Latest Developments:
- The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined that it will not rehear Thompson v. Hebdon, after the request for a new hearing was withdrawn. The action leaves in place the court’s decision this summer overturning certain Alaska campaign contribution limits. The Anchorage Daily News explains that the state did not support a judge’s call for an en banc hearing to review the decision because “further legal action could result in a stricter decision that reduces the Legislature’s ability to pass new limits.”
- The Cincinnati City Council unanimously approved two ordinances – one limiting campaign contributions and another creating an ethics manager – following a corruption scandal last year. The first ordinance prohibits “the solicitation or acceptance of campaign contributions from persons having a financial interest in City business while that business is pending before Council.” The second ordinance creates “a new position of ethics and good government counselor within the Department of Law to support ethics, election, and campaign finance efforts.”
In Case You Missed It:
- Investing in Politics: CNBC reports that “Private equity and hedge funds accounted for over $625 million in political spending during the cycle leading up to the 2020 election, with the lion’s share going to campaign contributions…” According to the article, the amount “was the most this segment of the financial industry spent on lobbying and campaign contributions in a two-year campaign cycle…”
- Contributions Linked to No-Bid Contracts: According to the Denver Gazette, Colorado campaign contributors have benefited from contracts paid for with “custodial funds” controlled by constitutional officers. “A spokesperson for [the Colorado Attorney General] confirmed that $262,000 in no-bid contracts went to firms headed by a handful of attorneys who made large campaign contributions to [the Attorney General’s] campaign.” In addition, the Secretary of State “sent $2.8 million in federal emergency COVID-19 mitigation funds — “almost half of the CARES Act cash allocated to her office — to a politically well-connected, Washington D.C.-based public relations and lobbying firm to produce a set of TV ads…”
- Campaign Contribution Conviction: CNN reports that “Lev Parnas was convicted on six counts related to ‘influence buying’ campaign finance schemes… The Ukrainian businessman was also convicted for using money from Igor Fruman – who previously pleaded guilty — and a fake company to funnel hundreds of thousands in political contributions to GOP and pro-Donald Trump committees and then lying about it to the Federal Election Commission.”
- Federal Campaign Finance Indictment: The Associated Press reports that a federal grand jury indicted a Tennessee State Senator for violating campaign finance laws. The S. Department of Justice explained the Senator and an associate “conspired with others to violate federal campaign finance laws to secretly and unlawfully funnel ‘soft money’… to his authorized federal campaign committee. [The Senator] and others also caused a national political organization to make illegal, excessive contributions to [his] federal campaign committee by secretly coordinating with the organization on advertisements … and to cause false reports of contributions and expenditures to be filed with the Federal Election Commission.” The lawmaker called “the charges a ‘political witch hunt.’”