Latest Developments:
- Largest-Known Campaign Finance Fine: The Court of Appeals of the State of Washington affirmed in full a 2022 trial court judgment that Meta, Facebook’s parent company, pay $24,660,000.00 in civil penalties and $10,522,159.59 in attorney’s fees and costs because political ads had run on Facebook without complying with commercial advertiser disclosure provisions; the fees and fines were trebled because the court found the violations were intentional. The Seattle Times reports that these fines are believed to be the largest fine imposed for campaign finance violations in U.S. history.
- No Ethics Commission Jurisdiction Over Home Rule Cities in Colorado: From Colorado Politics, a Denver district court judge has upheld a decision of the Colorado Court of Appeals that the state ethics commission lacks jurisdiction to apply state law in home rule municipalities that have created their own ethics rules.
- Torrance, CA, Adds Lobbyist Registration Requirements: The voters of the city of Torrance, California, passed Measure TC at the November 5, 2024 election, approving the proposed updates to the city charter, which includes requiring lobbyists to register and report.
- Ohio Increases Judicial Contribution Limits: The Ohio Supreme Court has increased contribution limits for judicial candidates, such that individuals may now contribute $5,000 ($9,100 for PACs) to candidates for the Supreme Court, $1,700 ($5,000 for PACs) to Court of Appeals candidates, and $800 ($5,000 for PACs) to other judicial candidates.
- Michigan Allows Childcare and Caregiving Costs as Campaign Expenses: Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has issued an interpretive statement indicating that a candidate or officeholder is allowed to use campaign funds to pay for caregiving expenses when directly related to campaign or officeholder activities.
Reminders:
- Our team gathered with government ethics professionals in Los Angeles to celebrate 50 years of the Council on Governmental Ethics Law (COGEL). Nielsen Merksamer produces a compendium of national, state, local, and Canadian campaign finance litigation for the organization’s annual conference. This year’s compendium reported on AI, dark money disclosure, foreign influence in elections, and the authority of agencies to regulate and enforce campaign finance and government ethics rules. See more at LinkedIn.com/Nielsen-Merksamer-at-COGEL
In Case You Missed It:
- North Dakota Sees Different Legislative Approaches to Ethics: From the North Dakota Monitor, the North Dakota House of Representatives voted to install new ethics rules, including allowing abstention on a vote in the face of a conflict and allowing debate on a conflict before voting, but the North Dakota Senate voted against the same rules in a divided vote.
- New Texas Ethics Rule: The Texas Ethics Commission adopted a rule that requires officials to disclose properties they hold in a blind trust if they have “actual knowledge” of the properties. If politicians own a rental property, they will also have to disclose the address and renter’s name.
- Federal Arrest of Boston City Councilor: The Boston Herald reports that Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was arrested after being federally indicted on five counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting theft concerning a program receiving federal funds.
- Orange County Seeks External Audit: The Orange County Register reports that Orange County, California, has approved the hiring of an external auditor to review possibly thousands of county contracts directed or influenced by former Supervisor Andrew Do, who pleaded guilty in federal court to a bribery charge in relation to about $10 million in federal pandemic relief money.
- Trump Ethics Pledge Still in Focus: CNN reports that although President-elect Trump has now signed an ethics pledge to guide the conduct of his team’s members throughout the transition period, the ethics pledge does not require Trump to address his own conflicts of interest.
- Apology Garners Reduced Fine: As reported by The Louisiana Illuminator, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards’ commissioner of administration faced a potential fine of $12,000 for filing campaign finance reports months late, but the fine was reduced to $3,000 because he personally apologized at the hearing.