[Political Activity Law]

TROLL OR NO?   BFN.  “Political campaigns and independent expenditure groups have adopted a variety of shady strategies and tactics that involve targeting voters with trollish behavior, and Russia’s intervention in US elections is merely part of a much larger problem.”

POLITICAL LAW MOVERS AND SHAKERS. Balard Spahr. “National law firm Ballard Spahr has significantly expanded the federal capabilities of its noted government relations practice with the addition of a prominent five-member lobbying and public policy group to its Washington, D.C., office, firm Chair Mark Stewart announced today.” Congrats to Kate Belinski on the move.

UDALL TO INTRODUCE. HP. “Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) is leading the effort by Senate Democrats to introduce a companion bill to a major political and electoral reform bill introduced by House Democrats on Jan. 4.”

SCHUMER’S CASE. WT. “He allegedly used his taxpayer-paid state Assembly staff to work on his 1980 congressional campaign. What helped Mr. Schumer dodge the campaign-finance bullet was a combination of legal loopholes and lack of political will to force prosecution — including then-Gov. Mario Cuomo putting the brakes on legal action.“

CA: PAC FACING FINE. EBT. “A political action committee that has spent hundreds of thousands on local elections is expected to be fined for campaign violations, mostly from the 2016 city council race.“

NJ:  FEUD AND REFORM.   WHYY.  “The continuing feud between New Jersey’s two most powerful Democrats could lead to the state finally enacting contribution-disclosure laws for dark-money groups that New Jersey’s campaign watchdog and good government activists have been seeking for years.”

SC: COMMON CAUSE SNAFU. TS.  “A longtime S.C. ethics advocate inadvertently caused an ethics stir this week when he gave copies of his book about a State House corruption scandal to members of the General Assembly.”

WA:  DISCLOSURE UPHELD.  MISS. “A split Washington Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the attorney general’s office can pursue a campaign finance disclosure case against the conservative Evergreen Freedom Foundation.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

ETHICS MINEFIELD. FNN. “As the government [shutdown] approaches 18 days and counting, dozens of people describing themselves as federal employees are soliciting donations on ‘GoFundMe’ pages to ease the financial uncertainty ahead of likely missed paychecks. But absent specific guidance from the Office of Government Ethics on this matter, federal employees walk a tricky line in accepting furlough donations and complying with existing ethics rules.”

IL: CONTRIBUTION ISSUE. WTTW. “A mere footnote – three sentences in the 37-page criminal complaint accusing Ald. Ed Burke of attempted extortion – is causing a headache for Cook County Democratic Party chair Toni Preckwinkle as she seeks to become Chicago’s next mayor.”

MT: PROFILE ON MOTL. PS. “He has become the tenacious scourge of dark money in Montana politics, and, in doing so, has set a bold example for other states across the nation that are also contending with the noxious influence of unaccountable election spending.”

NY: CALL FOR REFORM. TU. “You should establish sensible guardrails on political contributions for statewide and legislative races, and limit the potential for conflicts of interest by reining in private outside income for officeholders.”

OH: REFORM SOUGHT. OSU. “Columbus City Council is wrestling with something it has never done before: campaign finance reform. But its loudest critics don’t oppose restrictions; rather, they say Council members aren’t going far enough.”

TN: OFFICIAL LENIENCY. CA. “Campaign finance officials showed leniency to two freshmen lawmakers Wednesday, opting to eliminate a recently imposed fine against one and significantly reducing the penalty another faced.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

BIDEN SPENDING SCRUTINY. POL. “Former Vice President Joe Biden raised more money for a PAC that supports Democrats in 2018 than any of his likely White House competitors did. But unlike many of them, he spent the lion’s share of that haul on himself.”

RUSSIAN TACTICS IN PUSH. HP. “Social media campaigns supporting Democrat Doug Jones in the 2017 Alabama Senate race employed tactics borrowed from Russian interference in U.S. elections, according to multiple reports published in recent weeks.”

LEAVE CAMPAIGN FINANCE ALONE. NOK. “From a 20,000-foot view, it’s evident complaints about the undue influence of money in politics are overblown and that past “reforms” have made things worse.” 

HASEN ON CONSENT DECREE. SLATE. “On Friday, a federal consent decree to stop potential voter suppression by the Republican National Committee—in place since 1982—is set to expire unless further extended by a federal district court in New Jersey.”

CASE REOPENED. FLP. “Miami U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke granted the FEC permission on Jan. 4 to reopen its civil case against Rivera and proceed with an amended lawsuit against the Republican accusing him of secretly funneling $55,601 to the 2012 primary election campaign of Justin Lamar Sternad, a ringer candidate who ran against Rivera’s eventual Democratic challenger, Joe Garcia.”

GA: DIRECTOR SUSPENDED. AJC. “The state ethics commission suspended its director with pay Tuesday amid allegations that he misused state computers.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.