HomeEssential Ethics / March 4th, 2022

Essential Ethics

March 4th, 2022

Latest Developments:

  • The Alaska Public Offices Commission has advised us that, “In light of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Thompson v. Hebdon, APOC staff issued a draft advisory opinion concerning contribution limits. Staff recommended that the limits in effect prior to those struck down as unconstitutional be revived and adjusted for inflation. On Monday, February 28, 2022, the Commission held a meeting to consider staff’s draft opinion and on March 3, 2022, issued its Final Order disapproving the draft opinion. Accordingly, until the Alaska State Legislature takes action on this issue, there are no longer any individual-to-candidate; individual-to-non-political party; non-political party group-to-candidate; and non-political party group-to-non-political party contributions limits for Alaska’s state and local elections.”
  • The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics posted a statement on its website saying that it “learned that it was the target of a deliberate malicious cyberattack, specifically to the web server that houses, among other systems, JCOPE’s Lobbying Application and Financial Disclosure Statement Online Filing System… Extensions will be automatically granted for any filings that were due and could not be submitted because of the outage; those extensions will be determined once the systems have been brought back online.”

In Case You Missed It:

  • No Enforcement in New York: According to New York Focus, “Thousands of political campaigns have violated campaign finance law but faced no consequences, according to the official in charge of the state Board of Elections’ enforcement arm… In all, 3,451 campaigns have violated the disclosure law,” but zero enforcement actions have been brought.
  • Contingent Fees OK if it’s not Lobbying: The Sacramento Bee describes a practice in which two consultants “were promised a $2 million bounty fee” to get state regulators to approve an insurance company acquisition deal.  Like many states, California bans contingency fee lobbying, but its lobby law only covers legislative matters, rulemaking, and ratemaking.  “Lobbyists are generally forbidden from charging success fees for their work, but the payment… was legal because the work they did doesn’t qualify as lobbying under California law.”
  • C. Lobbying Returning to NormalBloomberg Government reports that  “some lobbyists and industry associations are resuming their trek to Washington and have devised work-arounds to deal with continued restrictions on entering the Capitol complex… More than 50 different business groups plan Washington trips, with industry fly-ins beginning March 2, according to Ed Mortimer, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce vice president. He said these visits will be complemented with Zoom and Teams chats as well as traditional meetings with lawmakers when they are back in their home states.”
  • C. Lobbyists asking for Post-COVID AccessRoll Call describes an effort by the National Institute for Lobbying and Ethics to “urge Congress to… reopen (legislative buildings) to the people without appointments starting July 11, 2022… Currently, lobbyists may conduct in-person meetings on Capitol Hill, so long as a congressional aide signs them in and escorts them around the buildings.”
  • Oklahoma not OK with Out-of-State InfluenceOklahoma Watch reports that “Several Oklahoma lawmakers are looking to add hurdles for citizen-led groups to pass the type of state questions” that legalized marijuana, expanded Medicaid, and changed some felonies to misdemeanors.  Among the proposals are measures to require a majority of voters in two-thirds of Oklahoma counties to vote for some state questions to take effect statewide; mandate background checks for petition circulators; and block out-of-state donations for initiative or referendum campaigns.  The article includes an analysis of how much money in recent initiative campaigns came from out of state.
  • Activists Protest Lack of Lobbyist Gift Ban: A group of protesters disrupted a “Pennsylvania Press Club luncheon Monday in an effort to pressure (Pennsylvania) House leadership to take action on (legislation to ban gifts to lawmakers).”  The Harrisburg Patriot-News reports “Hotel security staff and others encouraged the group to leave the room, which they did.”  The article points out that the speaker is  supportive, offering “kudos” to the Governor for imposing gift rules on executive officers.  The protesters say they “don’t know the full extent of the gift culture in Harrisburg because while legislators only report receiving $40,000 a year in gifts, lobbyists report gifting legislators $1.5 million a year in gifts…”
  • Funny MoneyColorado Politics discloses that “A House staffer went into the men’s public bathroom at the north end of the (Colorado) Capitol basement and found an envelope some time overnight. Inside were checks, made out to the Senate Majority Fund, the independent expenditure committee that helps to finance Republican campaigns for the state Senate.”  The envelope, with checks allegedly “in the five figures,” is “now in the hands of Senate staff.” According to the article, “Sen. Paul Lundeen of Monument, who is in charge of the majority fund, told Colorado Politics he won’t accept those checks, given that they were left “on site.”  ‘It’s a best practice in my opinion’ not to accept contributions within the Capitol, Lundeen said.”