Here are today’s political law links, 3/11/13

ETHICS ADVICE AND SEQUESTER. Roll Call. “The House Ethics Committee reminded lawmakers Friday they’re forbidden to use campaign funds to pay staff salaries or other office expenses that are being cut as a result of the sequester.” The memo is here.

OFA CHANGE. The Post. “Reversing course after weeks of public pressure, the head of the new nonprofit organization formed to take over President Obama’s campaign operation announced Thursday that the group will not take donations from corporations as originally planned and will provide more transparency about its funding.”

OFA CRITICISM. The Hill. “Organizing for Action has given up corporate cash, but watchdog groups won’t be satisfied until the pro-Obama nonprofit is shut down for good.”

CA: BALLOT MEASURE COMMITTEES IN THE NEWS. Story here. “A Bee review found that some of the more than $2.7 million lawmakers collected through these committees in the last two years paid for items with tenuous connection to such measures, including thank-you gifts to donors, a lawmaker’s tuition and contributions to nonprofits. In some cases, they also spent heavily on extravagant, out-of-state fundraisers.”

FL: STATUS OF EXEMPTION. Story here. “A provision in the version of S.B. 2 that went to the floor would have left lawmakers currently in office exempt from that regulation until the end of their ongoing term.”

MD: FINE AND COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR ILLEGAL VOTING. The Post. “A former Maryland congressional candidate was fined $5,000 and ordered to perform 500 hours of community service after she admitted to illegally voting in two states during the same general election, a state prosecutor announced Friday.”

MN: HIGHER LIMITS BILL PASSED. Story here. “A Minnesota House committee today approved a bill that would allow higher contributions to political candidates running for state office.”

MS: LAW IGNORED. Story here. “City clerks are not penalized for failing to collect candidates’ finance reports, but there are provisions in the law that could potentially be used to punish elected officials who fail to file.”

NY: CFR CHANCES. Story here. “In a 23-minute speech on Friday at the Midtown Manhattan offices of the law firm Covington & Burling, Mr. Cuomo said the good news, for advocates of campaign finance changes, was that the presidential election had raised public awareness of the flood of money in politics. He said New York State could set an example for the rest of the country in moving to combat it.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links, 3/7/13

FEC AGENDA. The agenda for today’s Federal Election Commission meeting is online here.

OCE AND INFERENCES. Roll Call. “Owens and his staff fully cooperated with the OCE’s investigation. However, some witnesses from whom the OCE requested information did not. The OCE’s report lists these witnesses and states that it drew negative inferences as a result of the witnesses’ failure to cooperate.”

MAGLIOCCHETTI RELEASE DATE APPROACHES. BOP. More on his sentence here.

KYL MOVES. USAT. “The Senate’s former No. 2 Republican leader is joining Washington’s largest law firm as it expands its lobbying shop.”

SPORTSMEN’S FOUNDATION IN THE NEWS.  The Times.  “Established in 1989 as the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus Foundation — the word ‘caucus’ was dropped in 1994 — the foundation is a nonprofit charity under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, meaning it can accept unlimited, tax-deductible donations. Its charitable purpose, according to tax records, is to ‘provide scientific research, wildlife management, public education and conservation information.’ It says it does this by giving nonpartisan ‘advice, support and information’ to the sportsmen’s caucus and elected state officials.”

AZ: LAW’S CONSTITUTIONALITY QUESTIONED. Story here. “Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne says a judge should dismiss a campaign-finance case against Horne and an employee of this office because the law being invoked is unconstitutional.”

FL: LOBBYIST WITHDRAWS. Story here. “Meridian Strategies, the lobbying firm that doubles as the management group for Jeb Bush’s controversial education reform nonprofits, on Monday pulled its lobbying registration following a Sunday news story questioning its role in the Bush operations.”

CANADA AND KEYSTONE. Story here. “As the decision on the Keystone XL pipeline nears, Canadian governments have launched an intense if not desperate lobbying campaign in the United States designed to persuade influential American politicians and industrial leaders that the pipeline is vital for U.S. security and economic interests and is also an environmentally responsible energy source.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY. I’ll send around the next set of links on Monday. Have a great weekend.

Good morning, here today’s political law links, 3/6/13

HOUSE: NEW FORMS FOR TRAVEL. Story here. “The House Ethics Committee has released the revised forms that members and staffers will have to submit before and after taking trips financed by private entities.”

CHEVRON ALLEGATION. Story here.

FTC ATTORNEY TO LEAVE. Story here. “Yael Weinman is leaving the Federal Trade Commission to join the Information Technology Industry Council next month, the tech lobbying firm announced on Monday.”

FL: OPENING DAY ETHICS UPDATE. Story here. “As expected, the Florida Senate passed a pair of ethics bills on the opening day of the 2013 legislative session.”

PA: ETHICS COMPLAINT FILED. Story here. “The Pennsylvania Democratic Party has filed a formal complaint with the state Ethics Commission over thousands of dollars of gifts Governor Corbett and his wife received, which include a free vacation, private jet travel, and entertainment.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.