Good morning, here are today’s political law links (Thurs., 8/16)

CONVENTION PARTY WATCH.  Story here.  “Armed with cameras and the press, the Sunlight Foundation and Public Citizen plan to crash convention parties in a double-teaming effort.”

(C)(4) GIFT TAX ISSUES.  Roll Call.  “The Congressional Research Service released a report this week indicating that existing gift tax statutes can apply to contributions made to offshoots of super PACs that are spending millions of dollars to influence state and national elections.”

FORMER SEN. OPENS SHOP.  Story here.  “Former Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), who had been a lobbyist with K&L Gates, has opened his own shop, Slade Gorton LLC.”

TXT MSG $.  InsidePoliticalLaw.com.  “The FEC made public today two advisory opinions, AO 2012-26 (m-Qube II) and 2012-28 (CTIA), that clarify the permissibility of political contributions via text message.”

HURDLE CLEARED ON TXT $.  Chicago Trib.  “The FEC ruled that wireless carriers would have no responsibility for possible fraudulent campaign donations and could refuse text-donation services to campaigns if they are not deemed commercially viable.”

FOR PROFIT CONDUITS.  CMDI Blog.  “From a campaign’s point of view, does it make sense to support for-profit conduits?”  (I added The CMDI Blog to my list of links.)

MCCOTTER SHOCKER.  Politico.  “The fraudulent petition problem, it appears, reaches back beyond this year.”

UTILITY AND CONVENTION.  Story here.  “The intersection of Duke Energy’s interests and its support for the convention is testing Mr. Obama’s pledge to free the party’s gathering from business and lobbyist support.”

DOMAIN NEWS.  Story here.  “In the wake of Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, plenty of folks headed to RomneyRyan.com to learn about the new Republican ticket.”

DE:  NEW LAWS.  Story here.  “Delaware is about to get more transparent, thanks to a package of bills that recently passed the legislature and will be signed today by Governor Markell.”

NE:  WHAT’S NEXT?  Story here.  “After 20 years of fits and starts, the Nebraska Supreme Court has finally declared the Campaign Finance Limitation Act ‘unconstitutional.’ Dead. Finished. Stick a fork in it, it’s done.”

NY:  TICKET QUESTIONS.  The Times.  “So [State Senator] Avella dutifully asked the Legislature’s ethics commission whether the tickets could be accepted. The word came back swiftly: no.”

PA:  VOTER ID CASE UPDATE.  Story here.  “A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday declined to block a new state law requiring specific kinds of photo identification to vote.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Political law links, 8/15/12

SHAYS LOSES. Story here. “[Linda] McMahon defeated former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays in Tuesday’s GOP primary.”

SHAYS CRUSHED. Story here. “With 20 percent of precincts reporting, McMahon routed Shays 75 to 25 percent, the AP reported.”

MORE ON SHAYS DEFEAT. Here. “A defiant Republican electorate entrusted wrestling mogul McMahon with its Senate nomination for the second time in two years Tuesday night, spurning former Rep. Christopher Shays in his heavily undermanned political comeback.”

NPR ASKED ABOUT LOBBYISTS. Daily Caller. “Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn is asking National Public Radio to cough up internal documents to back up its use of a lobbyist in Congress.”

WFB ON DEMOCRACY ALLIANCE. Here. “What is the Democracy Alliance? It may be the most powerful political operation you have never heard of.”

MEMBER JOINS FIRM. Story here. “Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) is resigning immediately from Congress and taking a job with a Washington law firm.”

FUNDRAISING AFTER PICK. The Hill. “Mitt Romney’s campaign announced Tuesday that it had raised $7.4 million online in the three days since announcing Paul Ryan as the vice presidential pick, via more than 100,000 donations.”

ADAGE.COM ON COORDINATION ISSUE. Here. “Critics warned that PACs would dominate political spending this year and that, despite laws to the contrary, they weren’t going to be all that ‘independent’ from the candidates they’ve decided to help.”

A COFFEE TABLE BOOK ON COFFEE TABLE BOOK AUTHOR DONORS? Here. “Amy Goldman is best known as the author of lavish books about heirloom tomatoes, squash and melons. Now Goldman is trying to cultivate a second term for President Obama.”

CO: MOTION FILED. CCP. “The Center for Competitive Politics’ (CCP) legal team filed a motion for preliminary injunction late last night on behalf of a Colorado group, Coalition for Secular Government (CSG). CCP asks that a federal judge in Colorado enjoin Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler refrain from forcing CSG to register as an “issue committee” until their constitutional claims can be heard. Otherwise, CSG will be unable to speak until a potentially lengthy litigation has run its course.”

MD: TICKET ISSUE. Story here. “Baltimore’s ethics board launched an inquiry Tuesday into the use of free tickets to 1st Mariner Arena by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s office, citing concerns about the distribution of tickets to the mayor’s family and staff.”

WV: SUIT FILED ON PUBLIC FINANCING. Story here. “Some officials are challenging a pilot program that would give public money to help finance campaigns for state supreme court candidates.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links (8/14)

WHAT DWS KNEW AND WHEN SHE KNEW IT.  Politico.  “Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz acknowledged on Monday that she knew where a major liberal super PAC’s political sympathies lay, a day after she said she had ‘no idea’ where Priorities USA Action stood.”

AFL-CIO ACTION.  Story here.  “The super-PAC representing the nation’s largest labor federation intends to ramp up its efforts targeting presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his newly announced running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).”

HOW CORP. AMERICA PLAYS.  Here.  “The Corporate Reform Coalition has released a report detailing the work of corporate responsibility advocates titled, ‘Sunlight for Shareholders.’ Made up of institutional investors, good governance groups, academics, small businesses, elected officials and more, the Corporate Reform Coalition has developed an innovative approach to dealing with corporate spending in elections.”

HAMM IN POLITICS. The Post. “Now [Harold] Hamm is exploring politics, too. He hosted a fundraiser for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and recently donated $985,000 to Restore Our Future, a super PAC devoted to supporting Romney’s candidacy. While super PACs are supposed to be independent, the former cotton picker has also become a member of Romney’s energy advisory team, feeding the candidate optimistic assessments about U.S. oil production.”

INVESTIGATING DONORS. The Times. “The investigations are unfolding as Mr. Adelson has become an increasing presence in this year’s presidential election, contributing at least $35 million to Republican groups.”

FIGHTING VOTER ID. The Post. “Such fraud virtually never takes place.”

BIDEN AND K ST. Here. “While we’re vetting running mates, it’s worth going over some of Joe Biden’s past that got crowded out four years ago amid media fawning about him as a charming Joe Sixpack.”

RYAN AND DONATIONS ISSUE. The Post. “Ryan was not found to have violated any laws, nor was he a target or key figure in the federal investigation, people familiar with the inquiry said. He was among more than 20 politicians of both parties who benefited from Troha’s largess.”

ADVISORY OPINION REQUEST IN THE NEWS. NPR. “In what appears to be a test case, attorneys for Arlington, Va-based National Defense Committee, last month filed a request for an opinion on seven videos it plans to produce and post online this fall.”

CANDIDATE LOANS. Story here. “Linda McMahon, the multi-millionaire Republican U.S. Senate candidate, has put more of her personal wealth into her latest run for Congress as primary voters head to the polls Tuesday.”

SOME CO RULES TOSSED. Story here. “Denver District Judge J. Eric Elliff upheld one rule defining what can be considered electioneering communications. But he invalidated a rule that would have capped penalties for some campaign finance violations. He also rejected rules affecting who must file campaign finance reports.”

ETHICS APPEAL IN SC. Story here. “The court ruled Monday in favor of John Rainey, who said a circuit court judge was wrong when he dismissed Rainey’s lawsuit over the matter earlier this year, sending it to the House Ethics Committee.”

VA DONORS AND SUPER PACS. The Post. “Virginians have given nearly $4 million to conservative super PACs in the 2012 election cycle but just $76,000 to liberal versions of these political action committees, according to an analysis by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in politics.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.