Tuesday’s political law links (2/5/13)

DEMINT AND ETHICS RULES. Roll Call. “Retreat organizers wanted to host an address by DeMint, the former South Carolina senator, but decided not to out of an abundance of caution. Criminal law forbids former senators from influencing members for two years after leaving Congress.”

MENENDEZ TRIPS IN THE NEWS. Story here. “Menendez’s office has acknowledged that the senator did not repay Melgen for the trips until after a New Jersey Republican official complained to the Senate Ethics Committee.”

MENENDEZ RESPONDS. The Hill. “‘The smears that right wing blogs have been pushing since the election, that is totally unsubstantiated — it’s amazing to me that anonymous, nameless, faceless individuals on a website can drive that kind of story into the mainstream,’ Menendez told CNN in an interview Monday.”

REID ENDORSEMENT. Politico. “A longtime aide to Harry Reid is opening up a lobbying firm — and he’s getting a ringing endorsement from the Senate majority leader.”

LOBBYING DATABASE ISSUE. Story here. “A weekend revamp of the U.S. Senate Lobbying Disclose Act database has caused previosly active hyperlinks to hundreds of thousands of lobbying disclosure documents to stop functioning.” The source of this item is Dave Levinthal’s Primary Source, a site definitely worth following closely.

ADELSON PRIMED FOR MORE DONATING. Yahoo! “Las Vegas Sands (LVS) CEO and Chairman Sheldon Adelson has racked up monster gains on a $37 million purchase of company stock. In March 2009, soon after the market bottomed during the financial crisis, Adelson scooped up 12,500,000 shares around $3 apiece. Since then, Las Vegas Sands shares have skyrocketed to $54, meaning Adelson’s initial purchase is now worth north of $600 million.”

GA: LATEST ON LOBBYING REFORM. Here. “Many legislators say they see lobbyists as sources of expert information. Indeed, reading the lawyer-drafted bills that are filed by the dozen every day is sometimes like trying to read a foreign language.”

NJ: LOCAL LOBBYING. Story here. “The $73 million is the sum businesses and other special interests spent lobbying the state government in 2011, according to required lobbyist disclosures filed with the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC).”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links (Mon., Feb. 4)

MENENDEZ ALLEGATIONS. The Hill. “The bad news keeps coming: a Senate Ethics probe, allegations involving underage prostitutes, an FBI investigation of a key campaign donor, undisclosed flights on the donor’s private plane, and now, reports linking Menendez to an existing multi-million dollar contract he urged officials to enforce for the disgraced donor.”

MENENDEZ ALLEGATIONS II. Politico. “Senior Democratic aides noted that with Ethics Committee investigating the matter, party leaders like Reid have cover not to take any action against Menendez until that panel completes its review of the case. The Ethics Committee would step out of the way if Menendez becomes formally involved in a criminal probe by the Justice Department.”

OFA IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT. Politico. “Those putting together the new Obama-backed organization insist that they will disclose the identities of donors. However, the law doesn’t require such disclosures for a 501c4 group, so there would be no legal consequences for any omission. And it’s unclear whether the voluntary donor disclosure will provide the same detail as legally mandated reports and whether that detail will be as timely.”

PAC VIDEO HIGHLIGHTED. HuffPo. “In another sign of the close ties between super PACs and elected officials, seven newly minted Democratic House members appear in a promotional video for a super PAC that helped them win election in 2012.”

APPROPS NO LONGER COVETED. Roll Call. “The Republican ban on earmarks has undermined the ability of appropriators to mete out money to their own congressional districts and win favors by sending funds to other districts. The cardinals, as subcommittee chairmen are often called because of their sway, now are expected to sing along with the rest of the choir.”

NEW GROUP FORMED. The Times. “The biggest donors in the Republican Party are financing a new group to recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts who Republican leaders worry could complicate the party’s efforts to win control of the Senate.”

WHAT YE REPORTS SHOW. Story here. “President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee ended 2012 with large debts.”

NEW LIMITS. IBT. “Next election cycle, Americans will be able to donate even more money to their candidate of choice.”

A LOOK AT THE FEC YEAR IN REVIEW. Covington.

HUNGRYLOBBYIST.COM RE-LAUNCH. DCEater. “If anyone can talk about the intersection of restaurants and lobbyists, it’s Brian Marshall Johnson.”

TX: TXT. Roll Call. “The Texas Ethics Commission gave its blessing Thursday to campaign donations via text messaging in state races, according to a website run by the Republican attorney who pushed for the change.”

AUSTRALIA: HUAWEI IN THE NEWS. Story here. “For Chinese technology giant Huawei, it appears $11,000 doesn’t buy as much as it once did. According to details released on Friday by the Australian Electoral Commission, Huawei contributed $11,000 to the federal Labor Party in financial year 2011-12.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

MT CFR bill news and other political law links

RING CASE TAKEAWAYS. PoliticalLawBriefing.com. “Now facing 20 months in jail – starting his sentence after Abramoff ended his – what does Ring’s case teach us?” I’m sure the case generated a lot of somber memos around town.

NEW LIMITS.  Roll Call.  “Individual donors can now contribute up to $2,600 to a candidate in both the primary and general elections — $5,200 total — and $32,400 per calendar year to national party committees. The total amount of federal contributions that an individual can give during a two-year cycle also increased to $123,200, including $48,600 to candidates and $74,600 to parties and political action committees.”

GA: LOBBYIST SPENDING BAN PROPOSED. Story here. “Lobbyists would face restrictions on wining and dining individual elected officials in Georgia under a plan released Tuesday by the top-ranking Republican in the House, though his legislation leaves loopholes and falls short of a total ban.”

GA: LOBBYING LAW AND ATR. Story here.

MT: CFR BILLS FILED. Story here. “A pair of bills that would increase, or eliminate, Montana’s limits on campaign contributions drew plenty of fire Tuesday, as public-interest groups said it would ‘open the floodgates’ to more money from deep-pocketed interests.”

NY: CFR UPDATE. Story here. “Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos repeated his opposition to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposals for campaign finance reform last week, setting up another battle between the Governor and state Republicans.”

RI: LOBBYIST CONTRIBUTION BAN PROPOSED. Story here. ” A Rhode Island lawmaker wants to prohibit lobbyists from making political contributions to legislators when the General Assembly is in session.”

VT: CFR ON THE RADAR. Story here. “Democrats in Vermont today echoed their Republican counterparts in calling for campaign finance reform to increase transparency. The proposals follow a campaign season that saw hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in both primary and general elections.”

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