Good morning, here are today’s political law links for Monday, July 2, 2012

WEATHERING THE STORM.  If you’re in the DC area I hope you made it through Friday’s storms with little damage.  Here at PoliticalActivityLaw.com HQ we had a power outage of around 18 hours and a lot of melting popsicles and fish sticks.  I hope you’re all well and my thoughts are with those who suffered loss as a result of the storm.

AF1 AND FUNDRAISING.  The Post.  “In the conference call made late Friday from a special campaign phone on Air Force One, a recording of which was obtained by the Daily Beast, Obama bemoaned the anonymous super PAC donations flowing to his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney.”

IRS AND ALEC.  Roll Call.  “The former head of the Internal Revenue Service’s Exempt Organizations division has asked the agency to revoke the tax-exempt status of the conservative nonprofit ALEC.”

IRS AND CAMPAIGNING.  The Times.  “These investigations could last for months or years, and are unlikely to affect spending in this year’s election. But they could help stanch the poisonous flow of secret money in future cycles.”

THE OPINION AND HEALTH CARE LOBBYING.  Story here.  “Among the biggest winners in Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is the drug industry, which played an intimate, if controversial, role in shaping the new law.”

THE OPINION AND CU.  What does the Supreme Court’s opinion on the constitutionality of the health care law mean for campaign finance?  Maybe you thought critics of the Court would back off after Chief Justice Roberts sided with the Court’s liberals to uphold the law?  The Times.  “The court reached the right result on the Affordable Care Act, but that ruling was not a sign of change in a strident conservative majority.”

ACCELERATING WORK FOR HEALTH LOBBYISTS.  Story here.  “Lobbyists are bracing for a flood of healthcare regulations now that the Supreme Court has cleared away uncertainty about the reform law’s future.”

SUPER PAC AND DEMINT.  Story here.  “Sen. Jim DeMint is cutting formal ties to his wildly successful small-donor fundraising machine, the Senate Conservatives Fund, so that it can form a super PAC, POLITICO has learned.”

DONATING DOWN TICKET.  Politico.  “Conservative megadonors Sheldon Adelson, the Koch brothers and Donald Trump aren’t stopping with their efforts to swing the presidential election. Now, they’re shoveling cash into down-ticket races.”

TAX THE PACS?  HuffPo.

BROWN AND UNAUTHORIZED DISBURSEMENTS.  The Post.  “D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown said Thursday that police are investigating ‘unauthorized disbursements’ from his campaign account.”

POST ON MD CFR CHANGES.  Here.  “The central problem in Maryland persists: Laws governing donations to political campaigns remain riddled with loopholes.”

HALEY CLEARED.  Story here.  “Gov. Nikki Haley did not use her office for personal gain while serving as a representative from Lexington County, the S.C. House Ethics Committee ruled today.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.  New links will be intermittent until Monday, July 9th.

Health care law? Individual mandate? No, just today’s political law links (6/28/12)

DECISION DAY.  Political law takes a back seat to health care today.  We’ll all be intently waiting for and then reading the Supreme Court’s opinions on the constitutionality of the health care law.  SCOTUSblog, as usual, will be the place to be on this big decision day.

POINT OF CONVENTIONS.  Politico.  “National conventions are becoming more of a pain than a party.”

TEXTING OBSTACLES.  Politico.  “But at the moment, the companies who want to run the donations by text message system — Red Blue T, ArmourMedia and m-Qube — are in drawn-out talks with major mobile phone carriers such as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon to figure out how it will all work and how much of a cut everyone will take.”

RNC SUES ON LIMITS.  Story here.  “The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit last week challenging campaign contribution limits set by the federal government, continuing the party’s efforts to dismantle the laws restricting money in political campaigns.”

MORE DEREGULATION.  CNBC.  “The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold limitless political donations from corporations sets the stage for campaigns and outside groups to press boundaries even further.”

SUPERFAN’S NEW RIDE.  The Times.  “Mr. Romney himself presented Mr. Wilson, a 70-year-old Virginian, with a replacement vehicle during an event in Sterling, Va., on Wednesday, ensuring that Mr. Wilson can keep popping up at campaign stops in a truck festooned with dozens of giant “Romney for President” posters and stickers.”

CONTRAST ADS AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE.  Story here.  “The attack ads could be driven in part by laws that aim to keep elections clean by separating campaigns from interest groups, according to the spokesman for a Republican group that plans to spend $300 million this year.”

HIRING RELATIVES.  Story here.  “Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Wednesday criticized a political ally for hiring relatives, even as Assessor Joseph Berrios continued to defy an ethics panel’s recommendation that he remove them from his payroll.”

CARRY OVER IN KS.  Story here.  “Candidates who filed early for political office in Kansas and found themselves in new districts when a federal court recently laid down revised boundaries could breathe a collective sigh of relief Wednesday.”

WATER BOARD LOBBYIST ISSUE.  The Post. “A veteran lobbyist’s appointment to the D.C. Water board of directors has been delayed at least two weeks after a D.C. Council member threatened to object during a vote Tuesday.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.  New posts will be intermittent  between now and Monday, July 9, 2012.

Good morning, here are today’s political law links (6/27/12)

Q2 CASH CHASE. Roll Call. “With the June 30 second-quarter campaign fundraising deadline looming, House and Senate campaigns sent out a flurry of emails to supporters today seeking donations.”

PRESIDENT OBAMA’S VIEWS ON CAMPAIGN MONEY RACE. Story here. “In a stunning admission, President Obama — who analysts had originally thought would be history’s first $1 billion presidential candidate — told donors on Tuesday he will be outspent by Republicans in this year’s election.”

CAROLINAFEST MOVED. Story here. “Speculations are swirling about the reasons for the move, chiefly fundraising shortfalls by the committee.”

DONORS ABROAD. Politico. “Obama is tapping the network of American citizens living outside the 50 states more than any other presidential campaign has before, with more than a dozen bundlers who have pledged to raise as much as $4.5 million.”

ALLEGED CAMPAIGN OUTSOURCING. WFB. “The Obama campaign spent nearly $4,700 on telemarketing services from a Canadian telemarketing company called Pacific East between March and June, a Washington Free Beacon study of federal election filings shows.”

DISCLOSURE AND HARASSMENT.  Story here.  “The Supreme Court’s reaffirmation of Citizens United Monday has caused Democrats and opponents of the ruling to renew their push for legislation to reveal the funders of independent political activity.”

CHAMBER DONORS.  The Times.  “Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of New York has begun investigating contributions to tax-exempt groups that are heavily involved in political campaigns, focusing on a case involving the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has been one of the largest outside groups seeking to influence recent elections but is not required to disclose its donors.”

HOUSE ETHICS ISSUE.  Roll Call.  “Just days before the House Ethics Committee was slated to hold a rare public trial of Rep. Maxine Waters, the committee’s then-ranking member, Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), shared an email about the status of the case with a staffer in his personal office who did not serve on the committee.”

GROUND GAME TECH.  The Times.  “For all of the attention to television advertising, the Obama campaign has made an investment likely to reach hundreds of millions of dollars — a gamble, really — in its ground game, with state-of-the-art technology for demographic data mining, consumer marketing, video production and social media, including the campaign’s own Dashboard social network to link, motivate and expand the ranks of volunteers.”

CU IN ALASKA. Story here. “Tim McKeever, who in the past has worked for groups that oppose Pebble Mine, among others, recently received an advisory opinion from Alaska Public Offices Commission about corporate campaign fundraising. The opinion held that a group called Alaskans Deserve Better could solicit unlimited funds in order to support or oppose local and state candidates.”

IRS COMPLAINT FILED. Story here. “In an era where politics-finance loopholes seem to multiply every day, the IRS is sending tremors through the campaign-finance landscape.”

NEW REFORMS FOR DC? Story here. “District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray is proposing a broad package of campaign finance reforms, including a ban on contributions by government contractors or those seeking large contracts.”

HAVE A GREAT DAY.