Good morning, here are Thursday’s political law links (1/17/13)

SANFORD RUN. Politico. “The Republican primary is slated for March 19, and a runoff will be held on April 2 in the event none of the candidates receive more than 50 percent of the vote. The general election is set for May 7, though Democrats are not expected to seriously compete for the conservative-oriented seat.”

OCE APPOINTMENTS. Roll Call. “House leaders on Wednesday made eight appointments to the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics, enabling the independent fact-finding agency to continue its work in the 113th Congress.”

2012 PLUM BOOK. GPO. “Every four years, just after the Presidential election, the United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, commonly known as the Plum Book, is published, alternately, by the Senate and the House. The Plum Book is used to identify presidentially appointed positions within the Federal Government.”

POLITICAL LAW BLOG AND ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP. Here’s a quick look at some of the political law updates available online. Covington’s InsidePoliticalLaw.com has had many interesting posts in the last few weeks, including items on the SEC rulemaking on disclosure, straw contributors, and developments in New York. Venable’s Political Law Briefing also noted the New York developments and in another post discussed (c)(4) disclosure issues. McKenna Long & Aldrridge’s PaytoPlayLawBlog.com had several interesting items, including a November post on the outlook for new rules in 2013. Bill McGinley had a link to his Politico piece advocating OCE reforms here. State & Federal, as usual, covers the latest reforms and news, including items related to Missouri, Georgia, and Oklahoma.

GA: REAL ISSUE: LAWMAKER PAY. Here. “The topic is so politically volatile that no lawmaker, Republican or Democrat, is allowed to mention the subject – unless it is to douse it with cold water. But here it is in a nutshell: We need to start paying a decent salary to these 236 lawmakers sent to Atlanta each year.”

NY: REVOLVING DOOR ISSUE. The Times. “A lawyer who served as chief counsel for Gov. David A. Paterson has paid a $3,500 fine for violating a state law limiting the interactions between former employees of the governor’s office and the state government.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY. I’ll send around the next set of links on Tuesday.

1/16/13 political law links

APP MINES.  Politico.  “Looking for a public toilet using the new Inauguration smartphone app? That might just land you on left-leaning email lists or solicited in coming years to be a Democratic campaign donor.”

INDIAN GAMING MOVES. Politico. “Reid is acting on behalf of the Alabama-Coushatta tribe, which in 2002 had its casino in Livingston — a small town in East Texas — shut down by state authorities. The tribe was a victim of Abramoff’s illegal activities, as the onetime GOP lobbyist was working behind the scenes to pressure Texas authorities to close the casino while simultaneously approaching the tribe for a lucrative lobbying contract to keep it open.”

FL: ALLOW UNLIMITED CONTRIBUTIONS. Story here. “Florida’s campaign finance system is so riddled with holes that a state ethics watchdog group will urge lawmakers Wednesday to open the spigot and let an unlimited amount of campaign cash gush into campaign coffers.”

FL: BILL TARGETS LOBBYING. Story here. “A Florida Senate panel is fast-tracking a sweeping ethics proposal that would crack down on politicians’ lavish lobbyist-funded living, their revolving-door jobs and even their paychecks in cases when they don’t pay ethics fines.”

NC: DEEP DIVE INTO REPORTS. Story here. “Pat McCrory won the governor’s race Nov. 6 but campaign donors kept filling his coffers through the end of the year, according to new campaign finance reports.”

UT: CALL FOR REFORM. Story here. “Utah Attorney General John Swallow’s business relationships have prompted a state senator to propose legislation that would prohibit appointed and elected officials from doing work on the side that might conflict with their jobs.”

EU: PRISON IN LOBBYING CASE. Story here. “Former Austrian MEP Ernst Stasser was sentenced to a four-year prison term yesterday (14 January) on a corruption conviction that stemmed from being caught by journalists posing as lobbyists in a cash-for-influence case.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are Tuesday’s political law links (1/15/13)

WYDEN-MURKOWSKI. The Times. “Until now, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, has not seen a single member of his caucus dare to buck his fierce opposition to a law requiring fuller disclosure of campaign contributions. But last month, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, broke through the partisan wall to propose a badly needed mandate for transparency by the growing army of unrestricted, unidentified donors who underwrite attack ads and other stealth tactics that have so disfigured American politics.”

SOUTH FORWARD LAUNCH. Politico. “Former DNC chairman Donald Fowler and his wife Carol Fowler will help launch a new Democratic effort to revitalize the party’s fortunes across the South.”

INAUGURATION: THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT. Roll Call. “The Democratic senator from New York held a news conference Monday to describe the app, which can be downloaded on any smartphone by going to the JCCIC website (www.inaugural.senate.gov).”

WAL-MART EMAILS RELEASED. Story here. “The lawmakers say the emails contradict earlier claims by Wal-Mart that executives weren’t aware of bribes being made by the company.”

SUIT ON POLITICAL DISCLOSURE. Many thanks to Steven Sholk for sharing this item on a lawsuit involving corporate disclosure of political activity.

FL:  ETHICS BILL.  Story here.  “With ethics reform on the front burner for Republican leaders in both chambers, Sen. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, on Monday became the first lawmaker to file ethics legislation for the upcoming session.”

GA: CAP PASSES. Story here. “New state Senate rules adopted Monday set some weak limits on what lobbyists can give lawmakers, but those restrictions include big loopholes.”

NYC: RACE FOR MAYOR. NY Post. “The city’s Campaign Finance Board is welcoming him to the race in typical establishment fashion: by readying a heap of fines and violations.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.