Latest Developments:
- The Federal Lobbyist Registration threshold has increased from $13,000 in activity per quarter to $14,000 per quarter. The increase is effective for activity from January 1, 2021. As the Senate’s website explains, “An organization employing in-house lobbyists whose total expenses in connection with lobbying activities do not exceed and are not expected to exceed $14,000 in the quarterly period during which the registration would be made is not required to be registered.”
- The departure of former longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in the wake of ethics scandals has prompted bipartisan proposals for wholesale ethics reforms in the Illinois General Assembly. Local Springfield Media reports that former Speaker Madigan delayed ethics reforms for over a decade, but that the proliferation of ethics scandals during those years have heighted urgency and now “[b]oth Democrats and Republicans expect ethics reform to pass during this spring session, whether that is individual bills or a large reform package.”
- Evolving Criteria for Canceling PAC Contributions: Bloomberg reports on how, in light of recent election related violence, many corporations are considering revising their PAC contribution standards, including soliciting input from employees and shareholders. Corporate PACs often reevaluate “giving criteria and respond to current events or controversial statements made by a candidate, but the scale and scope of the public reckoning is new These corporate PACs must figure out if they are “really going to shut down giving to somebody in a key position, who maybe has been the biggest champion for [their] cause on Capitol Hill because of one vote that had nothing to do with [their] cause.” Reuters is also covering this phenomenon and the Conference Board earlier surveyed companies who suspended donations after the Capitol Riots.
In Case You Missed It:
- Nepotism & Behested Payments: The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports that the South Carolina Ethics Commission found that a county prosecutor violated the state’s ethics act when she hired her boyfriend as an assistant prosecutor. The article notes that the commission also concluded that an “organization that lobbies the Legislature may recognize a legislator by making a charitable contribution in the legislator’s name to a local homeless shelter in excess of the $25 limit on gifts in the Ethics Act.” Although no limit is imposed on the behested payments, they must still be included on the lobbyist’s disclosure report.
- All in the Family: Father-son developers in Broward County, Florida find themselves in jail for a bribery scandal called one of the most notorious in the county’s history. The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports that “each [was] charged with six counts of extortion, two counts of racketeering and one count of organized fraud.” The developers had had a history of bribes “that led to a corruption scandal that saw a county commissioner imprisoned and political careers from School Board to City Hall maimed or destroyed… Prosecutors say they carried out a plan to ruin the current owner [of a property associated with the previous scandal] unless they were paid more than $3 million.”
- The Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance issued Advisory Opinion 21-02 permitting Constitutional Officers and Legislators to use campaign funds to purchase “bullet-proof vests/body armor, pepper spray, and gas masks for themselves and/or their staff members.” The opinion holds that “In light of recent events in our nation’s capital, it is reasonable for c:andidates and their staff members to be concerned about their personal security…” The opinion allows the use of campaign funds “provided the expenditures are not primarily for the candidate’s or any other person’s personal use.” Note that the Federal Election Commission has a similar issue pending before it regarding use of campaign funds for personal security, Advisory Opinion Request 2021-03.
- More Pleas in SF Corruption: The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the former Director of Neighborhood Services has “agreed to plead guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and will cooperate with the continuing federal investigation into City Hall corruption.” She was the girlfriend of the Public Works Director who is “accused of being the key player in a scheme involving contractors, department heads and nonprofit groups.”