Good morning, here are political law links for 8/2/12

CARIBOU COFFEE IN THE NEWS. Story here. “White House officials’ practice of offering to meet with visitors somewhere other than the West Wing has been reported by multiple news organizations, including POLITICO and The New York Times, which in 2010 reported that hundreds of meetings had taken place at the Caribou location across the street from the White House suggested by [OSTP’s Jeff] Smith.”

IRS MOVES ON 501(C) GROUPS?  The Times.  “Fortunately, the Internal Revenue Service is, at last, promising to review and consider changing 50-year-old rules governing the limits of political activity for social welfare nonprofits that enjoy exemptions under section 501(c)(4) of the tax code.”

KNOWLEDGE ON SUPER PACS.  The Post.  “A large majority of the country lack even the most basic knowledge of so-called super PACs, according to a new Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll — a finding that reinforces the difficulty Democrats face in trying to score political points by shining a light on these outside organizations in the 2012 presidential campaign.”

TEXTING CAMPAIGN MONEY SUPPORT. The Post. “The campaigns of President Obama and Mitt Romney and an array of campaign finance reform groups have united in favor of permitted texted donations.”

ETHICS COMMITTEE AND REP. RICHARDSON. Story here. “The House Ethics Committee has voted unanimously to formally reprimand Democratic Rep. Laura Richardson and fine her $10,000 for violating House rules by improperly using her official staff to conduct campaign and personal activities on her behalf, and then attempting to obstruct the investigation into the allegations.”

ROMNEY’S INNER CIRCLE. The Post. Chris Cillizza’s look at Gov. Romney’s inner circle includes his two lawyers: “Ben Ginsberg/Katie Biber Chen: Ginsberg is a major wheel in the campaign finance law community in DC and also a longtime Romney confidante. Biber Chen is general counsel to the campaign.”

TRACKING IN THE NEWS.  Story here.  “Kurt Holland was enlisted to follow Democratic Senate nominee Joe Donnelly in hopes of catching him in an embarrassing situation.”

SOCIAL MEDIA ON THE TRAIL.  E.politics.  “2012 is the year of the photo-sharing social network, and Instagram is a powerful tool in the belt of a good online communicator.”

MORE ON GA LOBBYIST CAP VOTE.  Here.  “Early returns showed that nearly 87 percent of voters in the Republican primary would support setting a $100 limit on gifts from lobbyists to state lawmakers. Roughly 71 percent of Democrats supported setting some form of limits, although their ballot question did not mention a specific spending cap.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links (8/1/12)

PRES. OBAMA CONTRIBUTES.  Story here.  “In an email to supporters this morning, Obama said that he had given to his own reelection campaign for the first time as a symbolic gesture.”

BURN RATE REALITY.  Story here.  “President Obama has gone where no incumbent has gone before: a massive, intensely negative dreadnaught of a campaign that has been pounding his challengers since April. And now, he’s paying the price.”

TOMORROW’S FEC MEETING.  The agenda for tomorrow’s Federal Election Commission meeting is online here.

GOV. ROMNEY AND RGA EVENT.  Story here.  “Mitt Romney will hold a fundraiser with some of the biggest donors in GOP politics in Aspen on Thursday night on the sidelines of a closed-door Republican Governors Association high-rollers event, sources tell POLITICO.”

HOUSE TRAVEL RULES NEWS.  Story here.  “Members of Congress are not allowed to accept travel funds from any entity that ’employs or retains’ a lobbyist. The rule was instituted in 2007 after the Jack Abramoff scandal, which involved the corrupt lobbyist paying for luxury junkets for members of Congress and other officials.”

INTERNET ASSOC. LAUNCH.  Story here.  “Web giants in Silicon Valley are pouring cash into a lobbying startup after deciding that Washington’s established groups aren’t sufficient for protecting their interests.”

WHAT’S IN A DOMAIN NAME?  Story here.  “The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) can keep the domain name JackAbramoff.com, a National Arbitration Forum panel has ruled.”

LOBBYIST GIFT CAP VOTE.  Story here.  “Voters gave overwhelming bipartisan support Tuesday to the idea of capping lobbyists’ gifts to state lawmakers.”

NYC:  SUPER PAC “EFFECT”.   The Times.  “The city will, for the first time, require disclosure of independent expenditures — spending that is not coordinated with a campaign. It said its tracking of the finances of such groups, which it plans to post on the Web, would be among the most detailed anywhere, including not only contributions and spending, but also an archive of advertisements run by the groups and information about their backers.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are political law links for 7/31/12

CORPORATE PAC CRISIS PR. Politico. “When it comes to campaign donations, corporations that suddenly find themselves crosswise with Congress know the playbook.”

SUIT ON LIST. Story here. “A former Iowa staffer to Michele Bachmann’s campaign has filed suit in Des Moines against Bachmann, her presidential campaign and a number of top staffers over a list of names of home-schooling parents that was used to send some campaign emails.”

REPEAL CONTRIBUTION CAPS. The Atlantic. “It’s time to recognize reality and do something we should have done years ago: Repeal campaign contribution caps.”

FORMER MEMBERS ADVISING.  Roll Call.  “Clients, both foreign and domestic, are willing to pay handsomely to retain lobbyists with such insider scoop and top-tier connections. And there’s no question that former Members of Congress bring with them access and gravitas.”

FL: LEGISLATORS AND LOBBYING FIRMS. Story here. “At least eleven sitting lawmakers derive some of their income from work with firms that lobby the Legislature, according to a new report by the watchdog group Integrity Florida.”

FL:  DISCLOSE MORE?  Story here.  “An ethics research group says Florida doesn’t require public officials to disclose enough about their personal finances.”

UT: LOBBYIST LAWS IN THE NEWS. Story here. “Senate Majority Leader Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, co-sponsored the 2010 bill that tightened some lobbyist gift rules — like prohibiting a lobbyist paying for a lawmaker’s ticket to a Jazz game or covering green fees on a golf course — but created the conference loophole. He said that, when dozens of legislators and spouses and families are attending lobbyist-sponsored events at conferences, it makes it difficult to keep track of how much is spent on each.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.