[Political Activity Law]

HR 1 HEARING. JUD. A hearing was held on H.R. 1, the For the People Act of 2019.

NOT A CAMPAIGN TRIP. DB. “Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) appeared to inch closer to a possible presidential run on Tuesday night with an announcement during an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that he’ll be embarking on a tour of early primary and caucus states at the end of the month.”

SELF-FUNDER PREPARING. WP. “If funded, the Schultz ad campaign would come as Democratic candidates running for president are still hoarding cash for a primary fight. Schultz has said that he would not be dissuaded by having to spend $300 million to $500 million of his own wealth on a campaign.”

WHAT ABOUT WALL STREET. VOX. “Raising money from Wall Street for a presidential campaign might be becoming a liability, especially for Democrats.”

ERIC OUT. POL. “Mayor Eric Garcetti will announce in Los Angeles today that he will not run for president in 2020, according to three sources.”

FL: GILLUM ACCUSED. PT. “A long-simmering ethics investigation of former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Gillum heated up late last week when a state ethics panel said there was probable cause that Gillum violated Florida’s ethics law.”

NJ: FINANCES BETTER. BCT. “The latest campaign finance reports released by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission showed the county party also finished 2018 on a high note financially, raising nearly $160,000 during the last quarter and beginning 2019 with a robust $81,537 in the bank, the most cash-on-hand the party has possessed in over a decade.”

NY: LLC LAW. LEX. “Not even a month into 2019, and New York has adopted significant changes to the State’s campaign finance laws.”

NY: PAYING LEGAL BILLS. JT. “Former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman used nearly $340,000 in political campaign funds to pay the law firm that represented him during an investigation of allegations that he physically abused several women, according to campaign finance reports reviewed by The Associated Press.”

UT: CHILD CARE UPDATE. NPN. “During a record-setting year for women running for office, candidates around the country raised the question of whether campaign funds can pay for child care for working parents.” More here.

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

SUPER PAC VOWS. WT. “The field of contenders is going to have to weigh the risk versus reward of eschewing super PACs, which, unlike individual donors that are capped out at $2,700 in contributions in the primary, can raise unlimited sums of money but cannot coordinate with a candidate.”

DONORS WAIT. DJ. “The presidential primary is jolting to life without a traditional mainstay: the big money donor class. More specifically, their contribution checks.”

FEC OVERSIGHT? HILL. “Congress has failed to re-authorize many major agencies and programs for decades while continuing to fund them. For example, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) last was authorized in 1981. Similarly, the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) most recent authorization was in 1998. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has not been reauthorized since 2010.”

MO: LIMIT QUESTIONS. SLPD. “It remains unclear whether Bell’s campaign ran afoul of the amendment. The Missouri Constitution says county charter amendments become a part of the charter ‘at the time and under the conditions fixed in the amendment.'”

NM: TEST PASSED. ABJ. “A proposal aimed at shining more light on political spending by ‘dark money’ groups started moving through the Senate on Monday — amid renewed optimism by supporters that it will actually become law this year, after nearly a decade of trying.”

OR: HAMMERING SUPPORT. PM. “While Starnes is pressing for a $1,000 limit, the governor prefers matching the federal limits of $2,600 per individual and $5,000 per political action committee.”

WA: PRO BONO REPORTING. IS. “Last week, the foundation announced it will appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) over the Washington State Supreme Court’s ruling that the foundation violated Washington’s Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA) by not disclosing the pro bono legal services.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

SCHULTZ PREPARING. NYT. “Howard Schultz, the former chief executive of Starbucks and a self-described ‘lifelong Democrat,’ said Sunday he was preparing to run for president as an independent and had already begun the groundwork required to be on the ballot in all 50 states.”

500 REGISTERED. AJC. “While the 2020 U.S. presidential election is still more than a year away, many people are gearing up to run for the nation’s highest office — 482 people, to be exact.”

MAILER QUESTIONS. FN. “The Citizens for Waters report to the Federal Election Commission from Dec. 11 lists $183,022 in debt to her daughter Karen Waters, who is in charge of distributing ‘slate mailers.'”

ALLEGED CAMPAIGN FINANCE ISSUE. JS. “Federal campaign finance law prohibits foreign nationals from directly or indirectly making a ‘contribution or donation of money or other thing of value’ in connection with a U.S. election—and also prohibits any person from soliciting, accepting or receiving such a contribution.”

IL: PARTY ISSUES. CST. “Looking forward, one of the biggest questions facing Republican legislators is where will their campaign money come from. Not only did their primary contributor, Bruce Rauner, depart the scene, but after losing so many seats last year combined with the possibility that President Trump will be at the top of the ballot in 2020, who’s gonna give them any cash?”

RI: REPORTING NOTED. PJ. “Heading into a week of Senate confirmation hearings for Gov. Gina Raimondo’s latest batch of judicial nominees, a senator is raising questions about the fines that Raimondo’s nominee to the Family Court was required to pay the Board of Elections for repeatedly flouting the state’s campaign-reporting law.”

UT: WHO FUNDS. SLT. “Incoming Utah legislators collected only 6 percent of their campaign donations during the 2018 election year from voters who actually live in their districts.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.