[Political Activity Law]

STAY VACATED.   FEC.  “The United States Supreme Court today lifted the Chief Justice’s stay of the order of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in CREW v. FEC (Case No. 16-0259).”

DISCLOSURE EXPANSION.   INSIDEPOLITICALLAW.  “In a startling turn of events that will alter election spending decisions in the run-up to the general election, and after, the Supreme Court reversed a temporary stay issued by Justice Roberts on Friday, and left in place a district court decision that dramatically increased the disclosure obligations for entities spending on public communications that encourage people to vote for or against specific candidates.”

SUPER PACS SPEND.  HILL.  “Super PACs funded by some of the nation’s richest people are pouring tens of millions of dollars into the midterm elections, outpacing even the party committees that were once the biggest spenders in the field.”

PROJECT VERITAS AND HATCH ACT.  WT.  “A State Department spokesperson said, ‘I can confirm that Stuart Karaffa is a Management and Program Analyst with the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations. We take seriously any allegation of a violation of the Hatch Act and financial disclosure rules and are closely reviewing this matter.'”

CU AND THE LAW.   WKMS.  “The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, enacted in March 2002, aimed to limit the amount of financial support interest groups and national political parties could provide to a specific campaign. In 2010, a historic court ruling overturned the reform act. Dr. Kevin Qualls, associate professor in MSU’s Department of Mass Communications and Journalism, visits Sounds Good to talk about the significant change created in campaign finance law.”

CO:  VIOLATIONS ALLEGED.  CPR.  “A group seeking to elect unaffiliated candidates in Colorado and across the country is facing a campaign finance complaint.”

IL:  REPORT TYPO.   SD.  “A local Republican candidate got an important reminder this week that the internet is fast, and the internet is forever. State Senate candidate Seth McMillan found this out the hard way after a typo in his A-1 campaign contribution filings. Shelly Grigoroff was reportedly paid $1,207,325 for work she had done. In reality, she was paid just $1,207.25.”

MD:  ALLEGATIONS RAISED.   WP.  “A Gaithersburg resident has filed a complaint with the state elections board, alleging a candidate for Montgomery County executive violated campaign finance laws when her campaign committee accepted multiple corporate donations from entities sharing the same addresses.”

NH:  PUBLIC FINANCING MOVE.   WMUR.  “Lawmakers in New Hampshire are planning to file a bill next year to create a new public campaign finance system.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

ELECTION LAW NEWS.  Wiley Rein’s latest Election Law News is available.

LETTER IN THE NEWS.  NYT.  “Ted Cruz’s Senate re-election campaign has been sending voters in Texas a fund-raising letter in an envelope labeled “summons enclosed,” drawing criticism from some who called it misleading and raising questions about whether such a practice was legal. It is.”

OPINION ON DISMISSAL.   BBO.  “The Federal Election Commission would prefer not to know. On a party-line vote, the FEC has voted not to pursue enforcement action against the campaign of President Donald Trump for soliciting foreign contributions in the summer of 2016.”

FUND USE BAN.   MH.  “The Federal Election Commission is for the first time seriously considering banning members of Congress from using any political donations for personal use.”

TALKING ABOUT THE LAW.   FOX.  Former Commissioner Smith talks about campaign finance law in the news in this online video.

AR:  ETHICS PACKAGE.   AT.  “Mike Lee, the Democrat challenging Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, outlined a detailed agenda to strengthen Arkansas ethics laws.”

CA:  GAS TAX INVESTIGATION.   CBS.  “California’s campaign watchdog said Wednesday it is investigating whether a campaign to preserve the state’s recent gas tax hike violated finance rules.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

RULING HALTED.   POLITICO.  “Chief Justice John Roberts stepped in Saturday to halt a federal judge’s order last month that a conservative political group said threatened to discourage independent expenditures by raising the prospect that anonymous donors could be exposed.”

RULING ON HOLD.   SB. “Roberts’ quick action may have stemmed from a desire to bring clarity to the situation as far in advance of the Monday deadline as possible, but it may also reflect his frustration at the D.C. Circuit’s failure to act on Crossroads Grassroots’ request.”

SENATE ELECTRONIC FILING.   HILL.  “If the bill is signed, the Senate would finally be subject to the same electronic filing (e-filing) requirements that the House has had since 1995.”

SCHEME AND THE LAW.    WP. “Is it illegal to tell a politician what you think about an issue and vow to back her opponent if she disagrees? Such a straightforward question should be easy to answer, but it’s not. That alone is an indictment of the hundreds of pages of statutes and regulatory rules that constitute our federal campaign-finance laws.”

CAMPAIGN CIVIL PENALTY.   STL.  “The agreement, which was obtained by the Post-Dispatch, alleged that Chappelle-Nadal used a state campaign account, which has fewer restrictions on the amount of money and the source of that money than a federal campaign, to bolster her federal office challenge of Clay, D-St. Louis.”

NV:  MAYOR CLEARED.   USN.  “The Reno Gazette Journal reported on its web site Friday Commission Chairwoman Cheryl Lau wrote in a letter to Schieve this week that the panel ‘declines to investigate’ the complaint based on a lack of ‘sufficient evidence’ that Schieve used her elected office to benefit her re-election campaign.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.