[Political Activity Law]

CRUZ SUES. CN. “Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas filed a lawsuit Monday challenging the Federal Election Commission’s cap on how much money candidates can reimburse themselves for loans to their campaign, claiming it violates his right to free speech.”

AIDE SENTENCED. TT. “A former aide to ex-U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in prison for helping the Friendswood Republican with a $1.25 million campaign finance scam.”

CT: DECISION LOOMS. NBC. “The agency that regulates elections in Connecticut could decide later this week on whether candidates for higher office can use their campaign accounts to pay for childcare services.”

NY: LAWMAKER PUNT. DC. “Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders spent weeks in closed-door meetings, trying to strike a deal on the weighty, complicated issues of public campaign financing and which bridges to exempt from a new toll on Manhattan drivers.”

NC: INDICTMENTS. WP. “A federal grand jury has indicted the chairman of the Republican Party of North Carolina in an alleged bribery scheme, accusing him of helping a wealthy political donor try to influence a state regulator whose department has oversight of the donor’s company.”

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FINANCE FEUD. HILL. “A Warren campaign aide told CNN on Sunday that Pratt is leaving as a result of Warren’s pledge not to take contributions from big-money donors.”

GAO LOBBYIST AUDITS. HILL. “GAO found that 33 percent of the LD-203 political contribution reports didn’t disclose relevant contributions. GAO estimates that figure is a statistically significant increase compared to prior years.”

OIL PLEDGE. TT. “As he launches his candidacy for president this weekend in oil-rich Texas, Beto O’Rourke is taking some flack from the left for all the money he got from drilling interests during his race for the U.S. Senate — and about reports of his more recent refusal to sign on to the “No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge.'”

OGE QUESTIONS. AP. “The U.S. Office of Government Ethics is refusing to certify one of the final financial disclosure reports of ex-Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, citing the cut-rate $50-a-night deal Pruitt had for a luxury Washington condo.”

NY: FINAL HURDLE. TSU. “Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders worked to clear a final roadblock to consensus on New York’s $175 billion spending plan late Saturday night, as details of a potential compromise on publicly financed elections began to filter out of the negotiating room.”

OR: FIRST STEP. OBP. “The Senate Campaign Finance Committee approved a measure for the May 2020 primary ballot. It would undo state Supreme Court rulings that have struck down previous limits as an infringement of free-speech rights.”

PA: ROOM GONE. CL. “It happened without any warning: The ‘lobbyist room’ at the back of Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives chamber was closed and is now off limits to lobbyists.”

WA: ACOUNTABILITY SOUGHT. ST. “Let the people at least see who gives how much to whom so that they can judge for themselves if the giver is buying undue influence.”

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GROUP RAISING. HILL. “A group unaffiliated with President Trump’s reelection campaign raised over $100,000 in January after placing more than 200,000 robocalls, according to CNN’s KFile.”

DEAL DISCLOSURE. BLMB. “A liberal watchdog group is calling for a comprehensive review of the White House’s ethics program, citing a pattern of omissions about future employment on financial disclosure forms by aides to President Donald Trump.”

MOVING TO SENATE. MCN. “A Senate version of the For the People Act, backed by the Democrats, has been introduced, and whether it perishes from the Hill is up to the Republican majority.”

AZ: MONEY MOVE. AZC. “Armed with volunteers and 15 months until a deadline, former Attorney General Terry Goddard launched a new bid Tuesday to end ‘dark money’ anonymous donations to Arizona political campaigns.”

CA: FRIENDLY LOAN. CM. “To buy a house, an Orange County legislator received a $430,000 personal loan from a former Orange County congresswoman—an arrangement that some legal experts labeled unusual, but that both politicians said was not improper.”

MN: SUPER PAC START. DNT. “Minnesota state Sen. Karin Housley has started a political action committee to raise money for conservative candidates for Congress.”

MO: BAN PRIORITY. KCRU. “Gross has introduced legislation to the Missouri House which would ban the practice of accepting “dark money,” a political term used to describe anonymous campaign contributions from certain organizations, such as nonprofits.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.