Updated political law links

UPDATE: 9/18, 8:30 p.m. Here’s an update to today’s political law links to reflect some late-breaking developments. The next set of links will be prepared on Thursday, Sept. 20th.

ROMNEY VIDEO AND THE LAW. Forbes. “It’s illegal in twelve states to record covertly at least the audio portion of a conversation where all parties have not consented.”

VH OPINION. Here (PDF).

B&C ON EC OPINION. Here. “‘The statute is anything but clear,’ said the court, ‘especially when viewed in the light of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Citizens United [and WRTL II].'”

EC VIEW. InsidePoliticalLaw.com. “An important legal barrier to spending on television and radio political ads has fallen.”

EC VIEW II. HVJ Law Blog. “The D.C. Circuit vacated the District Court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of Rep. Van Hollen, meaning the 2007 regulation is in effect once again pending further developments.”

VIEW ON VH. Political Law Briefing. “The effect of the ruling is to put in limbo a key disclosure rule less than 50 days before the November election.”

CCP ON VH. Here. “The ruling thus helps preserve longstanding rights to donor privacy, rights vindicated in a hard won series of court battles in the 1950s and 1960s by civil rights organizations.”

CFIF ON VH. Here. “Today, in conjunction with the Hispanic Leadership Fund, CFIF secured a critical victory on behalf of the First Amendment rights to free speech and free association.”

EC UPDATE. Lobby Comply Blog. “A federal appellate court has reversed a district court’s electioneering reporting decision, sending the issue back to the FEC.”

HOERSTING ON VH. NRO. “Today, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit handed down an important opinion that will protect political contributors from unnecessary retaliation in the remaining days of the election.”

VIDEO GAME POLITICAL ADS. Story here. “According to Ad Week, the Obama campaign had teamed up with Electronic Arts again to run ads on their video games in hotly-contested states leading up to Election Day. The campaign first did this in 2008.”

MD: CFR CONSENSUS. Story here. “A commission set up to advise the General Assembly how to reform its laws governing campaign financing edged closer to consensus on some key issues but has a lot of ground to cover at its final meeting scheduled for Sept. 27.”

MT: PARTY ENDORSEMENT CASE DECIDED. Volokh. “A Ninth Circuit panel has just struck down the Montana ban on political parties’ endorsing candidates for judicial office.”

PLEA IN NE CASE. Story here. “Nebraska state Sen. Brenda Council has pleaded guilty to filing false campaign finance reports that prosecutors say concealed her misuse of more than $60,000 in campaign donations at casinos.”

PA SUPREMES ON VOTER ID. Today’s opinion is here.

UPDATE:  9/19, 7:25 a.m.

ROMNEY LOAN.  The Post.  “Even as it bragged about beating President Obama in fundraising over the summer, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign was so low on cash that it ended up engineering an unusual $20 million loan to meet expenses until the former Massachusetts governor was formally named as the Republican nominee in late August, officials disclosed Tuesday.”

REP. RICHARDSON AND NEW ISSUES.  LA Times.  “Rep. Laura Richardson (D-Long Beach), who drew a rare House reprimand last month, is once again drawing scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee.”

INTERNET ASSOC.  Bloomberg.  “The Internet Association, based in Washington, will advocate for economic growth and job creation in the Internet sector, it said in a release today.”

NOM AND NH.  HuffPo.  “Is New Hampshire reflective of NOM’s new national legal strategy? Are they and their partners joining campaign finance reformers fighting to get big money out of politics? Not likely.”

Political law links, 9/18/12

SUPER PAC BLITZ I. Politico. “The Ricketts-funded super PAC Ending Spending Action Fund on Monday announced that it would spend $10 million on ads starting this week boosting Romney and another $2 million on ads boosting GOP congressional candidates, the Wall Street Journal reported.”

SUPER PAC BLITZ II.  Politico.  “Democrats are bracing for an oncoming tsunami of conservative cash to hit House races, and now predict they could be outspent as much as 3-to-1 as Republicans race to defend their majority.”

SUPER PAC SERIES, PART I.  Story here.  “With the final stretch of the campaign about to start in earnest, The Daily Beast—in partnership with the Center for Responsive Politics—has taken a detailed look at just how profoundly this influx of money is reshaping our politics.”

AFL-CIO MEETING.  Politico.  “On a campaign swing through Ohio, President Obama made an impromptu stop at the 28th Biennial Constitutional Convention of the Ohio AFL-CIO — a local gathering of affiliated labor councils.”

2016 HEATS UP.  Roll Call.  “Forget 2012. Who’s ready for the next presidential race?”

COOPER SIGNS PLEDGE. Story here. “Rep. Jim Cooper said Monday he has signed a pledge vowing not to lobby Congress once he leaves office.”

HATCH AND CAMP ON NY NONPROFIT MOVES. Story here. “The top Republican tax writers are calling on the New York attorney general to cease an investigation into the secret financial records of close to two dozen tax-exempt groups that have been funneling millions of dollars into this year’s election.”

POLITICAL LAW MOVER AND SHAKER. Congratulations to Beth Beacham on her recent move to Clark Hill PLC. Yesterday’s PI had the scoop.

AZ: PROBATION IN CASE. Story here. “Natalie Wisneski, the Fiesta Bowl’s former chief operating officer, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to two years probation after admitting her participation in an illegal campaign-finance scheme that scandalized the bowl.”

WA: STATE OF PLAY. Story here. “Money is flowing into Washington state’s gubernatorial race as it has been targeted by the two major political parties as one of the most competitive in the nation.”

VT:  CU IMPACT.  Story here.  “Two newly created political action committees — or PACS — are trying to perform on the Vermont stage in the manner allowed by Citizens United.”

WHY DOES GOVERNMENT PAY FOR LOBBYISTS?  Here.  “Coming off the first leg of the electoral season with Primary Day last week, the citizens of Niagara County (and all of New York State) had their first opportunity to select those individuals who would be their voice in government. The lucky few who would advance to the General Election and beyond would be granted the honor of standing up for the citizens in the halls of power. In many cases, they would be paid for the singular distinction of being their representative. . . .This then begs the question, why does the government pay for lobbyists?”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links (Mon., 9/17/12)

CU REVEAL.  The Post.  “The biggest scoop in the [Toobin’s] book relates to the Citizens United campaign finance case, which said the First Amendment prohibits restrictions on corporate spending in elections. Toobin reveals that Roberts originally drafted a narrow opinion that held simply that the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act did not apply to Citizens United, the group that produced a documentary critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton. But Kennedy wrote a broader opinion insisting that the court should go further and overturn McCain-Feingold’s restrictions on corporate spending.”

NEW REFORMS.  The Post.  “Democrats will introduce two bills to encourage small campaign contributions by matching them with public funds, a response to the million-dollar political contributions swelling interest groups active in this year’s elections.”

VAN HOLLEN ARGUMENT.  Story here.  “One of the judges considering the appeal called the case ‘weird’ and said he doubted the groups have authority to bring the appeal since the FEC didn’t pursue one.”

ETHICS AND RACES.  Roll Call.  “Congressional ethics investigations have factored into a handful of contests this fall, none more so than in Nevada, where Berkley, a seven-term Congresswoman, is locked in a high-stakes race to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Dean Heller.”

TRUE THE VOTE.  The Times.  “True the Vote’s plan is to scrutinize the validity of voter registration rolls and voters who appear at the polls. Among those in their cross hairs: noncitizens who are registered to vote, those without proper identification, others who may be registered twice, and dead people.”

ROBOCALL COSTS.  Story here.  “Political campaigns that robocall iPhones and Androids may be in for a shock: They could be fined $16,000 per call.”

LOBBYIST OFFICES.  The Post.  “The idea was to create a more egalitarian work space, and move away from the structural hierarchy that has long dictated the allocation of space inside law firms.”

CT:  RECORDS DESTROYED.  Story here.  “The Office of State Ethics has quietly destroyed a quarter-century’s worth of public records concerning the finances of present and former public officials, drawing a protest from the head of an open-government group who says the thousands of shredded files were an irreplaceable resource.”

GA ETHICS COMMISSION UPDATE.  Story here.  “The commission — the only independent agency in the state that monitors rules on campaign cash and government lobbying — was at its most aggressive in 2008, issuing record fines and even beginning a regimen of random audits of candidates’ files. After that banner year, the decline began.”

MT:  ARGUMENTS IN LIMITS CASE.  Story here.  “Montana’s dollar limits on campaign donations aren’t preventing candidates from getting their message out to voters, and aren’t stopping political parties from wielding influence, either, a lawyer for the state argued Friday.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.