Political law links for Thurs., 2/14/13

IRAQ HIRES. Politico. “The government of Iraq is in the final stages of inking a contract with the Podesta Group as its first Washington lobbying firm, POLITICO has learned.”

LESSIG WRITES. CPI. “Harvard University law professor Lawrence Lessig and his campaign finance reform organization, Rootstrikers, are today calling on Federal Election Commission Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub to conduct a public hearing on super PAC regulation.”

REFORMERS IRKED. HuffPo. “Campaign finance reformers and government watchdogs were disappointed Tuesday night when President Barack Obama failed to include any messages around money in politics in his 2013 State of the Union address. Advocates were hoping to hear about a range of issues, from money in politics to transparency to lobbying.”

REFORMER IRKED. NPR. “FRED WERTHEIMER: Nixon did an awful lot of stuff. But as far as I know, President Nixon never did something like this nor did anyone else.”

WATCHDOGS BACK OCE. Roll Call. “In Wednesday’s letter, the groups said that despite those concerns, the OCE ‘has performed admirably in screening out frivolous cases, compiling useful information for cases by the Ethics Committee and providing a valuable link between the public and the congressional ethics process.'”

AZ: TEETH SOUGHT. Story here. “Saying the law needs some teeth, a Senate panel voted 6-1 Tuesday to make the kind of campaign finance violation Attorney General Tom Horne is accused of a crime, punishable by time in state prison.”

GA: ETHICS CONSIDERED. Story here. “The House Rules Committee on Thursday will consider sweeping reforms to the state’s ethics laws and are expected to debate changes created to make it more palatable to citizen activists.”

IA: CHANGES MULLED. Story here. “Individuals may be able to spend up to $500 per year lobbying legislators without registering, under a bill discussed Wednesday in the Senate Ethics, Elections and Local Government Committee.”

MD: REVOLVING DOOR RULE CONSIDERED. Story here. “In hopes of slowing the political revolving door out of government to influence government as a lobbyist, House Minority Leader O’Donnell testified Tuesday for a package of four ethics measures he’s introduced.”

MT: REFORM PROPOSED. Story here. “[State Rep. Scott] Reichner introduced House Bill 229, which would remove political campaign contribution limits for corporations, political action committees and state parties and increase the aggregate donation thresholds for individuals.”

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

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

MENENDEZ UPDATE. Story here. “Sen. Robert Menendez took at least one more trip to the Dominican Republic on the plane of a doctor and campaign donor than he has publicly admitted, according to sources who spent time with the New Jersey Democrat on the unreported visit.”

MENENDEZ AND PORT SECURITY ISSUE. The Times. “Senator Robert Menendez sought to discourage any plan by the United States government to donate port security equipment to the Dominican Republic, citing concern that the advanced screening gear might undermine efforts by a private company — run by a major campaign contributor and friend of his — to do the work.”

FRANK STAFFERS LAUNCH. Story here. “If you write a law slapping a series of complex regulations on financial institutes, you become a valuable asset to those banks.”

GUILTY PLEA IN FL. DOJ. “Jay Odom, 56, of Destin, Fla., pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge Lacey A. Collier in the Northern District of Florida to one count of causing another to make false statements to the FEC.”

FIVE WAYS LOBBYISTS HELP BUSINESSES. Story here. “Companies in nearly every industry are impacted by myriad governmental regulations.”

DC: MENDELSON ON GRAHAM ISSUES. The Post. “D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) ended five days on silence regarding an ethics report on colleague Jim Graham, lamenting that the board did not take more definitive action.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Political law links, 2/12/13

BLOOMBERG PAC UP IN SPECIAL. Story here. “A Mike Bloomberg-funded super PAC is about to surpass $1 million in ads in a House special primary election in Illinois, lambasting former Democratic Rep. Debbie Halvorson over her high marks from the National Rifle Association.”

WYDEN ON REFORMS. HuffPo. “The senior senator from Oregon will not be sitting on the sidelines in this battle. Recently he announced a bipartisan plan to tackle campaign finance disclosure with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).”

IOWA CUOMO ADS. Story here. “New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s critics who want him to stop fracking in his state are hitting him where it could hurt — Iowa.”

FL: REFORMS MOVING. Story here. “A House plan to eliminate controversial political slush funds and raise campaign contribution limits to $10,000 passed its first committee stop on a bipartisan vote Monday.”

FL:  PLEA.  Story here.  “Averting a prolonged and heated political drama, Jim Greer, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, walked into an Orlando courtroom on Monday and pleaded guilty to grand theft and money laundering charges.”

GA: BILLS MOVING. Story here. “That process right now is focused on House Bill 142, which as proposed by House Speaker David Ralston would ban lobbyists from giving gifts to state lawmakers.”

IL: CHICAGO REFORMS. Story here. “Chicago aldermen on Monday endorsed Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed changes to city ethics rules, but only after the mayor watered down his proposal three times to satisfy City Council members who said they were wary of false complaints.”

NY: BOARD LEAK. Story here. “New York’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics blames the recent embarrassing transmission of a closed session on a technical glitch.”

SOCIAL MEDIA WEEK. Next week is Social Media Week and the schedule includes a number of events mixing social media with political advocacy.

HAVE A GOOD DAY.