Have a great day, here are today’s political law links (7-25)

POLITICAL LAW PROFITS.  Story here.  “The five law firms specializing in presidential campaigns have been paid $50 million since 1999 by candidates, political parties and political action committees, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group that tracks campaign spending.”

INSIDE POLITICAL LAW SITE.  Covington’s new Inside Political Law site is online here, looks great, and is instantly a must-read resource for timely political law expertise.

PARENTS AND PACS.  Politico.  “Talk about helicopter parents: Candidates’ rich mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters increasingly are pouring cash into super PACs that support their loved ones’ campaigns — a phenomenon that critics say tests the bounds of both contribution limits and rules barring coordination between candidates and super PACs.”

MURKY ETHICS ISSUES.  Roll Call.  “Two of the House Ethics Committee’s current investigations focus on whether current Members used their office for personal financial gain.”

“DIALING BACK” CU?  Story here.  “A top Senate Democrat today endorsed a constitutional amendment to scale back the influence of the Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision on campaign finance, adding to an increasingly vocal movement to restrict campaign spending and contributions.”

DONOR ON AF1.  Story here.  “When asked why Pritzker was on the president’s plane, press secretary Jay Carney told reporters on board that she was in the neighborhood, according to a pool report.”

SEAL USE CHANGE.  Story here.  “The White House has reversed its previous stance of not using the official presidential seal at campaign events.”

WEST WING USE.  CNN.  “While some took issue with the commercial’s location, Obama is building on a practice followed by many of his predecessors. A recent exception was his immediate predecessor, George W. Bush, who did not use White House interiors in campaign ads.”

.GOV HOSTING CAMPAIGN SPEECHES.  Here.  “No rule of separation will ever be perfect. There is no way to stop people from thinking about their campaign activities on government time, or from mixing political messages with public policy decisions.  It does seem clear however, that the President’s reelection campaign materials should not be hosted on the official White House web site.”

FUNDRAISER REWARDS.  The Times.  “A spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, Katie Hogan, declined to comment on the impact of donors-turned-diplomats, except to say that the campaign is raising money at a healthy clip in all the cities, and from all the demographic groups, where the ambassadors once prospected.”

DC ALLEGATIONS.  The Post.  “Using lists to identify and exhort potential supporters to get to the polls is an old political practice, but law-abiding campaigns use publicly available information.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

 

Political law links for Tues., 7/24/12

IRS MOVES ON NONPROFITS?  More here.  “In a potentially significant move hailed by reform advocates, the IRS has signaled that it will consider changing its regulations for politically active tax-exempt groups.”

WINNING IN 2012.  Have you downloaded Winning in 2012 by Colin Delany of e.politics?  Here’s the link.

BUNDLER ACTIVITY.  Roll Call.  “Candidates and party committees continue to rely on an elite network of lobbyists to bundle campaign contributions, according to recently filed Federal Election Commission reports.”

SOLYNDRA PLAYERS.  Politico.  “Among the guests at President Obama’s fundraiser Monday night was Steve Westly, a venture capitalist and 2008 bundler who warned the administration in 2010 about its investment in Solyndra, the failed solar company that received $535 million in federal loan guarantees.”

SUPER PACS AND 12.  The Post.  “Republican-aligned super PACs and other outside conservative groups have spent more than $144 million on general election ads in swing presidential states, a huge outlay of cash that has allowed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney to not only combat but exceed heavy early ad spending by President Obama.”

LD-203 DUE.  More here:  “The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 requires active lobbying registrants and individual lobbyists to file a semi-annual report of certain contributions along with certification that the filer understands the gift and travel rules of both the House and the Senate. Registrants and each of their lobbyists who were active for all or part of the semi-annual reporting period must file separate reports detailing their contributions, including FECA, honorary, Presidential Inaugural Committee, Presidential Library and certain payments for event costs. The Mid-Year contribution report is due Monday, July 30, 2012, covering January 1, 2012 through June 30, 2012.”

ABRAMOFF SPEAKS.  Politico.  “For these views and more, Abramoff has a new forum for speaking his mind: talk radio. His three-hour program, ‘The Jack Abramoff Show,’ airs Sunday nights on SiriusXM.”

GOV. CLEARED.  AJC.  “Gov. Nathan Deal was cleared Monday of major state ethics violations, effectively ending more than two years of complaints and investigations into Deal’s 2010 bid for governor.”

WY:  MORE LOBBYIST DISCLOSURE?  Here.  “The disclosure reports filed with the secretary of state’s office don’t fully disclose the amount of money spent to influence legislators and legislation.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Good morning, here are Monday’s political law links (7-23-12)

EGG INDUSTRY LOBBYING. The Hill. “The egg industry is embroiled in tense infighting ahead of a contentious hearing next week on a bill that would require farmers to use larger cages for egg-laying hens.”

JAMES KAHL LOOKS AT CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW’S PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. The Federal Lawyer. “New reforms may be enacted, new rules may be adopted, and judicial challenges may follow. But one thing is constant in the campaign finance world: Participants in the political process—candidates, political parties, corporations, unions, and others—will find creative responses to any changes in the rules of the game.”

LOBBYING NUMBERS IN. Politico. “Facebook spent a record amount on lobbying expenses — dropping close to $1 million — during the second quarter of 2012 in yet another sign of the social network’s growing focus on Beltway politics.”

SLUMP ON K ST.?  Story here.  “K Street is suffering a slowdown, and business may not pick up much until after the November election.”

SUPER PAC BOOST. Politico. “The super PAC supporting President Barack Obama had its best fundraising month to date in June, pulling in $6.2 million, but also spending even more on a barrage of ads blistering Mitt Romney.”

CROSSROADS IN JUNE. Story here. “The Karl Rove-backed GOP super PAC American Crossroads raked in $5.7 million in June, the group’s best fundraising month this year.”

FORTI PROFILE.  The Times.  “Now, with Mr. Romney prohibited from spending much of the cash he is raising until after the Republican convention in August, Mr. Forti and his clients are filling in the breach: Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies, Restore Our Future and other Forti-linked groups have spent at least $35 million on advertising in 17 states against Mr. Obama since early April, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group.”

CONVENTION LIMITS. Story here. “Convention organizers said last week they are keeping true to the self-imposed ban because none of the corporate money will be spent on events inside the sports arena and stadium where President Barack Obama will accept his party’s nomination for a second term.”

CREW SPOTLIGHT. Roll Call. “A just-filed ethics complaint is reigniting a long-running debate about whether one of Washington, D.C.’s most prominent watchdog groups is impartial or tilts to the left.”

VOUCHERS LEGISLATION. Here. “John Sarbanes, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, is planning on introducing the Grassroots Democracy Act, which would implement a voucher system for congressional elections.”

TECHS AND 12. Story here. “The rapid expansion of Targeted Victory showcases the rise of a new professional, political class: a core group of young technology experts who are shunning traditional campaign titles, starting companies and making millions off the most expensive presidential campaign in history.”

GOTV AND PUBLIC HOUSING.  The Post.  “Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s 2010 campaign kept a database with the identities of nearly 6,000 public housing residents it targeted in get-out-the-vote efforts, which appears to be an unauthorized use of private government information.”

HEALTH CARE ADS.  The Post.  “Conservative groups are gearing up to spend millions of dollars over the next three months on ads attacking President Obama’s health-care law and Democrats who support it, but in many cases voters will have no way of knowing who paid for the barrage.”

MO DISCLOSURE IN THE NEWS. Story here. “In Missouri, any person, business or group can give as much money as they want to any candidate or political committee. Unlike many other states, there are no campaign contribution limits in the Show-Me State.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.