Latest Developments:
- The Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council approved a pay-to-play policy order, including a draft ordinance POR 2020 #240 (page 57), which prohibits contributions to city officials “in excess of the threshold of $200.00 per year within one calendar year immediately preceding the date of the contract or agreement.” The measure also applies to those seeking permits and zoning changes. However, as Wicked Local points out, the actual language is still in draft form and the “law will take effect at an unspecified date in 2022.”
In Case You Missed It:
- Federal Lobbyist Diversity Questioned: According to Politico, “Members of the Congressional Black Caucus have a warning for Washington, D.C., lobbyists: Diversify your firms or you won’t have an audience with us.” The article notes that “The business community itself is pushing to diversify the ranks of people it hires to represent it in D.C., prompted by ‘clients who no longer want meetings with a bunch of old white guys,’…”
- FARA Prosecution Controversy: Politico reports that a businesswoman who pleaded guilty to a FARA violation filed an ethics complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice alleging that the DOJ was actively investigating her attorney at the time her plea was “coerced.” “She is currently set to be sentenced in April, but that could be impacted by the new complaint…” The ethics complaint “threatens to roil two major cases in the Justice Department’s high-profile effort to crack down on foreign influence in the U.S. political system.”
- What Happened to Oregon Contribution Limits?: The Eugene Weekly reminds us that “The voters of Oregon want campaign finance limits so much that 78 percent voted to amend the state Constitution last year [2020] to expressly allow them (Measure 107). So where are they?” The article blames the fact that Oregon “legislators were elected with more corporate money than in any other state in the U.S.” It notes that “As we go into the 2022 short legislative session, there are still no clear plans to limit campaign donations.”