[Political Activity Law]

LAST WEEK AT THE FEC. Weekly Digest.

RAISING QUESTIONS. ABC. “Months after announcing his bid for the presidency as a Democrat, entrepreneur and author Andrew Yang was paid for a number of speaking engagements, bringing in $94,000 between April 2018 and February 2019, his financial disclosure report shows.”

OMAR PROTECTED. FN. “Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., who is accused of improperly using political campaign funds to reimburse her alleged lover for travel expenses, doesn’t need to worry for now about a complaint filed against her with the Federal Election Commission. Vacancies on the FEC make it impossible for the commission to take any action.”

SUPER PAC POLLING. WE. “A key and well-funded pro-Trump super PAC and its sister nonprofit organization are ramping up for the 2020 election, hiring three national pollsters to help their efforts in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.”

CO: NEW PAC. CP. “The conservative advocacy organization Colorado Rising Action has a new political cousin with money: Colorado Rising PAC.”

WA: COMPLAINT FILED. KREM. “The Washington Public Disclosure Committee is reviewing a complaint against Nadine Woodward’s mayoral campaign, which was filed in July and alleged she failed to identify donors sponsoring online ads.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

FUNNEL ALLEGATION. DW. “Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was accused of having an affair with a married man, whom she allegedly funneled large sums of money to through her campaign, in divorce documents filed this week.”

FB RETAINS. ODPR. “Facebook has hired a Washington-based lobbying firm in light of increased Congressional and regulatory pushback the social media network has received due to its forthcoming cryptocurrency offering, Libra.”

CA: BEHIND THE MONEY. SF. “There is, indeed, an independent-expenditure committee for Boudin. I suspect there will soon be one for Loftus, too, since she has the support of the mayor and with that often comes big money.”

FL: COMPLAINTS RESOLVED. LW. “After correcting four years of compensation reports for one of the entities she represents, Florida’s top gun lobbyist Marion Hammer has been cleared of wrongdoing by the Florida Senate.”

KY: VIOLATIONS CHARGED. KY. “Timothy Wayne Wellman was charged for allegedly giving campaign contributions to straw contributors from March 2016 to May 2018 and then reimbursing those contributors after the contributions were made, according to a news release from Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney Tom Wine’s office.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY. I’ll send the next set of political law links around next week. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

DIRECTIVE 10. FR. “When the Commission has fewer than four Members, all of the foregoing provisions of this directive shall apply, except as follows…”

FEC FLUX. POL. “The federal agency regulating campaign finance has been rendered powerless heading into the 2020 election cycle, with the resignation of another commissioner leaving it unable to punish violations of election law.”

OLIVE GARDEN WHAT? HEA. “The restaurant chain is owned by Darden Restaurants and the group has also not given money to Trump, Federal Election Commission records show. Some individual Darden Restaurant employees did give contributions to Trump in 2016, but only in small amounts. None of Darden’s executives have made contributions to Trump’s 2020 campaign.”

HUNGRY YET? PF. “A popular social media hoax is trying to link about a dozen chain restaurants to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.”

CA: LIMIT LOOK. MH. “Monterey city officials on Wednesday will be tossing around an idea to beef up campaign finance reform beyond what state and federal laws require.”

MA: INDICTMENT SURPRISE. ML. “Until Beacon Hill lobbyist Anne Lynch was charged with paying kickbacks to a client who steered business her way, clients said the behavior of her firm was generally helpful and unremarkable.”

NY: WHO GAVE? NYT. “The scale of Mr. Rich’s donations and his compensation raised questions about the hospital association’s lobbying methods in Albany, at a time when a new Democratic majority in the Capitol is weighing the future of health care in New York.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.