Good morning, political law links

CU AND CHANGE.    OS.  “Eight years ago, the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC defined the modern federal campaign finance system. How did we get there, and how has the system continued to evolve?”

NEW NOMINEE.   HILL.  “President Trump on Wednesday nominated a new director for the federal government’s ethics office, several months after the previous director resigned over frustration with the administration.”

DEPARTING COMMISSIONER.   WP.  “With Goodman’s departure, the FEC has a bare-minimum quorum of four members — two Republicans, one Democrat and one independent — whose unanimous votes are now required to take official action.”

MD:  COMPLAINT ON REPORTING.   BS.  “Howard County’s Republican Central Committee has filed a complaint with the State Board of Elections against Democrat Calvin Ball’s county executive campaign, claiming Ball’s team made intentional errors in campaign finance reports from January 2017 and January 2018.”

WA:  TROUBLE FOR FB.   FN.  “Facebook could be facing major penalties after the executive director of the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission accused the social media giant this week of violating a city campaign finance law.”

WA:  CONSIDERING CHANGES.   NWN.  “According to the version in the House right now, nonprofits and other similar organization that spend $25,000 or more to advocate for or against ballot measures and candidates will have to disclose the names of donors that give more than $10,000.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.  

Political Law Links of the Day

CREW ALLEGATIONS. FB. “Mainstream media outlets rarely identify activists tied to Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) as working for the leftwing activist organization that raises money from a secretive dark money network of liberal donors, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.”

OVERBY ON THE SYSTEM. NPR. “After the Watergate scandals in the 1970s, Congress passed a series of laws to reduce the influence of big donors in politics and to increase transparency. Forty years later, those laws have been weakened by additional legislation and a series of court decisions.”

DC: SHOWDOWN ON BILL. WP. “The D.C. Council on Tuesday gave final approval to legislation authorizing publicly financed campaigns, clashing with Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who vowed she wouldn’t fund the program.”

NY: CONTRIBUTION AT ISSUE. NY1. “Steve Aiello, a real estate executive at Syracuse-based COR Development, is on trial for allegedly bribing Joe Percoco, a longtime aide and confidant to Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Percoco allegedly performed favors in return.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.

->2/6/18<- political law links

JENNIFER LAWRENCE TALKS REFORM.   RS.  “Jennifer Lawrence spoke during an inaugural summit at Tulane University in New Orleans over the weekend, calling out politicians for their corruption and championing bipartisanship as a way for the American people to move forward.”

AL:  SUBPOENAS FOR RECORDS.   USN.  “Some Alabama legislators have received subpoenas for campaign finance records in what appears to be an attorney general’s review of campaign spending.”

CA:  FAILURE TO REGISTER FINE.   SFG.  “Susan Kennedy has had many titles over the years as a political heavyweight in the state — chief of staff to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, deputy chief of staff to Gov. Gray Davis and a commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission, to name a few. But one title she did not disclose has her facing a hefty fine from the state campaign finance watchdog.”

NY:  LOBBYIST TESTIFIES.   SYR.  “Two years ago, Todd Howe made $650,000 a year. Now, he’s mowing fairways at a golf course in Idaho.”

TX:  FINE FOR VIOLATION.   TT.  “State Rep. Poncho Nevárez has been slapped with a $15,000 fine for violating several campaign finance statutes in reports ranging over a period of years.”

WA:  SEATTLE MOVES.   REU.  “Seattle’s election authority said on Monday that Facebook Inc. is in violation of a city law that requires disclosure of who buys election ads, the first attempt of its kind to regulate U.S. political ads on the internet.”

WV:  MISTRIAL DECLARED.   WVG.  “A mistrial was declared in the case of coal boss James Laurita, who faced a host of charges surrounding illegal campaign contributions in U.S. District Court in Clarksburg.”

HAVE A GOOD DAY.