Political law links for Sept. 11, 2012

EMANUEL’S ROLE. Politico. “Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, facing a teachers strike, is backing away from fundraising for Democratic super PACs.”

LUC ISSUE IN NH. Story here. “It’s ultimately up to the FCC to decide if its rules were broken, but PolitiFact New Hampshire decided to find out if Kuster was right about what the FCC rules say.”

REFERENCE TO LDA/HLOGA SETTLEMENT.  At last week’s PLI conference, Keith Morgan mentioned that a new LDA/HLOGA settlement agreement will be announced soon.

SITES SIMILAR.  BuzzFeed, “Romney Campaign Appears To Copy Text From Obama Website.”

AZ: PLEA DEAL. Story here. “John MacDonald, an ex-Fiesta Bowl lobbyist, has entered into a plea agreement with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office under which he will plead guilty to a misdemeanor for his role in currying favor with lawmakers to benefit the bowl.”

MD:  VOTING TWICE.  Story here.  “A Maryland Democratic candidate quit her congressional race Monday after her own party told state officials that she had committed fraud by voting in both Maryland and Florida in recent elections.”

MORE ON MN. Corporate Counsel. “On September 5, the full appeals court, in a 6-4-1 ruling, partially reversed a lower court’s denial of the plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion against several Minnesota campaign finance laws.”

NC: COOLING OFF. Story here. “Hours after state Sen. Richard Stevens announced his resignation, a major Raleigh lobbying firm announced he is joining as a strategic consultant.”

NJ:  MAYOR ARRESTED.  Star Ledger.  “Just two months into Trenton Mayor Tony Mack’s administration, a parking garage development deal emerged in the city. Bribes were offered and accepted. Money changed hands. And the FBI recorded all of the details over a two-year span with the help of two cooperating witnesses, authorities said yesterday.”

#TANGODOWN. My site was down for a few hours yesterday, and here’s why: “GoDaddy, a Web-hosting and domain-registration company, confirmed that the websites and e-mail addresses it hosts for small businesses were seeing outages Monday, triggering concerns it fell victim to a hacker attack.” I’ve had a great experience with the company since 2008. This is the only time I can remember where the site was down due to a problem not caused by me.

Good morning, here are Monday’s political law links (9/10/12)

LOBBYIST DEFINITION IN THE NEWS. The Post. “[Annette] Nazareth isn’t a registered lobbyist — a designation that is triggered under federal rules when a person spends 20 percent or more of his or her time engaged in ‘lobbying activities’ for a client over a three-month period.”

MORE ON SEC RISK ALERT. Covington’s take on a recent alert on pay to play rules is online here.

CAMPAIGN FILES ETHICS COMPLAINT.  Politico.  “GOP Senate candidate Linda McMahon has filed a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics against her opponent, Democratic Rep. Chris Murphy, alleging that Murphy violated House rules related to a home equity loan obtained from a bank he once represented as a private lawyer.”

ELECTION LITIGATION PROSPECTS.  The Times.  “The November presidential election, widely expected to rest on a final blitz of advertising and furious campaigning, may also hinge nearly as much on last-minute legal battles over when and how ballots should be cast and counted, particularly if the race remains tight in battleground states.”

BILL ON FLOOR SCHEDULE. A bill ” to permit candidates for election for Federal office to designate an individual who will be authorized to disburse funds of the authorized campaign committees of the candidate in the event of the death of the candidate” appears on today’s legislative calendar.

EMANUEL’S NEW ROLE. The Trib. “While the focus in the news last week was on Emanuel stepping down from his honorary role as co-chairman of the Obama campaign to avoid any conflict with his new fund-raising duties, I’m wondering why nobody sees a conflict with his very real role as Mayor of Chicago.”

CONVENTION TECH GLITCHES.  Story here.  “This was the year technology was expected to transform an American relic: the national convention. Yet many of the newfangled elements trotted out to open digital doors to folks far from Charlotte or Tampa encountered technical problems, drew tiny audiences or simply proved ineffectual.”

MI GRADED ON LOBBYIST OVERSIGHT. Story here.

MN: BOARD GRANTS EXEMPTION. Religion Clause Blog. “The contributor argued that ‘because his job requires him to represent the Catholic organization’s policies to others from time to time, if his opposition to the marriage amendment was known, it would cause immense strain in his working relationships.'” Many thanks to Steven Sholk for the link.

MN:  TIMES EDITORIAL ON RECENT CASE.  Here.  “Importantly, the new ruling casts no doubt on the constitutionality of the urgently needed federal disclosure bill Senate Republicans succeeded in blocking in July.”

NH: PAC TAKES ADVANTAGE. Story here. “The first PAC to take advantage of the new interpretation of the state’s political contributions law is the New Hampshire Republicans for Freedom and Equality PAC.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are Friday’s political law links (9/7)

RISK ALERT.  Many thanks to the helpful reader who forwarded me this recent “National Examination Risk Alert” on MSRB pay-to-play rules.

SUPER PAC LAUNCHES. Politico. “The YG Action Fund is launching nearly $2 million in television advertisements in Democratic-held districts Monday, the super PAC’s first buy of the general election.”

BEING THERE. Story here. “Google, Facebook, Twitter and others dazzled the crowds here and in Tampa with their ability to track candidates and arrange private teleconferences with politicians. The digital ring around the Time Warner Arena’s main hall here even displayed the #DNC2012 Twitter hashtag. But what most voters will remember about the 2012 conventions is old school: which candidates made the best speeches.”

NONPROFITS IN THE GAME. Story here. “In the absence of a crackdown by the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service, the 501(c)s face little immediate risk from forging ahead, effectively doing business as usual, said Rick Hasen, an election law expert and professor at the University of California, Irvine.”

PRES. OBAMA AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM. HuffPo. “The four years of Obama’s presidency have featured some of the biggest rollbacks of the campaign finance regulatory regime created in the wake of the Watergate scandal. And Obama’s own actions, or lack thereof, are partly to blame.”

SUPER PAC ENCOUNTERS. TNR. “Like most political reporters, I’ve been intrigued by the mechanics of super PAC fundraising pretty much since they arrived on the scene in 2010. I figured they would be worth observing up close.”

FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE UPDATE. The Hill. “The Financial Services Roundtable announced Thursday that its top lobbyist is getting a new title.”

GA: EXPENSE OVERSIGHT ISSUES. Story here. “Georgia lawmakers face little scrutiny and few standards when they claim upward of $1 million annually in expense pay under a system that relies heavily on their honesty.”

NY: SUPER PAC UPDATE. News here. “New York is cracking down on high-profile campaign attacks by secretive, well-funded super PACs, but the regulations requiring specific disclosure on spending and donors that were drafted months ago likely won’t be final this election cycle.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.