[Political Activity Law]

HARRIS IN. CNBC. “First-term Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California, a rising party star and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, launched her 2020 campaign for the White House on Monday…”

GENERAL COUNSEL PICK. POL. “Other members of the [Harris] campaign team include: Marc Elias, general counsel; Angelique Cannon, national finance director; David Huynh, senior advisor; and Lily Adams, communications director.”

POTENTIAL INDEPENDENT RUN. WP. “If no candidate wins 270 or more votes, the victor would be decided by the House in a ‘contingent election,’ with each state delegation getting one ballot. The Senate would decide who becomes vice president.”

GROUP FUNDING. FB. “The dark money nonprofit launched by Hillary Clinton following her defeat against Donald Trump relied heavily on just six donors and an $800,000 money transfer from her former presidential campaign committee during its first year, according to tax forms provided to the Washington Free Beacon.”

CO: NEW DISCLOSURE RULE. DH. “Political committees that raise money to support or oppose ballot issues in the city of Durango will soon be required to report where they got all contributions of more than $20.”

IN: FACING FINES. NWI. “Candidates failing to file the reports face a potential fine of $50 each day they are late, up to a maximum of $1,000, according to J. Bradley King, co-director at the Indiana Election Division at the Secretary of State’s office.”

TX: LOAN AND CONTRIBUTIONS. KSAT. “Public records confirm the recently elected district clerk of Guadalupe County accepted more than $30,000 in campaign contributions from her husband’s construction company as he hurtled toward bankruptcy last year.”

WA: FIX URGED. ST. “Lawmakers must pass a bill this session that would drill down to the bottom layer of political committees, requiring the truetop contributors to be listed on mailers and TV spots.”

WA: ELECTORAL COLLEGE LAWSUIT. KUOW. “Three Washington Democrats will explain Tuesday to the state Supreme Court why they voted against their party’s presidential nominee in the 2016 election.”

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MCCONNELL ON HR 1. WP. “From the First Amendment to your ballot box, Democrats want to rewrite the rules to favor themselves and their friends. Upending the FEC, squeezing taxpayers, attacking privacy and jeopardizing our elections are a price they’ll happily pay for this partisan power grab.”

WHAT DOES HAPPEN TO THE MONEY? KFOX. “A KFOX14 viewer named Perla sent me this question: ‘What happens to all the money that candidates raise during political campaigns?'”

SMALL DONORS RISING. WSJ. “Grass-roots support has taken on such importance in Democratic politics that for the first time the Democratic National Committee expects to include some kind of small-money metric in its debate qualifications, though precise rules haven’t been set, party officials have said….”

SKADDEN SETTLES. ST. “A law firm tied to former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s international consulting work has agreed to pay $4.6 million and register as a foreign agent.” More in the DOJ Release.

LATEST ON COLLUSION ALLEGATIONS. POL. “Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, said Wednesday night that there could have been ‘collusion’ between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russian officials, but if it did happen, Trump didn’t do it.”

CA: FUNDS REMAIN. SB. “Gov. Jerry Brown is leaving, but he has plenty of political money to take with him. He’s sitting on $15 million in his campaign account.”

MT: LIMITS SURVIVE. MS. “Eight years of litigation to abolish Montana’s campaign contribution limits ended Monday with two words from the U.S. Supreme Court: certiorari denied.”

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PENDING AT THE FEC. FORBES. “A complaint that alleges Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee violated campaign finance law by steering money for opposition research through a law firm is still pending with the Federal Election Commission.” A number of firms have issued alerts regarding the impact of the shutdown on applicable statutes of limitations in the context of labor law and in other areas.

DEMOCRATS WRITE FEC. POL. “The partial government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history, is affecting the Federal Election Commission’s ability to enforce campaign finance laws and investigate possible infractions, Democrats on the Senate Rules Committee wrote to the FEC on Wednesday.”

INDICTMENT IN PAC CASE. @CGeidner. “A man has been indicted in federal court in Texas on 20 counts for allegedly setting up ‘Feel Bern,’ ‘HC4President,’ and ‘Trump Victory’ in 2016; setting up websites; raising more than $538,000 for those entities; and donating less than $5,100 to political causes.” More here.

GILLIBRAND ON SUPER PACS. POL. “Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand rejected support from an individualized super PAC in her first public comments since joining the 2020 presidential race, staking out a position on campaign finance that’s defining the early stage of the Democratic primary.”

CA: REFORM FOR WOMEN. SB. “California law does not explicit allow or prohibit the use of campaign funds for child care. Parking tickets and security systems are among the permitted expenses.”

IL: CHANCE THE DONOR. CT. “Chance the Rapper gives $400K to Chicago mayoral candidate…”

MD: TANEYTOWN AMENDS. CCN. “Amendments to Taneytown’s ethics ordinance will require select city staff and all elected officials to complete more stringent financial disclosure forms, while changes to the campaign finance ordinance will allow the city’s Ethics Commission to fine candidates that do not comply with campaign finance reporting requirements.”

NY:  2019 AGENDA. GG. “Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a broad agenda of progressive legislation in his State of the State speech on Tuesday, accompanied by more detailed policy and budget books, including several measures aimed at improving New York’s democracy and increasing public trust in state government.”

TX: PAYMENTS REQUIRED. TM. “Now that he is a free man, former Hidalgo County Sheriff Guadalupe “Lupe” Treviño will be required to start making payments to the Texas Ethics Commission in the amount of $10,000.”

WI: DRAWING ATTENTION. WPR. “In recent months, some Wisconsin residents, among others, have received phone calls from an organization asking that they donate money to help veterans. Hundreds of people have done so only to find later that most of the money didn’t go to veterans.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.