Latest Developments:
- The United States Department of Justice announced that a “New Jersey woman was sentenced [this week] to two years in prison for engaging in a bribery and procurement fraud scheme while she served as a contracting officer for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).” Diane D. Sturgis was accused of having “sold out her position by receiving bribe payments in exchange for providing preferential treatment to a contracting firm that received millions of dollars in taxpayer money.” The DOJ contended that Diane D. Sturgis arranged with the firm’s owner “to fill several contracting positions in Sturgis’ office in exchange for initial payments totaling at least $330,000…[and] that the firm would nominally hire Sturgis’ relative to fill one of these positions in exchange for preferential treatment and the performance of official acts benefitting the firm.”
- The New Mexico Ethics Commission, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports, dismissed two complaints against the former state House speaker Brian Egolf related to his support for a bill that would allow civil rights violations against state government agencies. Egolf is an attorney in Santa Fe and the complaints claimed he “stood to benefit from the law because it originally included a provision guaranteeing defendants who lose their cases will have to pay the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees.” The Commission claimed that it had no jurisdiction against the claims Egolf “used his legislative office for personal gain and that he failed to discharge his legislative duties in an ethical manner,., A third charge—that Egolf failed to communicate a potential conflict of interest — is still under review by the commission’s general counsel, the panel said.”
In Case You Missed It:
- Limits off for Illinois Governor’s Race: The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Illinois Governor’s race next year will have no campaign contribution limits. Both the Governor and a challenger have contributed significant amounts to their own campaigns, amounting to enough “to lift all fundraising caps on the race.” A University of Illinois professor explained, “The caps that do exist are easy to break, and then candidates can just loan their own campaign whatever the limit is for that particular office, and they break the cap, and then they can get as much money from big donors as they want.”.
- Corporate Donations Pause, Individual Donations Surge: As multiple items in these pages covered in the past weeks, corporate PACs have widely paused or slowed candidate contributions in the wake of the January Capitol Hill riots. Now, an analysis by the Wall Street Journal of first quarter fundraising reports for US House and Senatorial committees show staggering fundraising numbers propelled by individual donors with small contributions. For example, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy reports that he “raised $27.1 million during the first quarter of 2021… the most money any Republican representative has ever raised in a quarter.” Most staggering is that “it was done almost entirely without big-business support. Only about $450,000, or less than 2%, came from corporate political-action committees.” In response, the Journal asserts that “some firms are now quietly ‘unpausing’ donations.”
- White House Welcomes (Some) Lobbyists: The Hill reports that the White house has been hiring former lobbyists to work in the administration. The article notes that “Five registered lobbyists or people who were registered within the last year were on the Biden transition team…. They all came from unions and received waivers to work in the administration. Had they come from corporate America, watchdogs say it would’ve been a different story.”