Good morning, here are Friday’s political law links, 5/17/13

ANOTHER OFFICIAL TO LEAVE. The Hill. “Joseph Grant, the acting commissioner for the agency’s Tax Exempt and Government Entities division, plans to retire, according to the IRS.”

WERFEL APPOINTED. News here. “President Obama on Thursday appointed Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Controller Danny Werfel as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service.”

REQUEST TO REMOVE VIDEO. Roll Call. “A video posted on the Politico website featuring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s chief of staff has been taken down after the Kentucky Republican’s office objected to its placement on a page designed to solicit advertisers.”

REQUEST FOR SEBELIUS INVESTIGATION. Here. “A group of Republican lawmakers called on the Government Accountability Office to investigate Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over her fundraising for a nonprofit supporting Obamacare.”

IN: CAMPAIGN FINANCE GRADE. Here. “The Center for Public Integrity, which assisted in the study, reported that in 30 states, including Indiana, it’s impossible to total how much money outside groups are spending in state and local races because of the lack of disclosure laws.”

IL: CHICAGO RULES. Story here. “Leaders of a tech firm seeking a city contract donated $15,000 to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s campaign fund, despite Emanuel’s own executive order banning contributions from vendors trying to get city business.”

NY: CUOMO AND CFR. Story here. “New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to break the connection between cash and politics that’s led to corruption in Albany for decades, and he says public financing of election campaigns is the solution.”

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.

Good morning, here are Thursday’s political law links, 5/16/13

RESIGNATION AT IRS. Politico. “President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew requested and accepted the resignation of Steven Miller, the acting commissioner of the IRS.”

LERNER TESTIMONY. Lois Lerner has appeared before Congress before. In 1998, she was called to testify about a matter involving a Democratic fundraiser.  The background is somewhat complicated; the Commission had declined to pursue a case against Howard Glicken, a fundraiser alleged to have solicited a foreign national.  Rep. Burton asked:  “Why didn’t they investigate? Here is what the FEC’s General Counsel’s Report says. And I hope all my colleagues will listen to this. ‘Because of Mr. Glicken’s high profile as a prominent Democratic fundraiser, including his potential fundraising involvement in support of Vice President Gore’s expected Presidential campaign, it is unclear that this individual would agree to settle this matter short of litigation.’  Since when does someone get a free ride because he is a prominent Democratic fundraiser? Since when does someone get a free ride because he is a supporter of the Vice President? Since when does someone get a free ride because it looks like he might fight a penalty in court instead of settling?”  A transcript of the discussion is online here.

IRS ROLE IN CAMPAIGN FINANCE. Philly.com. “The truly curious universe of politically-oriented nonprofits demonstrates how murky the line has become between groups whose primary focus is issue advocacy and those that target candidates in political races.”

SLOAN SPEAKS. Roll Call. “Everyone can agree it is unacceptable for the IRS to target particular organizations based on political ideology. If that’s what agents at the IRS were up to, they were wrong and there should be consequences.”

FURLOUGHS AND ETHICS RULES. Roll Call. “As a threshold matter, yes, a furloughed staffer is still considered a House employee and remains bound by restrictions on staff employees, with certain limited exceptions.”

HI: PARKING AND LOBBYING. Story here. “But John Radcliffe, one of Hawaii’s biggest lobbyists with 30 clients — including the American Chemistry Council, the Hawaii School Bus Association and Corrections Corporation of America — has an ‘in’ that most members of the public don’t: Sen. Josh Green lets Radcliffe park in his Senate-assigned stall.”

MO: ETHICS COMMITTEE FINE. Story here. “A former state senator from St. Louis has been fined more than $270,000 by the Missouri Ethics Commission for violating numerous campaign finance laws.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Good morning, here are Wednesday’s political law links, 5/15/13

RESPONSE TO IRS ISSUES.  Roll Call.  “There may be 100 senators willing to vote to excoriate the agency for subjecting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status to an intensified level of investigation. But there’s no sign that a necessary 60 of them will get behind meaningful legislation to make sure that positioning anywhere along the ideological spectrum is never the interest of the tax auditors again.”

TIGTA REPORT.  Here.

TIMES ON REPORT.  Here.  “‘What we don’t know at this point is whether it jumped the fence from the I.R.S. to the White House,’ said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. ‘But we do know this: we can’t count on the administration to be forthcoming about the details of this scandal, because so far they’ve been anything but.'”

WATCHDOG REPORT.  The Hill.  “A leaked version of the highly-anticipated report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) shines a light on the scandal that has dominated Capitol Hill and ensnared top IRS officials.”

NAME ON LETTER.  Politico.  “The director of the Internal Revenue Service division under fire for singling out conservative groups sent a 2012 letter under her name to one such group, POLITICO has learned.”

DAILY BEAST:  FOCUS ON LERNER.  Here.  “Larry Noble, who served as general counsel at the FEC from 1987 to 2000, was involved in hiring and promoting Lerner. ‘I worked with Lois for a number of years and she is really one of the more apolitical people I’ve met,’ Noble told The Daily Beast. ‘That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have political views, but she really focuses on the job and what the rules are. She doesn’t have an agenda.'”

DO YOU HAVE HILL EXPERIENCE?  Roll Call.  “The value of Capitol Hill experience keeps showing up in recent moves around K Street, as former aides to members of Congress head on to big jobs in the influence industry.”

CATO:  SHAPIRO ON MCCUTCHEON.  Here.  “In a truly free society, people should be able to give whatever they want to whomever they choose, including candidates for public office. We urge the Supreme Court to strike down the biennial contribution limits and give those who contribute money to candidates and parties as much freedom as those who spend money independently to promote campaigns and causes.”

PA:  ALLEGATIONS IN RACE.  Story here.  “The Pennsylvania Republican Party has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak and his fundraising committees for allegedly violating provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.”  More on Sestak here.

VT:  CFR UPDATE.  Story here.  “Another effort to reduce the influence of money in politics appears to have fallen by the wayside, as Vermont lawmakers prepare to finish up their business for the year.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.