[Political Activity Law]

CHANGES CONSIDERED.   RC.  “Lawmakers continue to debate major changes to political money regulations as part of a year-end spending package, despite opposition from numerous congressional Democrats and campaign finance watchdog groups.”

NEW CHARGES.   PHI.  “Federal prosecutors on Tuesday filed new charges against a top aide to U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, accusing Ken Smukler of obstructing a federal investigation and concealing illegal contributions to Marjorie Margolies, a former member of Congress from Montgomery County who ran again in 2014.”

CASE CONTINUES.   EN.  “The prosecution laid out a wide-ranging fraud case against Stockman, saying he stole charitable donations and funneled them through a series of bank accounts and then lied to cover his tracks.”

COOPER’S OPINION.   WP.  “A federal judge on Tuesday said the Federal Election Commission failed to enforce campaign finance disclosure requirements against an outside group that ran political advertisements in the weeks leading up to the 2010 midterms.”

CA:  BAN CONSIDERED.  LAT.  “Dunn’s contributions are allowed by state law, but some believe such payments undermine public confidence in the appointment process. That concern is behind a new proposal by Assemblyman Adam Gray (D-Merced) to outlaw contributions to senators by political appointees for up to a year between the time they are chosen by the governor until their required confirmation by the Senate.”

WA:  COUNTY PARTY COMPLAINTS.   CO.  “The number of complaints made to the Public Disclosure Commission more than doubled to 796 in 2017, up from 309 in 2016. Spokeswoman Kim Bradford said the PDC saw a sharp rise in those that were linked to so-called citizen action notices last year. In 2017, the PDC received 283, compared to 36 in 2016.”

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FRA:   SARKOZY DETAINED.   BB.  “Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was detained for questioning by police in an investigation into suspected illegal financing of his successful 2007 campaign, a person familiar with the matter said.”

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HAVE A GOOD DAY.

DEAR ZUCK.   CNBC.  “A top official at the Federal Election Commission has invited Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Larry Page to testify at a public hearing in June.”

ONLINE RULES PROPOSED.   LEX.  “The Federal Election Commission (FEC) this week issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, asking for public comment on proposals for requiring ‘disclaimers’ on online ads and fundraising.”

PROPOSED RULES ANNOUNCED.  COV.  “The proposal and the Commissioners’ comments at the hearing reflect a fair amount of consensus on how to refashion rules that have been the source of significant disputes over the past decade.”

CT:  FINANCING FACEOFF.   CTP.  “Republicans and state election officials faced off over public financing for political campaigns Monday, debating whether to reinforce the program or ditch it altogether.”

TX:  YARD SIGN PAYMENTS.   TA. “The amount of money Fortunato has paid his son’s company is irrelevant under campaign finance laws. But the transactions appear to fly in the face of rules governing the limited circumstances under which campaign dollars may be paid to a candidate’s immediate family members.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

TWO BARRED.   IN.  “The Securities and Exchange Commission has barred Gregg Z. Schonhorn of Short Hills, N.J., and Deborah Kelley of Piedmont, Calif., for their role in a ‘pay-to-play’ arrangement involving the New York State Common Retirement Fund that netted the registered representatives millions of dollars in trading commissions.”

AZ:  TRAINING OFFERED.   PN.  “Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan’s office will conduct two campaign finance trainings in Phoenix on April 4 and April 5. The next campaign finance report is due Monday, April 16.”

CA:  REFORM EFFORT.   MH. “In the wake of increasingly expensive county supervisorial races over the past decade or so, work has started on a once-dormant Monterey County campaign finance reform effort aimed at establishing contribution limits or even a spending cap for all county elected officials.”

ID:  MAJOR REFORM.   SM. “Overall, the measure requires more frequent and more detailed campaign finance reporting, extends reporting requirements to local elections, and requires entities doing independent campaign expenditures and out-of-state entities donating large sums to Idaho PACs or candidates to identify the source of the money.”

IL:  SELF-FUNDER.  SJR.  “Prior to hitting the parade route along Columbus Drive, Democratic governor candidate J.B. Pritzker defended putting another $6.3 million of his fortune into his campaign, a move he disclosed Friday night. It brought the record-setting, self-funding total of the billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune to $69.5 million.”

IL:  DONATION TIMING.   CST.  “More than a dozen employees of Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown’s office and their family members made campaign contributions to Brown within six months of getting a promotion and pay raise, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found.”

TX:  FINE AFTER CASE.   KSAT.  “The Texas Ethics Commission fined state Sen. Carlos Uresti $500 after he was found guilty in a Ponzi scheme.”

TX:  SUIT TO STOP.   FWT.  “A Tea Party group known for waging aggressive campaigns against establishment Republicans is suing in federal court to prohibit criminal investigations into the strategy it used to attack state Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, in the GOP primary.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.