Latest Developments:
- The Oakland Ethics Commission published adjusted candidate contribution and expenditure limits for 2020. The changes increase the contribution limit for candidates who voluntarily adopt campaign expenditure limits, from $800 to $900 per election.
- The U.S. General Accounting Office provided a letter report on federal campaign finance enforcement issues to the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. The letter describes the role and responsibilities of the Federal Election Commission, the Department of Justice, and the Internal Revenue Service in ensuring compliance with federal election laws. The report explains how the compliance system works and includes recommendations for “guidance addressing coordination” between the FEC and the DOJ, but notes that the recommendations are contingent upon a quorum of the Commission being in place.
In Case You Missed It:
- Dark Money Cast the Shadow in Iowa: Vox explains the various entities behind the Iowa Caucus debacle. Shadow is the for-profit company that created the notoriously unreliable app and “drew a lot of attention.” But Shadow is owned by a Democratic nonprofit organization called Acronym. Acronym’s “umbrella” covers “multiple for-profit operations,” besides Shadow. In addition, Acronym has a PAC called “Pacronym.” According to the article, “Acronym is a dark money group. That means donations to its 501(c)(4) nonprofit don’t have to be reported, and we don’t entirely know who their money is coming from – or how much they have.” However, the article notes that FEC filings indicate that Pacronym has received large donations from wealthy individuals ranging from hedge fund/venture capitalist types to director Steven Spielberg. Yet Acronym remains somewhat of an enigma. “Part of the issue is that Acronym’s structure is complex, unusual, and opaque. Its major plank may be a nonprofit, but the entities under it are not.”
- City Contractors Paid for “Lavish” City Employees’ Party: The San Francisco Examiner reports that Lefty O’Doul’s Foundation for Kids, a charity run by Nick Bovis who was arrested along with the Director of Public Works last week, “took in thousands of dollars from city contractors and appears to have used at least some of those donations to pay for a lavish party for Public Works employees.” Emails from Bovis confirmed to the contractors that the money was for a public employees holiday party, but contractors were instructed to make checks out to the Kids charity so they could be deducted as charitable donations. Tom O’Doul, who sits on the board of the Foundation for Kids and is a cousin of legendary baseball player Lefty O’Doul, was unaware of the corporate donations or of any public employee holiday party funded by the charity. At least one of the contractors disputes the purpose of the contribution, claiming it was for a toy drive. The Examiner’s report is a reminder that any corporate charitable donation should be carefully reviewed and scrutinized.
- Colorado Lobby Regs Criticized: Complete Colorado warns that the state’s new lobby regulations imperil the ability of ordinary citizens to lobby their legislators unfettered by lobby registration. The article notes that the “previous rules explicitly excluded ‘a political committee, volunteer, lobbyist, or citizen who lobbies on his or her behalf’ from the definition of lobbying for the purposes of regulation by the SOS.” The new rules provide “no clear exemption for private citizens who contact officials about legislation outside of committee hearings.” The article criticizes the Secretary of State’s efforts to regulate “grassroots lobbying” and “volunteer lobbyists” and laments that the provisions “may put private citizens at risk of being legally sanctioned if they don’t follow the complex regulations.”