[EL] Fwd: Political Activity Law

Wed Jan 2 11:44:53 PST 2013

Lots of good stuff today at Eric Brown's Political Activity Law site.
Rick

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Political Activity Law
Date: 	Wed, 02 Jan 2013 14:07:48 +0000
From: 	Political Activity Law/Political Law/Election Law 
<eric at politicalactivitylaw.com>
To: 	hasenr at gmail.com

Political Activity Law/Political Law/Election Law

  Political Activity Law <http://politicalactivitylaw.com>
  <http://fusion.google.com/add?source=atgs&feedurl=http://feeds.feedburner.com/PoliticalActivityLaw>

	Link to Political Activity Law/Political Law/Election Law 
<http://politicalactivitylaw.com>

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good morning, here are today’s political law links (1/2/13) 
<http://politicalactivitylaw.com/2013/01/02/good-morning-here-are-todays-political-law-links-1213/> 

Posted: 02 Jan 2013 03:30 AM PST

*GOOD MORNING AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! *I hope you had a great holiday season 
and got to enjoy a little break from the daily routine. Today’s set of 
links includes a number of developments from mid-December.

*POLITICALACTIVITYLAW.COM AND 2013. *This month marks the five year 
anniversary of the site. That’s 5,652 posts in 79 categories with who 
knows how may links. I switched to a weekday digest format last year, so 
the number of items I’ve linked to over the years would be tough to 
calculate. I’ve made a few tweaks over the years and some features 
didn’t pan out, but my main goal has always been to provide value for 
the political law pracittioner. No reminder is needed, but by linking to 
an item I’m not endorsing the views expressed. My main interest is 
sharing items relevant to the practice of political law. At times it may 
seem that the site is akin to a police blotter for alleged campaign 
finance and lobbying law issues. I’m most interested, however, in the 
linked items’ relevance to providing guidance to individuals and 
organizations engaged in political activity.

*TRANSITION FOIA. *Thanks to /Time/ 
<http://swampland.time.com/2012/12/19/the-cost-of-romneys-government-assisted-transition-8-9-million/> 
we got an interesting look at some of the details behind a presidential 
transition effort. “One of the less scintillating milestones of the 2012 
election was marked by the General Services Administration, when Mitt 
Romney became the first candidate to take advantage of the Presidential 
Transition Act of 2010.”

*TOP DOJ ITEMS FROM 12. *MainJustice 
<http://www.mainjustice.com/2012/12/30/the-top-ten-justice-department-stories-of-2012/>. 
Of note to me are items related to FCPA prosecutions and the Stevens case.

*OCE UPDATE.* CNN 
<http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/29/politics/congressional-watchdog-group-threatened/index.html>. 
“The ethics office — which gets its mandate and funding from Congress — 
must be reauthorized by this Congress, which soon adjourns, or early on 
by the new Congress.”

*NEW HOUSE TRAVEL RULES PINK SHEET. *Here 
<http://ethics.house.gov/sites/ethics.house.gov/files/Travel%20Pink%20Sheet_1.pdf>. 
For travel on or after April 13, 2013, the House Ethics Committee 
approved new guidance. /Roll Call’s/ coverage is here 
<http://www.rollcall.com/news/house_ethics_amends_private_travel_rules-220397-1.html?pos=hln>: 
“The deadline for submitting pre-travel authorization forms to the 
committee will now be 30 days prior to departure instead of two weeks. 
New certification forms will require additional information about trip 
sponsors for increased transparency. Sponsors will be responsible for 
filling out the post-travel disclosure forms that will be filed by 
traveling members and staffers. There are also more explicit definitions 
of travel-related terms in the new guidance issued by the committee.”

*COUNTRYWIDE PROBE ENDED. *Story here 
<http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2012/12/29/countrywide-loan-probe-ended-house-panel-with-action-taken/NeGvEzKcbC4FTU50K2xt3M/story.html>. 
“A House panel has ended a probe of alleged preferential lending by 
Countrywide Financial Corp. to lawmakers and aides without taking 
action, saying the ‘serious matters’ submitted for review fall outside 
its jurisdiction.” A statement and new pink sheet on the ban on using 
one’s position for personal gain is online here 
<http://ethics.house.gov/press-release/statement-chairman-and-ranking-member-committee-ethics-regarding-allegations>.

*INAUGURAL ADVISORY. *The House Ethics Committee summarized rules on 
inaugural and swearing-in activities in an updated pink sheet. House 
Ethics 
<http://ethics.house.gov/sites/ethics.house.gov/files/swearing%20in%20events%20pink%20sheet.pdf>.

*HLOGA LOBBYING RULES IN THE NEWS. *The Post 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-congress-relatives-lobby-for-bills-before-family-members/2012/12/29/a54adce2-4301-11e2-9648-a2c323a991d6_story.html>. 
Restrictions on lobbying by family members of officeholders is the topic 
of a /Post/ report. “In 2007, in the wake of the biggest lobbying 
scandal in decades, Congress limited the ability of family members to 
lobby their relatives in the House or Senate. But it declined to ban the 
practice entirely.”

*PAC REQUEST FOR U.S. SUB NOT APPROVED. *Employees of a U.S. subsidiary 
seeking to register and report as a political committee got a lump of 
coal just before Christmas. The FEC considered and failed to provide an 
affirmative response to a U.S. subsidiary’s request to establish a 
separate segregated fund. AOR 2012-37 (Yamaha Marine) 
<http://saos.nictusa.com/aodocs/AO%202012-37.pdf>. The request also 
asked a second question related to who would be eligible to be solicited 
for the committee. If dealer and service center personnel couldn’t be 
solicited, the political committee’s sources of support would be 
constrained. The answer to that question distinguished the two drafts 
put out for comment. The Commission, without providing the requestor 
with a draft indicating that their request to form a PAC might be 
declined, couldn’t approve a response, notwithstanding well-settled FEC 
precedent on the first question.

*MT MONEY IMPACT. *MJ 
<http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/montana-dark-money-jon-tester-senate-dan-cox>. 
“In the waning days of Montana’s hotly contested Senate race, a small 
outfit called Montana Hunters and Anglers, launched by liberal 
activists, tried something drastic.”

*WYDEN-MURKOWSKI CFR APPROACH. *The Post 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-federal-blueprint-for-transparent-campaign-financing/2012/12/27/b1c6287e-43eb-11e2-8061-253bccfc7532_story.html>. 
“We propose combining the best elements of the Alaska and Oregon laws to 
create a federal campaign-finance structure that is transparent and 
holds everyone immediately accountable.”

*CAMPAIGN MANAGER ALLEGATIONS. *Story here 
<http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20121228-dewhurst-aide-accused-of-theft-had-array-of-moneymaking-deals.ece>. 
“Prosecutors confirmed an investigation Friday into allegations of 
massive fraud and theft by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst’s campaign manager as 
associates of Kenneth ‘Buddy’ Barfield pointed to his penchant for big 
property deals and moneymaking ventures as possible causes for his 
downfall.”

*CONVICTION AND PLEA IN CASE. *DOJ Release 
<http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/December/12-crm-1512.html>. “A 
defendant who tried to escape fraud charges against him by exerting 
pressure on a U.S. Attorney’s spouse and candidate for office pleaded 
guilty today to obstruction of justice for perpetrating the scheme, 
Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s 
Criminal Division announced today.”

*CA: DISCLOSURE PROPOSALS. *LAT 
<http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/29/local/la-me-secret-donors-20121230>. 
“State lawmakers are moving to curb anonymous political donations in 
California after a national election in which nonprofit groups secretly 
poured hundreds of millions of dollars into campaigns.”

*DC: NEW GENERAL COUNSEL. *The Post 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/legal-briefs-new-dc-ethics-group-names-general-counsel/2012/12/28/22cca1ac-5106-11e2-950a-7863a013264b_story.html>. 
“The D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, the body 
created earlier this year as part of new ethics laws adopted in the wake 
of investigations of misconduct by city officials, has named Stacie 
Pittell to be its lead attorney.”

*HAVE A GREAT DAY.*

<http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Eff/PoliticalActivityLaw?a=2A8fvPRGmnY:DrhdnNwAVGw:yIl2AUoC8zA> 
<http://feeds.feedburner.com/%7Eff/PoliticalActivityLaw?a=2A8fvPRGmnY:DrhdnNwAVGw:qj6IDK7rITs> 

You are subscribed to email updates from Political Activity 
Law/Political Law/Election Law <http://politicalactivitylaw.com>
To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now 
<http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailunsubscribe?k=Ut2eJw5DuGLqfbCmDvbuBxq1H1g>. 
	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://webshare.law.ucla.edu/Listservs/law-election/attachments/20130102/4322cc09/attachment.html>