WHAT GROUPS TELL DONORS. Politico. “For two years, outside money was a secretive game, with deep-pocketed conservative groups refusing to detail their methods or strategies — let alone discuss their donors. Nowadays, though, it seems like they won’t stop talking.”
JOHNSON DEBT. Story here. “The former New Mexico governor raised more than $356,000 in August and owed $175,000 at the end of the month.”
GROUND GAME NEWS. The Hill. “Business and labor are firing up their ground games for the final stretch of the 2012 campaign.”
CCUSA ACTIVITY. The Post. “The Chamber — one of Washington’s major political powers, with annual revenue of $200 million — pledged to spend $100 million this election cycle to support candidates focused on corporate concerns. But the corporate trade association does not have to name the companies that donate, and those firms can decide whether to share that information.”
CONVENTION FINANCES. The Post. “Democrats ended their convention more than $8 million in debt on a loan secured by Duke Energy, while Republicans reaped massive donations from corporations and a stable of major conservative donors, new federal filings show.”
AZ: LAWS UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Story here. “A judge has ruled that Arizona campaign finance laws requiring political committees to register and report their spending and fundraising are unconstitutional.”
IN: DANIELS CLEARED. Story here. “Gov. Mitch Daniels’ selection as Purdue University’s next president by a panel he appointed doesn’t violate state ethics rules, Indiana’s top ethics official says.”
MO: NO LIMITS. The Times. “Since 2008, when Missouri abolished contribution limits, Mr. [Rex] Sinquefield has donated more than $20 million to local candidates and political action committees, driving the political debate on issues like education, upending the political world here and making him perhaps the most influential private citizen in the state.”
NY: LOBBYING REFORM. This Times editorial discusses recent developments: “Now some of the larger lobbying organizations are seeking to undermine the new law by weakening proposed regulations that would require them to identify their major contributors. Our advice to Mr. Cuomo, the Legislature and the state’s new Joint Commission on Public Ethics is simple: Don’t let them do it.”
NYC: CASE CLOSED. The Times. “On Thursday, after two investigations and a related court case, the city’s Campaign Finance Board, in a 3-to-1 vote, determined that the mayor’s campaign had not violated the city’s campaign finance law, because the disclosure requirement had not yet gone into effect when the payment was made.”
SC: ETHICS PANEL CREATED. Story here. “Gov. Nikki Haley, the target of an ethics probe this spring, Thursday ramped up efforts to fix South Carolina’s legislative disclosure, conflict of interest and open records laws, creating a commission to develop a blueprint for ethics reform.”
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.