Latest Developments:
- The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued an opinion in the case of CREW v. FEC, which struck down Federal Election Commission regulations and upheld the statutory requirement that contributors of $200 or more to independent expenditure committees be disclosed. Politico explains that the court found “the FEC’s regulations on the issue are invalid because they don’t go far enough to require the disclosures Congress mandated in the Federal Election Campaign Act.” It is unclear whether Crossroads GPS, the real party in interest, will appeal.
- Voters in the City of Naples, Florida approved a measure to create an independent Commission on Ethics and Governmental Integrity in the city. Within the Commission is an Office of Ethics and Governmental Integrity headed by an Executive Director, which will have jurisdiction over lobbyist registration, reporting, and regulation, among other things. The Naples Daily News reports that the measure was approved by 62% of the voters.
- The North Dakota Supreme Court issued an opinion in Haugen, et al v. Jaeger, dropping Measure 3 from the November ballot. We previously reported that the ballot measure would have created a top-four primary, required ranked-choice voting in the general election, and empowered the State Ethics Commission to redraw legislative boundaries. The court explained that the initiative petition must contain the “measure’s full text” and the constitution prohibits “incorporating statutes by reference in a measure to amend the Constitution.”
Reminders:
Corporate Political Activities 2020 – Government Contracting During COVID-19 and More: The Pracitising Law Institute (PLI) will conduct its annual two-day conference online this year, on September 10 – 11, 2020. Check out the expanded program on government contracts with Elli Abdoli, a revamped panel on nonprofits with counsel from the Human Rights Campaign and the popular, expanded Corporate Compliance and Ethics Program. You may register here. Clients will receive emails about a workshop and discounts for the conference.
Poll Workers Needed! – The American Bar Association Standing Committee on Election Law is encouraging lawyers to step up and serve as poll workers during the upcoming November election. The ABA is partnering with the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors to create a gateway to the Secretary of States’ website, CANIVOTE.ORG. That site directs any interested individual to a site where a person can sign up to be a poll worker in his or her own state.
In Case You Missed It:
- Another FARA Prosecution: The Justice Department has charged an American “consultant” with failure to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Courthouse News Service reports that the consultant allegedly lobbied the Trump Administration to drop criminal charges in a Malaysian money-laundering case.
- Appeals Over: Sheldon Silver, former Speaker of the New York Assembly, began his six-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption this week. He was charged in 2015 and convicted in 2018. The Associated Press reminds us that he was “convicted in a scheme that involved favors and business traded between two real estate developers and a law firm. He supported legislation in Albany that benefited the developers, who then referred certain tax business to a law firm that paid him fees.”
- Personal Use Charges: A powerful North Carolina Legislator was charged with a “scheme to secretly siphon donors’ money out of his campaign account and put it to personal use,” according to the Charlotte News & Observer. The article notes that “he suddenly announced he was resigning from the state legislature, effective immediately.” He was later charged “with not filing taxes and making false statements to a bank, in relation to his campaign finance scheme.”
- Federal Plea: A Los Angeles lobbyist agreed to plead guilty in the City Hall corruption case that continues to fester. The Los Angeles Times reports that the lobbyist will admit to conspiring with an indicted Council Member to commit bribery. The lobbyist faces up to five years in federal prison and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
- Cook County Corruption: WBEZ reports that a Cook County Commissioner has been charged with extortion in a case in which the Commissioner sought to shake down constituents for campaign contributions. According to the article, the “victim paid the money after being ‘induced by the wrongful use of actual fear and threatened fear of economic harm.’”