Latest Developments:
- The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics (NY JCOPE) met on Tuesday. Commission staff announced that the deadline to file semi-annual lobbyist employer reports is extended to July 31, as a result of changes with the lobby reporting system. The new online app for those lobbyist reports will not be available until the week of July 8, and as a result, the deadline is extended.
- For lobbyist employers who also file bimonthly lobbyist reports, the new app will prepopulate pertinent portions of the semi-annual report, saving those lobbyist employers time. However, the staff noted that in accordance with the new lobbyist regulation (§ 943.12(g)), lobbyist employers who use only in-house lobbyists do not have to file a (duplicative) semi-annual report if they file bi-monthly lobbyist reports. Only those lobbyist employers who have an outside, retained lobbyist must file the semi-annual reports.
- The Connecticut Citizens’ Ethics Advisory Board is searching for a new leader in the wake of the retirement of longtime Executive Director Carol Carson. The Connecticut Mirror reports that Carson “is credited with returning stability and credibility to the role of ethics watchdog.” She will retire August 1.
- The Governor of Nevada signed B. 557, which prohibits use of contributions to pay a candidate a salary, and prohibits the use of unspent contributions for personal use or to pay the candidate a salary.
Reminder:
- The Practising Law Institute presents U.S. Political Activities by Multinational Corporations, with panelists Mike Columbo and Evann Whitelam, moderated by Jason Kaune, all of Nielsen Merksamer, on Tuesday, July 16, at 1:00 P.M. EDT. The hour-long discussion will focus on how failure to comply with U.S. political laws – including the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the Federal Election Campaign Act, the Lobbying Disclosure Act, and others – can lead to adverse press and reputational harm, costly civil and criminal investigations, and penalties and prosecutions. The class will examine today’s political climate as it affects regulation of international political activities and political law enforcement and include an overview of applicable U.S. political laws as they relate to multinational corporations; a summary of notable investigations and enforcements; and real-world scenarios and best practices for compliance. Register Here for U.S. Political Activities by Multinational Corporations
In Case You Missed It:
- No Lobbyist/FARA Money for Joe: Joe Biden’s campaign has refunded contributions received from a lobbyist for Qatar and Morocco, according to the San Jose Mercury-News. Biden’s website contains a list of restrictions, including that his “campaign does not accept contributions from corporations or their PACs, unions, federal government contractors, national banks, those registered as federal lobbyists or under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or foreign nationals.”
- Tech PAC Dough: A group of Microsoft workers is lobbying their colleagues to stop contributing to the company PAC, according to a report from OneZero. The PAC is supported by donations from more than 4,000 of Microsoft’s 140,000 employees. The critics say “it felt duplicitous for Microsoft’s leaders to speak the language of progressive social causes… and then oversee an employee-funded PAC where roughly 50% of the money would go to conservative candidates who often oppose those same measures on a federal level.”
- Pay-to-Play with the FBI: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the son of an Oakland City Council Member was sentenced to a year in federal prison for accepting bribes from an FBI agent who posed as a developer seeking favorable treatment on contracts.
- Federal Contractor Zapped: The Federal Election Commission fined Ring Power Corporation $9,500 for making a $50,000 contribution to support Rick Scott’s Florida U.S. senatorial campaign, according to Rollcall. The contribution from a federal contractor was refunded, but the FEC persisted in imposing the fine for violating the ban on contributions from federal contractors to federal campaigns.
- Da Lawyers Weigh In: Last week we reported that the Governor of New Jersey reluctantly signed 150, which requires the disclosure of donors to 501(c)(4) organizations that engage in political spending. NorthJersey.com reports that the first lawsuit has been filed. “Americans for Prosperity, a group founded by megadonor brothers David and Charles Koch, asked a federal judge for the U.S. District Court of New Jersey to prevent New Jersey officials from enforcing the law until the suit is decided and to declare the law unconstitutional,” according to the article. Constitutional concerns have also been raised by the ACLU, the Brennan Center for Justice, and the Governor himself because the law requires nonprofit donor disclosure for organizations that speak to legislation and policy, not just elections, and its requirements are vague. Cleanup legislation to quickly fix the law was promised to secure the Governor’s signature, but has not yet been introduced.