[Political Activity Law]

BUYING VOTES AND QUID PRO QUO ALLEGED.   HILL.  “‘This is a classic quid pro quo as defined in our bribery laws,’ Collins said. ‘They are asking me to perform an official act and if I do not do what they want, two million plus dollars is going to go to my opponent.'”

SENATOR SECURITY ASK.   BB.  “Citing Russian hacking in the 2016 election and ongoing cyber threats, Senator Ron Wyden asked the Federal Election Commission if campaign funds could be used to protect personal devices and online accounts of members of Congress.”

TRIAL SET.   HR.  “As expected, the public corruption trial of former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock will not occur in January.  Rather, it appears the trial could take place in the early summer of 2019 according to Mark Hubbard, a spokesman for Schock.”

EAC PICK.   WH.  “Benjamin Hovland of Maryland, to be a Member of the Election Assistance Commission for the remainder of a four-year term expiring December 12, 2019.  Mr. Hovland currently serves as Acting Chief Counsel with the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Previously, he worked as the Deputy General Counsel for the Missouri Secretary of State’s office. He earned his J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law.”

KY:  COSTS PAID.   FK.  “After apologizing and covering the expenses incurred during a recent campaign finance law violation, state Rep. Wilson Stone, D-Scottsville, hopes to put the issue behind him.”

TX:  CANDIDATE FINED.   DN.  “The Texas Ethics Commission has fined Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Lupe Valdez $1,000 for correcting a report about her primary campaign’s finances four months after the March election.”

TX:  SIGNS BREAK LAWS.   DRC.  “Political signs are allowed on public property only if it’s a polling location and only once voting for the election has started. Early voting will not start at the Civic Center until Oct. 22.”

TX:  FUNDING FOR (C)(4).  DN.  “Huffines, R-Dallas, gave the American Liberty Network $150,000 in January, the only donation from a politician it received all year, according to ethics filings. Soon after, the group’s Texas chapter sent mailers and made robocalls attacking Paxton and her husband, Attorney General Ken Paxton.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

REGISTRATION EFFORT FUNDING.   STL.  “Sen. Claire McCaskill, who has made opposition to ‘dark money’ in politics a central focus of her re-election campaign and the primary reason she opposes Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, lauded the ‘good news’ of an outside group partially funded by undisclosed donors aiming to register 100,000 black voters in Missouri.”

“DARK MONEY” DEPLOYED.   FN.  “For as much as Democrats like to lament dark money, and by dark money we’re talking about money that comes from 501-C4 organizations. These are contributions that are unlimited to these organizations and undisclosed. These groups were popularized by the great decision in Citizens United. So we’re talking about Democrats who apparently deplore dark money, but they have set up not one level, not two levels, but three levels of secrecy in setting up this project.”

CO:  COMPLAINT MOVES.   CPR.  “The Colorado Secretary of State’s office has determined that a group aiming to elect unaffiliated candidates in Colorado and across the country has potentially violated state campaign finance laws.”

MD:  BILL DRAMA.   WP.  “A bill to create a public financing system for local political races in Prince George’s County advanced this week during a dramatic council meeting that was abruptly adjourned by Chair ­Dannielle M. Glaros and then restarted after one of her colleagues was elected temporary chair.”

NM:  OVERHAUL SKEPTICISM.   SNM.  “A proposal to overhaul the city of Santa Fe’s campaign finance system by letting publicly funded candidates raise extra money in small amounts got a frosty reception Monday from the city Finance Committee.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

O’ROURKE FLAGGED.   DC.  “Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s senate campaign was flagged by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Sunday for accepting ‘excessive’ and ‘impermissible’ donations.”

AD DRAWS COMPLAINT.   DDN.  “The Republicans’ complaint is that by featuring the Whirlpool brand so prominently, Brown’s campaign is receiving an ‘impermissible in–kind contribution from a prohibited source.'”

NJ:  LOOK AT CAMPAIGN COSTS.   INJ.  “What can be done?  Well, let’s start at the beginning.  Why are campaigns expensive?  Because the mediums of communication cost lots of money. TV, direct mail, radio, newspaper ads, etc. all cost money. Lots of it.”

WA:  COST OF ENFORCEMENT.   HN.    “The Public Disclosure Commission is in need of hundreds of thousands of additional dollars to cover the tab of lawsuits against Tim Eyman and others accused of being political scofflaws.”

WV:  NEW REPORTING.   WVN.  “The West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office has utilized a new online Campaign Finance Reporting System in an effort to increase transparency in the state’s elections.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.