[Political Activity Law]

CONSENT DECREE DECISION AFFIRMED. 3dCir: “The Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee entered into a Consent Decree on November 1, 1982 to resolve a 1981 lawsuit. Less than two weeks prior to the 2016 presidential election, the DNC filed a motion to hold the RNC in contempt for an alleged violation of the Decree. After fifteen months of discovery, the District Court determined that the DNC had not shown a violation of the Consent Decree. The DNC appeals several discovery orders and the order declaring the Decree expired. We will affirm. “

FALSE FLAG TARGET. NYT. “The discovery of Dry Alabama, the second so-called false flag operation by Democrats in the fiercely contested Alabama race, underscores how dirty tricks on social media are creeping into American politics. The New York Times reported last month on a separate project that used its own bogus conservative Facebook page and sent a horde of Russian-looking Twitter accounts to follow Mr. Moore’s to make it appear as if he enjoyed Russian support.”

INVESTIGATION SOUGHT. WREX. “The Alabama attorney general is not investigating reports of online fakery in the 2017 Alabama Senate race after determining it is an issue for federal election regulators.”

LATEST FIX URGED. POL. “H.R. 1 addresses this problem in numerous ways. Key reforms include requiring states to register eligible voters automatically and to offer online and same-day registration options as well; ensuring that the franchise is not denied because of a criminal conviction to those who are no longer serving a sentence; and establishing Election Day as a national holiday. “

LATEST ON RNC RULES AND 2020. WE. “Currently, all a primary challenger to Trump would have to do to have their name placed in nomination on the convention floor in Charlotte is win a plurality of votes in five states or U.S. territories, or Washington, D.C.”

FUELING GROUP. EEN. “Although the group claims to be committed to transparency, it’s bankrolled by the New Venture Fund, a D.C.-based public charity that doesn’t disclose its donors or how much money they provide for dozens of advocacy projects it supports. But tax records analyzed by E&E News show WVP’s parent organization has received money from groups tied to major oil companies, a coal-fired electric utility and critics of the Trump administration.”

NJ: MONEY SHADOW. NJ. “The Murphy-aligned group that operate New Direction New Jersey, announced late last month that it will keep secret the names of donors who finance the not-for-profit ‘social welfare’ group that promotes Murphy’s policies and progressive image.”

NY: CAMPAIGN FINANCE URGE.  NYDN. “Among the reforms the groups are pushing are early voting, voting by mail, small donor public campaign financing, a reduction in campaign donation limits, and closure of a loophole that allows corporations to virtually give unlimited contributions.”

VA: NORTHAM PUSHES. WP. “The governor is also proposing new campaign finance limits that would cap donations at $10,000, block direct donations from corporations, and prohibit lawmakers from the personal use of campaign funds.”

FEDERAL COURT ENJOINS MD LAW. MDDC:

“The 2016 election exposed alarming new vulnerabilities in this country’s democratic processes. While there is no denying that states have a strong interest in countering newly emerging threats to their elections, the approaches they choose to take must not encroach on First Amendment freedoms that are the hallmark of our nation. Maryland’s statute appears to overstep these bounds. While I have no cause to block its enforcement wholesale, Plaintiffs have persuaded me that Md. Code Ann., Elec. Law S 13-405, which includes both the publication requirement and state inspection requirement, is most likely unconstitutional as it applies to these Plaintiffs.”

FEC SHUTDOWN. PI. “The FEC’s shutdown plan indicates that the agency has furloughed about 90 percent of its roughly 300-member workforce.”

HR 1 INCLUDES NEW FEC AND MORE. HR 1. A section-by-section summary is here.

WARREN: EXPLORING OR IN? CBS. “Elizabeth Warren may technically be in the ‘exploratory’ phase of a presidential campaign, but her message during her first solo swing through Iowa was clear: ‘I’m in this fight.'”

TWEET ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE. NBC. “It is true that some of the figures who oppose Trump were involved in campaign finance violations that resulted in civil cases. The Obama campaign case falls into the category of civil cases.”

NO CORRUPTION. USAT. “When third parties or ‘fixers’ get rid of a problem for a candidate and that money helps a candidate get elected, that official is now vulnerable to bribery and influence. This is and always should be considered a big deal.”

$10 MILLION BET. NJ. “A San Francisco lawyer, civil rights activist and former Stanford University classmate of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker is setting up a super political action committee and plans to raise at least $10 million to support the New Jersey Democrat if he runs for president.”

ID: PASS REFORM. MV. “One of the top orders of business should be campaign finance reform. The groundwork has been laid, and we expect legislators to make quick work of the task at hand.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

SEC HITS FIRM. CL. “The Securities and Exchange Commission has fined a Cleveland investment firm $100,000 over recent campaign contributions company executives made to state officials that violated federal ‘pay-to-play’ rules.”

REFORM SIGNAL. MNN. “As expected, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was re-elected Speaker of the House, and it looks as though campaign finance reform will be one of the issues first up among the new bills House Dems will be introducing.”

REFORM BILL DROPPING. RC. “Automatic voter registration, independent redistricting commissions, super PAC restrictions, forced release of presidential tax returns — these are just a handful of the provisions in a massive government overhaul package House Democrats will formally unveil Friday, according to a summary of the legislation obtained by Roll Call.” The article has some more details about the campaign finance elements proposed, including restrictions aimed at foreign money.

VIEW ON PAYMENTS.  JUS. “At a minimum, it is simply not clear that President Trump violated election laws in using his money to pay off an individual who otherwise might have revealed a previous sexual affair with him. FEC regulations make clear that a candidate may make unlimited contributions and unlimited expenditures from his own funds.”

COURT HAS NO JURISDICTION. DC. ” Since nothing in the [FECA] gives the Court the power to review investigative decisions made along the way if an administrative complaint was neither dismissed nor ignored, the Court concludes that the challenged agency action is not reviewable under FECA. It further finds that the agency’s actions in this circumstance are not reviewable under the APA…”

FL: CLOSING CHANNELS. FP. “The first-term state lawmaker filed a bill (SB 224) to stop the practice of contributions funneling through multiple political committees, his third attempt since joining the Legislature in 2016.”

MN:  TARGETING DONORS. CBS. “Minnesota campaign finance officials may push to require political groups to name donors who pay for issue advertisements that don’t directly advocate for or against a candidate or issue.”

OR: REFORM LATER. PM. “According to the article, although Brown cannot run for re-election in 2022 because of Oregon’s limit of two consecutive terms in the governor’s office, she finished her campaign with around $700,000 in the bank and currently is raising funds for her inauguration, estimated at less than $100,000.”

SD: NEW LAW. KTV. “Under the new rules, if the same person starts or runs more than one committee, those groups will share a single contribution limit.”

 VA: BILLS FILED. NBC. “Democrats and Republicans have also made early moves to address some of Virginia’s loose campaign finance rules.”

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND.