Political Law Links for Today

DISCLOSURE DARK SIDE. HILL. “House Republican leaders and President Trump’s campaign lashed out at Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), the brother of Democratic presidential candidate Julián Castro, for tweeting out the names and business interests of dozens of donors to the Trump reelection campaign.”

LAWSUIT LAUNCH. WT. “The Campaign Legal Center has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission, asking a judge to order commissioners to punish a political action committee accused of illegally coordinating its activities with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.” Commissioner Weintraub previously voted not not to authorize defense of suit in event complainants file suit.

SUPER PAC DROP. HILL. “The super PAC aligned with House Republican leadership is dropping a new television ad in the race for North Carolina’s contested 9th District accusing Democrat Dan McCready of backing lobbying efforts that benefited his own business.”

AZ: COURT DECIDES. TUCS. ” A judge won’t let the state enforce a law opening the door for more ‘dark money’ in campaigns while it appeals his ruling that the statute is unconstitutional.”

MN: SUGAR ORGANIZING. MNP. “Legally, super PACs are barred from coordinating directly with any campaign — so they cannot talk to Peterson’s campaign about strategy in the way that a regular PAC could.”

NY: OVERDUE PICCILLO. ND. ” It may be six months late, but Anthony Piccirillo, the Republican candidate in Suffolk’s 8th Legislative District, finally has filed five overdue campaign finance reports dating to January.”

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8.6. political law links

PARTY SEGREGATED ACCOUNT RULES SOUGHT. OS. “The Center and Responsive Politics and the Campaign Legal Center have filed a petition with the Federal Election Commission to require full, transparent financial reporting of the millions of dollars that pass through national political parties’ special-purpose bank accounts.”

SUPER PAC DONOR NEWS. SL. “As former Maryland representative John Delaney campaigns against single-payer health care and enjoys his considerable investments in the health care industry, he’s getting a boost from the wife of a close friend and former health care CEO.”

KOBACH ALLEGATION. DB. “Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is being accused of illegally using a nonprofit group he advises to raise money for his 2020 Senate run.”

LA: SUPER PAC POUR. HT. “Two major players in the fall campaigns are the Republican Governors Association, through its Right Direction PAC, and the Democratic Governors Association, which has already funneled at least half a million dollars into a Super PAC affiliated with the incumbent governor.”

TX: NEW PAC. TT. “A new super PAC focused on registering new Republican voters in Texas has raised nearly $10 million from some of the state’s biggest GOP donors, according to its first report to the Federal Election Commission.”

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8.5 political law links

LAST WEEK’S FEC ACTIONS. Press Release. The agency concluded matters involving the McMullin for President Committee, among others.

AOC COS. WE. “Federal government agencies are investigating alleged campaign finance misconduct by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s former chief of staff, who abruptly resigned on Friday, according to the New York Post.”

MOVE VIOLATION ALLEGED. NYP. “A conservative watchdog group in Washington filed an ethics complaint with federal regulators alleging that Mayor Bill de Blasio violated the law by leaning on his state political account to pick up the tab for the early days of his presidential campaign.”

MATCH CLARITY. OS. “Limited-time matching gives ideological supporters extra incentive to donate to a campaign they care about. But legal experts say it is hard to see how donation matching could happen given campaign contribution limits. And there are no accountability mechanisms to determine whether campaigns actually follow through with their promises.”

SUPER PAC BACK. ST. “After operating for five months without disclosing who was bankrolling it, a super PAC supporting Washington Gov. Jay Inslee’s presidential bid revealed its donors in a just-before-midnight filing Wednesday.”

AXIOS OVERREACH. AXI. “‘What the Commission announced today was that it has received a petition from a member of the public proposing new rules on the subject,’ Republican FEC Commissioner Caroline Hunter said in a statement to Axios.”

ME: GUIDANCE ISSUE. KJ. “A spokeswoman for House Speaker Sara Gideon said Thursday that the candidate was given incorrect advice on reimbursements for political contributions she made in 2015 and 2016, which resulted in federal campaign finance violations.”

MI: FUNDS SOUGHT. MIL. “Traverse City-area state Rep. Larry Inman’s campaign funds were dwindling when he allegedly tried to trade votes for cash, new court documents say.”

CHARLOTTE. The Republican National Lawyers Association held its annual National Election Law Seminar in Charlotte, NC, last Friday and Saturday. It was great to spend time catching up and hearing from top election lawyers from across the country. The RNLA also named Anne Ware Lewis the 2019 honoree of the RNLA’s Robert J. Horn Chairman’s Award, posthumously honoring her work in Republican circles in Georgia and across the country.  (Right: I got a chance to visit Charlotte Motor Speedway.)

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