Good morning, here are today’s political law links, 2/27/13

INSIGHT AMERICA LAUNCH. Roll Call. “Brandon Andrews, spokesman for Insight America and a former staffer to Sen. James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., said that while the organization is being run by a former Republican and the event is being held at a conservative think tank, it seeks to improve diversity in a bipartisan manner on Capitol Hill.”

MESSINA MOVES. Politico. “Jim Messina, campaign manager for President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection bid and one of the most influential figures in Obama world, is opening a consulting firm to represent progressive groups and Democratic campaigns.”

OFA CRITICISM. The Hill. “A nonpartisan watchdog group on Tuesday demanded President Obama shut down the nonprofit group built from his campaign organization, the latest voice in a growing chorus accusing the newly founded Organizing for Action (OFA) of selling access to the White House.”

OFA CRITICISM. Politico. “The Obama group Organizing for Action is fighting back against accusations that it generated fake tweets supporting the president’s call for gun-control legislation.”

MT: BILL PASSED. Story here. “The Montana Senate has endorsed a bill that would limit corporate campaign finance spending after changing the measure to allow news-media outlets to continue publishing editorials during election season.” A version of SB 320 is online here.

ND: ETHICS COMMISSION BILL KILLED. Story here. “North Dakota’s House has defeated a measure to create a panel to investigate alleged acts of wrongdoing by politicians.”

NM: NEW RULES FOR LAS CRUCES? Story here. “For the past nine months, a Campaign Finance Ad-Hoc Committee has been meeting to develop an amended ordinance that would put stricter guidelines on the amount of money raised and spent on municipal election campaigns.”

PA: PHILA. ISSUES. Story here. “[John] McDaniel signed a settlement agreement with the city’s Board of Ethics on Feb. 14, the same day he pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing from Brown’s campaign account and the Progressive Agenda PAC, a political-action committee funded by the Laborer’s District Counsel.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Political law links, 2/26/13

WH ON OFA. WS. “Today, Jay Carney was unable to defend this arrangement at the White House press briefing, implausibly stating that the Obama group is somehow not related to Obama…”

SUPREME COURT WON’T HEAR DANIELCZYK. CNN. “The congressional ban on direct campaign contributions to federal candidates by corporations will stay in place after the Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from a campaign supporter of Hillary Clinton.”

CORPORATE BAN STANDS. CSM. “At issue in the case was a section of federal election law that permits contributions of up to $2,500 from individuals, partnerships, and limited liability companies. But campaign-finance laws ban the same amount when coming from a corporate treasury.”

CILLIZZA ON REFORMS. The Post. ”What’s clear from a look at the broad sweep of what Obama has said — and, more importantly, done — on campaign finance reform is that while the president may genuinely believe there is too much money in politics, he’s not terribly interested in doing much of anything about it.”

E.POLITICS ITEMS. E.politics, as usual, has several interesting items of note. This item notes online ad trends during the presidential election.

MCCUTCHEON AND THE STATES. Political Law Briefing (via Craig Ready. “At least 12 states impose aggregate (though often much lower) aggregate contribution limits on political contributions…”

CO: $34K SPENT TO DEFEND. Story here. “The state of Colorado has paid more than $34,000 to private law firms hired to defend Secretary of State Scott Gessler against an ethics complaint that he misused public funds.”

GA: ETHICS BILL PASSES. Story here. “The Georgia House of Representatives on Monday passed historic legislation that would bar lobbyist gifts to individual lawmakers and enact new rules on lobbyist registration.”

MT: INCREASE IN LIMIT PASSES. Story here. “The House, on a mostly party-line vote Monday, approved a major Republican bill to overhaul Montana campaign finance laws by increasing the amount of allowable contributions made directly to candidates.”

OH: LIMITS ADJUSTED. Story here. “The limit, adjusted by the secretary of state’s office every two years for inflation, was increased 5.3 percent from $11,544 to $12,155. The limit applies to contributions to statewide candidates, House and Senate candidates, political action committees, and county party state candidate funds. The limit for giving to legislative caucus funds is $18,233, and is $36,446 for a state party’s state candidate fund.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Good morning, here are Monday’s political law links, 2/25/13

OFA UPDATE. The Post. “Unlike political parties and other organizations set up to win elections, the OFA is not subject to federal election fundraising restrictions and disclosure requirements, meaning the public will have only limited opportunities to learn about its operations, including how revenue is collected and spent.”

OFA AND DONORS. The Times. “President Obama’s political team is fanning out across the country in pursuit of an ambitious goal: raising $50 million to convert his re-election campaign into a powerhouse national advocacy network, a sum that would rank the new group as one of Washington’s biggest lobbying operations.”

NEXT FOR PRIORITIES. Politico. “Priorities USA Action, which spent roughly $65 million helping President Barack Obama win reelection, isn’t ready to close up shop, but its place in the Democratic money world is uncertain.”

WHEN IS POLITICAL ACTIVITY A CRIME? Nonprofit Law Prof Blog. “This seems a house of cards as far as criminal liability goes — at least under the charge of interfering with the proper administration of the internal revenue laws.” (Via Steven Sholk.)

QUALCOMM DISCLOSURE. The Times. “Qualcomm, the country’s largest maker of computer chips for mobile devices, has voluntarily disclosed previously secret political contributions to tax-exempt groups under a settlement with the New York State comptroller that was announced on Friday.”

REPORT: SEC DECIDING IN APRIL ON NEXT STEPS FOR DISCLOSURE RULE. Fox Business (video).

MARKEY ON CU. Story here. “Representative Edward Markey is refusing to back down from comments he made this week that seemed to compare the US Supreme Court’s decision on campaign finance law to the high court’s 19th-century Dred Scott decision, which upheld slavery.”

JUDGE LOUIS OBERDORFER, 94. BLT. “U.S. District Senior Judge Louis Oberdorfer died last night at age 94, according to an announcement from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.” Judge Oberdorfer is the author of FEC v. GOPAC, a 1996 case discussing political committee status and the major purpose test.

CA: REPORTING ISSUES. Story here. “It’s a glaring weakness of California’s campaign-finance reporting system, making it ripe for abuse: It’s hard to verify whether the expenses of Bonilla and other politicians and office-seekers are legitimate.”

FL: SUSPECT CHARGED. Story here. “A former candidate under FBI investigation with former U.S. Rep David Rivera surrendered Friday afternoon and was to be charged with federal crimes over his campaign finances.”

MD: ONLINE VOTING FRAUD. Story here. “A controversial change in Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s otherwise popular bill to expand early voting could lead to voter fraud and expose the state’s elections to cybersecurity threats, according to a voting group and election technology experts.”

PA: PHILA. LOBBYING LAW CLARIFIED. Story here. “Mayor Nutter asked to clarify the applicability of the city’s lobbying code after the William Penn Foundation, which awards millions of dollars worth of grants each year in and around Philadelphia, had put on hold routine city grant-making activity.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.