Latest Developments:
- The Ohio Secretary of State’s Office issued a revised campaign contribution limit chart for the period from February 25, 2021 to February 24, 2023. For example, the limit on contributions from a PAC to a statewide candidate, such as a candidate for Governor, increases from $13,292.35 to $13,704.41 per election.
- The United States Department of Justice announced that a former Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives “pleaded guilty … to illegally using campaign funds to pay for his personal expenses, defrauding a bank to obtain loans to purchase his home and repay his personal debts, and collecting income that he failed to report to the IRS.” According to the agency’s press release, the former member “was heavily in debt and gambled extensively at area casinos and online, and then used thousands of dollars in campaign funds to pay for various personal expenses such as dues at a local golf club, rental cars to travel to casinos, flowers for his girlfriend, gas, hotels, and restaurants.”
In Case You Missed It:
- A. Ethics Commission Whistleblower: According to the Los Angeles Times, a former employee of the city’s Ethics Commission has come forward to charge that “a member of the City Council had ‘threatened to cut the Ethics Commission’s budget if they did not give more permissive advice’ on certain gift rules.” The current Executive Director of the Commission issued a denial from the former head of the commission, who was in charge at the time the threat was allegedly made.
- Nevada Access: A group of lobbyists filed suit in federal court to obtain access to the Nevada Capitol Building. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the lawsuit asserts “that emergency directives restricting access to lawmakers ‘plainly violate’ constitutional rights to free speech and to petition the government.”
- Something Fishy in Wisconsin: The New York Times reports that a man dubbed Wisconsin’s “Sturgeon General” has been “accused of accepting $20,000 worth of caviar in an illegal bartering scheme.” The man, a biologist employed by the state’s Department of Natural Resources, “oversees the traditional sturgeon spearing season in Lake Winnebago and its watershed.” He allegedly “accepted at least $20,000 in jars of caviar in return for supplying to a caviar processor eggs that had been collected under the guise of research.”