Political law links, 3/5/13

AM XRDS HITS OFA. Politico. “American Crossroads released a video Monday mocking Organizing for Action, the nonprofit that grew out of the Obama campaign, for offering $500,000 contributors meetings with the president.”

OFA TIES. HuffPo. “OFA’s close ties to the West Wing and its control over the former campaign’s resources has raised questions about where the nonprofit group ends and the White House starts.”

K ST. 13 PREDICTIONS.  The Hill.  “During last year’s lobbying slowdown, many on K Street predicted that the arrival of a new Congress in 2013 would snap the industry’s two-year losing streak.”

FEDERAL MONEY FOR LOBBYING ISSUE. Story here. “The federal government has negotiated a tentative settlement agreement in a whistleblower lawsuit accusing Fluor Hanford of using federal money to lobby for funds for the HAMMER training center at Hanford, according to court documents.”

CU CITED IN PROP. 8 BRIEF. Here. “This case accordingly presents one of the rare instances in which judicial intervention is necessary to prevent overreaching by the electorate. When fundamental liberties are at stake, personal ‘choices and assessments … are not for the Government to make,’ Citizens United v. FEC, 130 S. Ct. 876, 917 (2010), and courts must step in to prevent any encroachment upon individual rights.”

EO UPDATE. Subscribe to IRS publication EO Update here. The newsletter covers “tax policy, services and available information that impact tax-exempt organizations.”

BUSH 16 WATCH.  Post.  “To be clear, what Bush said Monday shouldn’t be taken as a sign that he is running for president.”

FL:  OPENING DAY ETHICS.  Story here.  “Lawmakers like to make a splash – or at least what they see as a splash – on the first day of the legislative session.”

TX: DOUBLE DISCLOSURE. Story here. “Texas candidates and officeholders would have to file quarterly campaign finance reports — instead of semi-annual ones — under legislation filed by Rep. Chris Turner, D-Arlington, who wants to overhaul parts of the state’s financial disclosure laws.”

TX: HUMBLE TREASURER FINED. Story here. “In response to a sworn complaint, the Texas Ethics Commmission has levied a $2,500 fine on Daniel Stunda, a trustee for Humble Teamsters Local Number 19 and treasurer for its political action committee, after finding he committed more than 60 campaign finance violations.”

JAMAICA:  REFORMS PROPOSAL SOON.  Story here.    “The report has recommendations falling under 10 headings ranging from the sources of contribution and donations, impermissible donors, limits on contributions to candidates and political parties, limits on election expenditure of candidates and of political parties to disclosure by candidates and political parties.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links, 3/4/13

COURT DEFINES LIMIT. Story here. “The Securities and Exchange Commission suffered a legal blow Wednesday when the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the agency’s position on how much time regulators have to pursue civil penalties.”

POST VIEW ON OFA.  Here.  “Such groups are not required to publicly disclose donors or amounts of contributions, as they would be if they operated under the rules of the Federal Elections Commission.”

ETHICS ELECTION IMPACT. Story here. “Two months after leaving Congress, former Rep. Shelley Berkley still is irked over the House ethics investigation she believes cost her a seat in the U.S. Senate.”

BUNDLER DUMP. CNN. “The Obama campaign has voluntarily disclosed their bundlers, and new details out Saturday show some of their biggest volunteer fundraisers are big stars.”

APPEAL TO FCC. The Hill. “Leading House Democrats are calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to use its existing authority to unveil the secret donors bankrolling political TV ads.”

NEW FIRM FOR NELSON. Story here. “Ethics rules prevent former senators from lobbying until two years after they leave Congress, while former staffers are banned from lobbying for one year. Becker said that Rubin will handle Senate lobbying until the bans on him and Nelson expire.”

NATIONAL PAC CONFERENCE THIS WEEK. PAC. “The 2013 National PAC Conference will offer insights on how to stay on top of rules and regulations, increase contributions, streamline your PAC management and build awareness for your organization’s political activities.” And on top of all of that it’s in Miami Beach.

JACKSON MOVE. Politico. “Barry Jackson, Boehner’s longtime chief of staff, is joining Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a strategic adviser and the Lindsey Group as a managing director.”

GOOGLE DONATION AND FTC. Story here. “The chairman of the FTC today responded to reports that Google partially paid for a banquet where he received an award, saying he didn’t know who the banquet’s sponsors were.”

CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWYERS AND DOMA. Here. “Members of Caplin & Drysdale’s Political Law Group filed today a friend-of-the-court brief for a bipartisan group of former Federal Election Commission officials in U.S. v. Windsor, the high-profile U.S. Supreme Court case that challenges the Defense of Marriage Act’s (DOMA) constitutionality.”

FCPA ISSUE. The Times. “Las Vegas Sands Corporation, the casino company controlled by the billionaire Sheldon G. Adelson, says in a regulatory filing that it probably violated a federal law that prohibits bribing foreign officials.”

NEY’S BOOK. The Hill. “Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) will release his new book this week that could shed new revelations about the Jack Abramoff scandal.”

CA: FPPC REVIEW. Story here. “Officials at the Fair Political Practices Commission said Thursday they are studying a complaint that Michael Rubio, a Democrat from the Central Valley town of Shafter, may have improperly benefited from real estate deals with a refinery executive.”

CO: LOBBYIST ALLEGATION. Story here. “A gun lobbyist who tangled with a fellow Republican earlier this month over gun bills will be the target of an ethics probe into whether he violated legislative rules.”

FL: ETHICS COMMISSION PROPOSAL. Story here. “Florida leaders could soon be facing more oversight.”

WI: PROBE CLOSED. Story here. “Just like that, the lengthy John Doe investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s aides and associates is over.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links, 2/28/13

CODEL CUTS. Roll Call. “House Speaker John A. Boehner announced on Wednesday that members will no longer be allowed to travel by military aircraft on Congressional delegation trips.”

SOL CLARIFIED. SCOTUSblog. In a case involving the SEC the Supreme Court held that the five-year clock in 28 U.S.C. § 2462 begins to tick when the fraud occurs, not when it is discovered.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWYERS AMONG THOSE SIGNING-ON TO BRIEF. Politico. “More than 80 of the nation’s most prominent Republicans — including top officials of all recent Republican administrations and presidential campaigns – on Tuesday came out publicly in favor of a constitutional right to gay marriage in a brief to be filed this week with the Supreme Court.”

GUILTY PLEAS. DOJ Release. “William P. Danielczyk Jr. and Eugene R. Biagi pleaded guilty today to reimbursing $186,600 in contributions to the Senate and Presidential campaign committees of a candidate for federal office, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia and Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.”

VRA ARGUMENT. The Hill. “The Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared likely to strike down a key part of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark civil rights law designed to protect minority voters from discrimination.”

IRS SEARCH. The IRS is working on their system for searching for nonprofit organizations. A note on the site says it should have been up by yesterday afternoon (“The Political Organization Filing and Disclosure application is down for maintenance until Wednesday afternoon, February 27.”)  UPDATE:  The site now says, “IRS has replaced the Political Organization Filing and Disclosure (POFD) application with a completely new version.”  The search function is now operational.

DC: GRAHAM MATTER. NBC. “Only Ward 8’s Marion Barry spoke up for Graham.”

FL:  SUSPECT TO PLEA.  Story here.  “A key suspect in a criminal case tied to former Congressman David Rivera will officially switch his plea to guilty in three federal charges for illegal campaign activity.”

GA:  ABRAMOFF WEIGHS-IN.  Here.  “Abramoff, speaking at an Atlanta Press Club luncheon, praised Georgia lawmakers for taking on lobbyist gift reform but said the bill that passed the House this week has too many loopholes.”

PA: FILING DELAY. Story here. “Lawmakers are introducing measures to require all candidates for state office to file finance reports electronically, instead of mailing them. At least 30 other states require electronic filing.”

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