Good morning, here are political law links for Fri., 4/19/13

FORMER AIDE TO TESTIFY. Politico. “Rep. Michele Bachmann’s former chief of staff is expected to admit that her presidential campaign inappropriately paid an Iowa state senator to work for her, according to a report.”

AR: POTENTIAL LOBBYIST GIFT RULE. Story here. ”An Arkansas legislative panel has advanced an effort to outlaw most lobbyist gifts to elected officials, ban corporate campaign contributions and loosen term limits for state lawmakers.”

AR: FUNDS MISUSED. Story here. “The recent campaign finance report filed by the now-defunct gubernatorial campaign of Attorney General Dustin McDaniel indicates more misdeeds by a campaign worker arrested in February for thefts from McDaniel’s state office in the Tower Building, as well as other state offices there.”

CO: LOBBYIST ISSUE UPDATE. Story here. “Two of three lawmakers reviewing an ethics complaint against a gun lobbyist don’t want to subpoena him, but a third lawmaker said he still is troubled by Joe Neville’s refusal to further participate in the investigation.”

SC: MISTAKES MADE. Story here. “Attorney William Runyon said Thursday it’s difficult for a ‘citizen legislator’ such as Ford to keep up with the unwieldy process of campaign paperwork.”

TX: STAFFER SUPPLEMENTS. Story here. “Texas taxpayers pay the salaries of the legislative staffers who work for Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. Since 2006, Watson has added to those salaries with some $440,000 from his campaign contributors.”

VA: NEW FIRM FORMED. Story here. “Former Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman and legislator Brian Moran is teaming with Republican former Del. Chris Saxman and veteran lobbyist Rob Jones to form a new company.”

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links, 4/18/13

MCCONNELL CASE DEVELOPMENT. BuzzFeed. “The head of a group accused of illegally taping private meetings of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s campaign visited the White House days before the group’s Twitter account began actively attacking the Kentucky Republican, according to White House visitors logs.”

BACHMANN BOOK ISSUE. Story here. “The Office of Congressional Ethics investigation into Rep. Michele Bachmann has reportedly widened to include questions about the use of staff to promote her book tour, according to sources who spoke with the Minneapolis Star Tribune.”

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE NEWS. Politico. “Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is questioning whether a lobbyist at Greenberg Traurig, a K Street law firm, tipped off Height Securities, a political intelligence firm, regarding a soon-to-be-announced increase in Medicare Advantage rates.”

H MAJ PAC ATTACK. NJ. “House Majority PAC released a blistering attack ad on Wednesday, going after former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford for going on a ‘taxpayer-fueled spending spree’ during his time in office.”

SC: ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FORD. Story here. “The Senate Ethics Committee has found probable cause that Sen. Robert Ford committed multiple ethics violations.”

TN: NO LIMIT INCREASE. Story here. “In this session’s first real defeat for the Republican leadership, the House just refused to raise contribution limits for state political campaigns. The vote was 48-41—two votes short of the majority needed for passage.”

VT: CFR BALK. News here. “Did Sen. Peter Galbraith, the former diplomat, make a strategic miscalculation just as his effort to ban corporate campaign contributions was about to pass the Senate?”

VA: RETURNS SOUGHT. The Post. “While calling on candidates to release their tax returns is standard in presidential elections — Republican Mitt Romney partially gave in to such demands and released two years of returns last year — gubernatorial candidates traditionally have not released theirs.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links, 4/17/13

NONPROFIT SCRUTINY. BusinessWeek. “Senate hearings, lawsuits and an Internal Revenue Service questionnaire are placing new scrutiny on nonprofit groups that spend millions of dollars on political campaigns without disclosing their donors.”

FCPA CHARGES. DOJ. “Charges have been unsealed against one current and one former executive of the U.S. subsidiary of a French power and transportation company for their alleged participation in a scheme to pay bribes to foreign government officials, Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut David Fein and Assistant Director in Charge Valerie Parlave of the FBI’s Washington Field Office announced today.”

DC: LIST ISSUE. The Post. “A D.C. Council candidate agreed to help a conservative think tank raise money from his campaign donors in exchange for a ‘consulting fee’ or a portion of the money raised, according to a copy of the contract between the two parties.”

FL: REVOLVING DOOR UPDATE. Story here. “A week after delaying a vote, a House committee advanced an ethics reform on Tuesday that would make it harder for ex-lawmakers to score high-paying jobs thanks to their political contacts.”

IA: RENT AND OTHER ISSUES. Here. “State Rep. Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, has accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from state lobbyists for his nascent congressional bid even though similar donations are illegal for state legislators to accept during the legislative session.”

SC: REFORM MOVING. Story here. “A South Carolina House panel has advanced a bill that increases politicians’ income disclosure, steps up penalties for ethics violations and eliminates legislative ethics panels.”

TX: TEC REVIEW. Story here. “Good government advocates praised proposed changes at the Texas Ethics Commission on Monday, but called on the Legislature to go even further by requiring more disclosure and boosting fines.”

CRIKEY: CU DOWN UNDER. Here. “Unions NSW is taking the government to court, claiming that restricting political donations to individuals is an infringement of the implied constitutional right of freedom of political speech.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.