Political law links, 11/1/12

ROMNEY AND LOBBYISTS.  WSJ.  “Advisers to Mitt Romney would limit the role of lobbyists in transition teams and the White House if the Republican presidential candidate wins next week’s election.”

SANDY FEC TIP. FEC Tips for Treasurers. “Hurricane Sandy could affect some committees’ ability to submit these filings and the Commission’s ability to accept them.”

LARGEST CONTRIBUTION FROM PUBLIC CO. Story here. “This month, [Congressional Leadership Fund] received a $2.3 million contribution from Chevron Corp. of San Ramon. Chevron’s contribution is by far the largest made by an American public company to a super PAC since the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court freed all constraints on corporate political spending in the Citizens United case.”

12 MONEY RACE.  The Post.  “The two presidential candidates said they had nearly $300 million in the bank for the final leg of the campaign, raising a simple question: What in the world are they going to do with all that money?”

PHANTOM COMMISSION.  Roll Call on the EAC.  “A federal agency created to restore confidence in the election process in the wake of Bush v. Gore sits all but leaderless as the country approaches Election Day.”

USE OF HOUSE RESOURCES QUESTIONED. Story here. “Rep. Laura Richardson has burned through the taxpayer dollars allotted for her official duties, according to Democratic sources and an internal email obtained by POLITICO.”

TOP LOBBYISTS. The Hill. “2012 hasn’t been the best year for K Street, but it’s too soon to call it a bust.”

TXT MSG NEWS. The Hill. “Virginia-based GOP advertising firm ccAdvertising was behind a flood of anti-Obama text messages sent Tuesday night, according to Web domain records.”

TRICK OR TREAT FROM OCE. Story here. “The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) recommended three members of Congress, or their staff, to the House Ethics Committee for further investigation last quarter, according to the outside panel’s latest report issued on Wednesday.”

VOTER FRAUD APP. Politico. “The once-prominent conservative super PAC Winning Our Future is back this Halloween to unveil a trick — or treat, depending on your political persuasion — targeting voter fraud.”

ME: PAC CASE DECIDED. Story here. “The Maine Ethics Commission unanimously ruled that State Senator Nichi Farnham did not play a role in a political action committee’s decision to buy $72,919 worth of attack ads against her opponent, Democrat Geoffrey Gratwick.”

MT: LATEST ON FREEZE. Story here. “A $500,000 donation to Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill appears to violate Montana’s campaign contribution limits, a state judge ruled Wednesday in an order preventing the former congressman from spending the money.”

ND: STATE BAN ON ELECTIONEERING STRUCK. Volokh.

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Political law links (10/31/12)

“SKITTISHNESS” AND FCPA REQUESTS. FCPA Professor. “The current era of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement has led to a high level of anxiety and skittishness over things that should not. The end result is overcompliance and inefficient use of resources.”

INDEPENDENT SPENDING TRUMPS.  The Hill.   “Outside spending groups are making their presence felt in several tight House races, in some cases spending more than the candidates on the ballot.”

LAW PROFILE.  The Post.  “After more than a decade working side by side, the two men rarely talk these days. But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Steven Law, his trusted former aide, remain a powerful combined force in Washington.”

GROUPS FINANCING.  The Post.  “With the Senate majority potentially in the balance, tens of millions of dollars have poured into more than a dozen states for the final push in an unusually large cluster of competitive races.”

FRONTLINE ON MT CASE. Information here. “To find out just how the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has transformed political races in America, Frontline teamed up with Marketplace to look at the role of campaign finance in the race for one hotly-contested Montana Senate seat.” It was on my local PBS station last night and I DVR’d it.

CLAIM RE: “BIN LADEN” CONTRIBUTION. Daily Caller. Media Matters has more here.

CA: SANDY DELAYS CASE. LA Times. “Hurricane Sandy, which is threatening millions on the East Coast with flooding and high winds, has even conspired to disrupt California politics.”

CA:  PATH CLEARED FOR CASE.  LA Times.  “A state judge in Sacramento appears ready to side with California’s campaign finance watchdog in its effort to unmask the donors behind the Arizona nonprofit that donated $11 million to state campaigns earlier this month.”

MT: CAMPAIGN FREEZE. Story here. “Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill’s campaign has had to freeze media advertising, polling and travel since last Thursday to comply with a state judge’s order not to spend a disputed $500,000 donation, his campaign manager said Monday.”

WA: UPDATE IN OLD POLITICAL COMMITTEE CASE. Story here. “A legal dispute over the Building Industry Association’s support for Dino Rossi’s gubernatorial campaign in 2008 got a bit of new life today. The state Court of Appeals handed down a split decision that orders additional judicial review in a four-year-old case that alleged improper campaign finance activities by the BIAW and its failure to register as a political action committee.”

UK: REVOLVING DOOR ISSUES. Story here. “One of David Cameron’s senior advisers is leaving Downing Street to become a lobbyist for Wonga, the controversial payday lender.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links (10/30)

HLOGA POLL IN ASSOCIATIONS NOW. Here. “While a majority of lobbyists said the law has brought more transparency to the lobbying profession, only about 20 percent said it has improved ethical standards. The survey also suggests that lobbyists find the law confusing, particularly provisions regarding what constitutes a gift.”

BIERSACK ON WASHINGTON JOURNAL. C-SPAN. CRP Senior Fellow Bob Biersack was on Washington Journal yesterday.

2012 MONEY RACE. The Times. “Maybe the ‘super PACs’ were not so super after all.”

DONORS DOMINATE. USAT. “Five individuals and couples have contributed more than $10 million each to super PACs, the new independent political groups responsible for the record amounts of outside money gushing through this year’s presidential and congressional elections.”

UNION WEB. Sunlight. “Deep-pocketed corporate moguls have captured most of the headlines this year when it comes to creative campaign giving, but the working class is showing it can play the same game.”

COMMUNICATING WITH EMPLOYEES. The Times. “Imagine getting a letter from the boss, telling you how to vote.” CCP’s perspective is the topic of this post: “The truth is, corporations have always been allowed to communicate with their employees about political matters via their PACs and in other FEC-limited communications. This is nothing new. The method of communication and the number reached may have increased, but that doesn’t make it any more likely that Koch Industries will begin to behave like thought police, firing those who disagree with impunity. If they haven’t in the past, there’s little reason to suspect they will now.”

EDSALL ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE. The Times. “If there is one rule of thumb governing campaign finance regulation, or the lack thereof, it is that the consequences of any changes in the system are unpredictable.”

NATIONAL MEDIA ON YARD SIGN VANDALISM. The Times. “Signs for Mr. Obama and Mitt Romney are being swiped, mangled, shredded, spray-painted and urinated on all around Miami and in places farther afield. They serve as proxies, easy targets, for all the fury, disappointment and disgust the presidential race has stirred, at least among some voters.”

MT: TIMES ON MT CASE. Here. “The conservative justices waved away the well-documented record of political corruption in Montana that gave rise to its law. Instead, they reaffirmed the baseless theory that ‘independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.’ Any review of history would lead to a different conclusion.”

NC: WILMINGTON HIRES. Story here. “The city again has hired McGuireWoods Consulting LLC to lobby the General Assembly on its behalf, as it did in this year’s lawmaking session, City Manager Sterling Cheatham said.”

EU: LOBBYIST SELF-REGULATION? Story here. “The official guidelines for the register prescribe under ‘cost estimate’ that ‘outsourced activity costs, consulting fees and subcontracted activities related to activities falling under the scope of the register’ must be included.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.