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Essential Ethics

Essential Ethics is Nielsen Merksamer’s popular bi-weekly newsletter focused on developments in campaign finance, lobby disclosure, and government ethics laws across the nation. View our latest and archived posts below.

April 28, 2025

Latest Developments: GAO Releases Report: The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released its 18th annual review of federal lobbying; findings include that 21% of quarterly reports listed lobbyists who didn’t fully disclose their relevant…

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April 15, 2025

Latest Developments: California Attorney General Issues Warning to Businesses: In a recently-released alert about violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), California’s Attorney General reminds businesses that it is illegal to make payments to…

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April 2, 2025

Latest Developments: Executive Order on Elections Includes a Lobbying Provision: President Trump’s wide-ranging Executive Order includes a provision referencing the longstanding “Byrd Amendment.” In addition to prioritizing foreign interference in elections, the “Attorney General shall likewise…

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March 17, 2025

Latest Developments: Tennessee Republican Pardoned for Campaign Finance Violations: The New York Times reports that President Trump pardoned Brian Kelsey, an imprisoned former Tennessee state senator who was two weeks into a 21-month sentence for…

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March 7, 2025

Latest Developments: COELIG Found Constitutional: After a lower court ruled in a lawsuit brought by former Governor Andrew Cuomo that the state’s Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG) was unconstitutional because the entity violated…

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February 19, 2025

Latest Developments: Potential for Sweeping FCPA Changes: President Trump has issued an executive order pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act on the grounds that current FCPA enforcement impedes the United States’ foreign policy…

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February 7, 2025

Latest Developments: New Trump Ethics Agreement: The Trump Organization has issued a new ethics agreement that it said would govern how President Trump and his family would conduct themselves over the next four years to…

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January 7, 2025

Latest Developments: Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Draft Regulations: The Department of Justice has proposed changes to FARA regulations that may make it harder for private companies to avoid FARA registration for “commercial” activities, even…

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December 17, 2024

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…

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December 4, 2024

Latest Developments: Trump Signs Memorandum of Understanding to Assist in Transition: As reported by Politico, the Trump transition team has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Biden White House to assist in the transfer…

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