Good morning, here are today’s political law links, 3/27

FREE SPEECH ALERT. Political Law Briefing. “The ruling is an important reminder that advocacy groups cannot always avoid Federal Election Commission rules merely by organizing themselves as a 501(c)(4), 527, or nonprofit established under state law.”

SUPER PACS AT 3. CCP. “SpeechNow came about because of a fundamental unfairness in the Federal campaign finance laws that favored the speech of wealthy single individuals over groups of middle-class activists.”

SEIU LAUNCH. Roll Call. “The Service Employees International Union on Tuesday announced a new round of cable TV advertising in support of a comprehensive immigration overhaul. The ads, worth $300,000, are set to begin Wednesday.”

GA: BAN DURING SESSION UPDATE. Story here. “In a bipartisan move no doubt intended to ensure the stability of state government, the Senate this afternoon approved by a vote of 45-2 a measure to hogtie all challengers to incumbent members of the General Assembly and those seeking statewide office.”

NC: MONEY MOVES. Story here. “Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign is purging cash tied to a second man facing criminal charges related to Internet sweepstakes cafes, one of a growing number of such donations that have been identified as going to North Carolina politicians.”

NY: OFA AND FAIR ELECTIONS. Story here. “Organizing for Action, a spin-off of President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, is lending its support to New York state groups advocating for campaign finance reform this year.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY. I’ll send around the next set of links on Monday. Have a great rest of the week.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links, 3/26

BACHMANN AND HOUSE ETHICS.  Politico.  “An attorney for Rep. Michele Bachmann denied Monday that the Minnesota Republican had committed any wrongdoing amid reports of a congressional probe into alleged campaign finance violations during her run for president in 2012.”

RAFFLES ARE BACK.  Story here.  “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is taking a page from the Obama campaign playbook and raffling off a meeting with President Barack Obama.”

REVOLVING DOOR ISSUES.  USAT.  “Sixteen lawmakers who left Congress recently have landed posts with groups that seek to influence policy — despite rules aimed at slowing the revolving door between Capitol Hill and lobbying firms, a USA TODAY analysis shows.”

NRA ALLEGATION.  The Post.  “National Rifle Association head Wayne LaPierre said Sunday that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) is trying to ‘buy America’ by spending millions of his personal fortune to urge key senators to vote for gun control.”

SEC MOMENTUM?  Public Citizen.  Seventy members sent the SEC a letter regarding disclosure.

ACCELERATING DEMOCRACY.  Prof. John O. McGinnis discusses his new book here in the first of what will be a series of posts.  Per the book’s description at Amazon, “McGinnis explains how to use fast-evolving information technologies to more effectively analyze past public policy, bring unprecedented intensity of scrutiny to current policy proposals, and more accurately predict the results of future policy. But he argues that we can do so only if government keeps pace with technological change. For instance, it must revive federalism to permit different jurisdictions to test different policies so that their results can be evaluated, and it must legalize information markets to permit people to bet on what the consequences of a policy will be even before that policy is implemented.”

MA:  STRAW DONATION SETTLEMENT.  Story here.  “John Donelan and Joseph Donelan, co-owners of Donelan’s Supermarkets in Littleton, have made a $25,000 payment to the state’s general fund to resolve campaign finance violations for disguising the true source of contributions and making excess contributions, according to a March 22 disposition agreement between the Donelans and OCPF.”

NYC:  PUBLIC FUNDING UPDATE.  The Times.  “George T. McDonald, a first-time candidate for mayor, has pursued an unorthodox electoral strategy thus far: deliberately violating the city’s campaign finance rules, in order to change them.”

WA:  PAYROLL DEDUCTION UPDATE.  The Public Disclosure Commission may update rules on the use of payroll dediction for political contributions.  More here.

HAVE A GOOD DAY. 

Good morning, here are today’s political law links, 3/25/13

MCFARLANE AND FARA ISSUE. The Post. “The FBI has searched the apartment of former Reagan administration national security adviser Robert McFarlane for evidence of whether he lobbied on behalf of the government of Sudan in violation of federal law.”

CFR DEAL FROM THE ATLANTIC. Here. “A clean trade would ameliorate both problems. First, pass legislation requiring more disclosure. Democrats have proposed just that, in a law they call, creatively, the disclose Act. Second, pass a law raising today’s overly restrictive caps on direct donations to candidates and parties.”

FCC MOVES. The Hill. Two Commissioners announced that they are leaving their positions.

PAC TERMINATION. Roll Call. “The terminated PACs were run by a handful of unknown organizers who, for reasons of their own, had each set up dozens of super PACs with obscure names and missions.”

NEW GROUP LAUNCH. ABC. A new super PAC looks to be the Republican equivalent to American Bridge 21st Century.

NEW MA GROUP LAUNCH. Story here. “A Medford resident has formed a political action committee (known as a PAC) to aimed at ‘restoring a healhty two-party balance’ in the Commonwealth.”

OFA TWITTER ASSET. The Post. “Campaign finance law doesn’t prevent Obama from raising money for or speaking to groups like Organizing for Action, but watchdog groups note that Obama has spoken out in the past against the influence of money in politics and groups like Organizing for Action that can accept unlimited contributions without having to disclose donors.”

100 MOST INFLUENTIAL LAWYERS. NLJ. Several campaign finance and election lawyers made the list.

CAMPAIGN WORK AND RELATIVES. USAT. “Thirty-two members of Congress dispensed more than $2 million in campaign funds to pay relatives’ salaries during the 2012 election cycle, a USA TODAY analysis of the most recent campaign records shows.”

FL: LIMIT UPDATE. Story here. “A year after redistricting made legislative districts more competitive, the Florida House on Friday passed a campaign-finance bill that raises contribution limits and appears to give incumbents a political advantage.”

MT: CFR UPDATE. Here. “A coalition of senators are undermining Republican leaders and forcing a floor vote on a campaign finance overhaul.”

NJ: INDEPENDENT GROUP LIMITS. Story here. “The state’s campaign finance watchdog agency today told an out-of-state Democratic group that intends to take part in this year’s Assembly and Senate races that it must register as a campaign committee and adhere to contribution limits.”

FRANCE: SARKOZY CAMPAIGN FINANCE ISSUE. Here. “A judge filed preliminary charges against former French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday, accusing him of abusing the confidence of an heiress during fundraising for his 2007 election campaign.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.