Latest Developments:
- The Tennessee Court of Appeals at Nashville issued its decision in Tennesseans for Sensible Elections Laws v. Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance in which the court struck down a state statute that barred nonpartisan PACs from contributing to candidates during the last 10 days preceding an election. Party-controlled PACs were not subject to the restriction. The court found that the statute was “not ‘closely drawn’ to match the asserted governmental interest in preventing circumvention of the disclosure requirements (or combating political corruption.)” Thus, the statute containing a blackout period unnecessarily abridged First Amendment rights.
- The City Auditor of Portland, Oregon adopted and implemented revised lobby regulations. Among other things, the new regulations clarify that money spent on grassroots lobbying counts toward the lobby registration threshold. In addition, revised regulations regarding city officials’ reporting, which apply to lobbyist reporting as well, create a new gift exception for gifts of “cultural items.” The regulations also establish a late filing penalty of $10 per day up to $500.
- The City Commission of Tallahassee, Florida approved an update to the city’s ethics ordinance. Among other things, the ordinance restricts application of the city’s gift rules, which previously applied to all city officers and employees, to “covered individuals,” consisting of public officials, employees required to file annual financial disclosures, and procurement employees. The ordinance takes effect January 1, 2020.
- The San Francisco Ethics Commission issued draft regulations to implement the “Sunlight on Dark Money” initiative, which was approved by voters last month. The commission will consider adopting the regulations at its December meeting. Among other things, the regulations define “developer,” “discretionary review,” and “entitlement.” They also set out formatting requirements for disclaimers that list the top three contributors in campaign advertisements.
In Case You Missed It:
- Pay-to-Play Tax: A New York joint venture development project in Syracuse, New York “viewed political donations as a cost of doing business,” according to Syracuse.com. The group itemized contributions to “two governors, a mayor and a county executive” as part of the costs of proposed project on state-owned land. The revelation came as a result of a lawsuit over the project, but there “was nothing illegal about (the developer’s) campaign contributions.” The article quotes critics of New York’s campaign finance laws, who characterize the contributions “as a ‘corruption tax’ (that businesses) have to pay to get things done.”
- Not Many Foreign Agents Left on K Street in DC: The Washingtonian reports that the Muller investigation’s revival of enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) has largely stopped lobbying for foreign governments. For years, foreign regimes resorted to illegal lobbying as a more expedient method to kill unfavorable legislation rather than using traditional diplomatic channels. According to the article, “the feds didn’t do much to police this type of scheme for many years-and (lobbyists) always jumped for the cash.” But in light of increase FARA enforcement, foreign countries’ former lobbyists “aren’t willing to bend the rules anymore, and others won’t touch the job even if it’s conducted aboveboard.” According to one consultant, FARA has “‘put the fear of God’ into K Street.”
- Free Lunch after Vote: The Honolulu Civil Beat reveals that “Right after Honolulu City Council members voted on Wednesday to advance a controversial rezoning measure, they broke for lunch … paid for by a company representing the landowner.” The article notes that although at least one council member and his staff declined to participate, the company reportedly has provided holiday lunches to the council and its staff for the past five years.
- Lobbying is not just Meeting with Officials: The Los Angeles City Ethics Commission issued a report about a former deputy city planning commissioner’s activities and fined him $37,000 for failing to register as a lobbyist. The Los Angeles Times reports that the aide characterized “most of his work as ‘research oriented and administrative.’” He told the Times that “(i)t didn’t rise to my understanding of what lobbying was… ‘I don’t meet with elected officials. I don’t engage in fundraising activity.’” The Times notes that “(u)nder city rules, ‘lobbying activities’ can include research and providing advice.”
- Digital Earmarks: The President of the Ojai Unified School District Board was indicted by federal authorities as a part of scheme to funnel $1.8 million in contributions that exceeded permissible limits. The Ventura Star reports that the board President worked as an outside contractor for an online payment processing company, Applied Wallet. The payment company acted as a conduit to send excess contributions. The contributions came from George Nader, who is also under indictment; they were made “with the goal of currying favor with a foreign government.”