCOV and whether the political process in California has been unduly subverted by corporate and/or political interests.” More here.

CT: AIDE CONVICTED. Story here. “Robert Braddock Jr., the campaign finance director for former House Speaker Christopher Donovan, was convicted Tuesday of scheming to hide the sources of contributions to Donovan’s failed campaign for Congress.”

NY: SOFT MONEY UPDATE. Here. “Contributions to New York’s limitless campaign accounts soared 24 percent over six years, jumping to a total of $87 million, a report Tuesday found.”

NY: CAMPAIGN FINANCE AND REALITY TV. News here. “The CBS ‘reality’ series ‘Brooklyn D.A.’ is an illegal campaign contribution to incumbent District Attorney Charles Hynes, his Democratic primary challenger claims in court.”

SC: OPPOSITION TO REFORM.News here. “South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is facing a bumpy political ride as she continues her push for a sweeping overhaul of the Palmetto State’s ethics laws.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are Tuesday’s political law links, 5/21/13

BACHMANN UPDATE. The Post. “The FBI is scheduling interviews related to allegations of financial impropriety in Rep. Michele Bachmann’s 2012 campaign.”

WEINER WIFE WAIVER. NY Times. “The State Department, under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, created an arrangement for her longtime aide and confidante Huma Abedin to work for private clients as a consultant while serving as a top adviser in the department.”

COMMENT ON PROPOSED SEC MOVE ON POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS. HLS Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. “The submitted Article puts forth a comprehensive, empirically-grounded case for the rules advocated in the Petition. The Article also provides a detailed response to each of the ten objections that have been raised by the Petition’s opponents, either in the comment file or elsewhere. The Article shows that none of these objections, either individually or collectively, provides a basis for opposing rules requiring public companies to disclose political spending.”

MN: DISCLOSURE DROPPED. Story here. “Three provisions have been dropped from a campaign finance bill that would have required some political groups to say more about where their money is coming from and how it is being spent.”

NV: MILLER AND CFR. Here. “An out-of-state conservative group wants you to call Democratic Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller and tell him that you’re ‘sick of his costly hypocrisy.'”

NV: TESTIMONY IN TRIAL. News here. “Two more of Harvey Whittemore’s former employees testified Monday they each voluntarily contributed $4,600 to Sen. Harry Reid’s campaign in 2007 at the suggestion of the wealthy ex-developer and lobbyist but didn’t fear for their jobs if they didn’t do so.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Good morning, here are Monday’s political law links, 5/20/13

TICK TOCK DRIP. The Post. “The firestorm buffeting the Internal Revenue Service intensified Friday as lawmakers began what they promised would be an extensive effort to learn whether there was any political motivation or White House involvement in the agency’s recently acknowledged misdeeds.”

CINCINNATI CONFUSED. The Times. “While there are still many gaps in the story of how the I.R.S. scandal happened, interviews with current and former employees and with lawyers who dealt with them, along with a review of I.R.S. documents, paint a more muddled picture of an understaffed Cincinnati outpost that was alienated from the broader I.R.S. culture and given little direction.”

SHAKE UP IRS. Post. “Among the many investigations getting started, the Justice Department is beginning a criminal probe. More important than criminal convictions, however, is that investigators in the Obama administration and in Congress get answers, that the IRS sees genuine reform, and that those who betrayed the public trust — willingly or not — are removed from positions in which they could repeat their errors.”

CAMPAIGN FINANCE: IT’S COMPLICATED. The Post. “How certain groups qualify for tax-exempt status as a 501(c)(4) organization — a distinction that allows them to keep both their donors and donations secret — is the focus of the week (thanks to the buffoonery, at best, of some IRS officials) but it opens up (or should open up) a conversation about the vagaries of campaign finance law.”

SEC AND DISCLOSURE. The Post. “House Republicans repeatedly warned the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday against dragging the agency into a political fray, evoking the scandal at the IRS over the targeting of conservative groups.”

IL: RAHM REFUND. News here. “Mayor Rahm Emanuel has returned a $10,000 campaign donation from a lobbyist for a tech firm disqualified from a city program this week after the Tribune raised questions about potential violations of the mayor’s self-imposed limits on political fundraising, an Emanuel spokeswoman confirmed Thursday.”

NJ: BOOKER FEES. NJ.com. “Mayor Cory Booker made $1.3 million on the speaking circuit between 2008 and 2013 and gave roughly $620,000 of it to charity, according to documents and disclosures he released yesterday.”

VA: GIFT ISSUES IN VA. The Times. “While not on a par with Washington scandals unfolding around the I.R.S. and other agencies, which are commanding national and presidential attention, Virginia’s homegrown drama, now in its seventh week, has more outsize characters and soap opera turns.”

VA: LOOSE RULES. Story here. ”The commonwealth is one of 10 states that places no cap on the size of personal gifts that officeholders can accept. Many, including Maryland and the District, prohibit elected officials from accepting any gift from a company with business before the government.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.