Latest Developments:
- The Federal Election Commission determined, in MUR 7523, that foreign corporations may contribute to ballot measure campaigns if not otherwise prohibited by state or local law. The facts presented to the Commission indicate that a Canadian subsidiary of an Australian mining corporation contributed to oppose a Montana ballot measure that affected permits for hard rock mines. The analysis states that federal law prohibits foreign nationals from “making a contribution or donation of money or other thing of value, or an expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement, in connection with a federal, state, or local election.” However, it points out that the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 regulates “‘only candidate elections, not referenda or other issue-based ballot measures.’” The matter, approved on a 4-2 vote, was disclosed by Axios.
- The Alaska Public Offices Commission released Advisory Opinion 21-09-CD, which asserts that because the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case (Thompson v. Hebdon) case is now final, Alaska should revive the contribution limits in place before the limits struck down by Thompson were enacted. In other words, commission staff believe the case did not result in no limits on contributions, but rather a return to the prior limits, as adjusted for inflation. The new (old) limits are “$1,500 per calendar year for individual-to-candidate and individual-to-group; and $3,000 per calendar year for non-political party group-to-candidate and non-political party group-to-non-political party group.” The commission must approve the opinion; its next meeting is on January 26, 2022.
In Case You Missed It:
- Giffords Takes Aim at NRA (and FEC): Politico reports that “the gun control advocacy group founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords, sued the National Rifle Association” accusing “the NRA of using shell companies to coordinate about $35 million of election spending illegally by running ad buys through what was actually a common vendor, in violation of FEC rules.” The case arose because the Federal Election Commission was not able to comply with a federal court order to take action on the original complaint filed with the commission. “It’s a rare instance of a defendant being authorized to pursue legal action against an alleged violator of campaign finance law directly,” which Giffords observed. A spokesperson piled onto the FEC asserting that there is a “systematic problem” of not enforcing campaign finance laws although, with a quorum, the agency has started acting on backlogged enforcements.
- “Loophole” Gifts: Following a recent report by the San Francisco Ethics Commission on city gift laws, KQED reports that San Francisco “officials got free tickets to [the] pricey Outside Lands fest through [an] ethically questionable loophole.” The festival organizer gave the tickets to the city Parks and Recreation Department, which in turn distributed them to officials; current law prohibits the organizer from gifting the tickets directly to officials.“(W)hile the practice follows the letter of the law, it most certainly flouts the spirit of the law, particularly given the sheer number of free tickets doled out. Between 2015 and 2019 — the last year the festival took place — the department distributed some 1,855 free tickets [valued at over $430,000] to public officials across the city, including department staffers and employees in other city departments.”
- Straw Donors Lining Up: Following the conviction of Lev Parnas, Open Secrets has a rundown on pending foreign national straw donor cases, noting that “other prosecutions in similar cases are just beginning.” Two groups of cases are working their way through the justice system, one involving contributions from a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire, and one involving contributions from a “Russian national” and a “Chinese national.”
- Pay-to-Play Plea: The Morristown Daily Record (New Jersey) reports that an attorney pleaded guilty to “operating a brazen pay-to-play scheme by recruiting others to donate $250,000 to political players in several counties, all in an effort to nab lucrative taxpayer-funded legal contracts” He “admitted he and ‘another attorney’ used a straw donor scheme, which are set up so individuals or companies barred from giving political contributions can do so without tipping off the authorities. Donors contribute instead and then they get reimbursed, which is illegal.”
- Electric Utility Expenditure Generates Skepticism: According to the Washington Free Beacon, a U.S. Senator asked a Virginia electric utility that serves most of the state whether it made the candidate [Terry McAuliffe] aware “of the $250,000 it spent on his behalf, and whether anything was promised in return for the spending blitz.” The action follows a report in Axios that disclosed the spending by Dominion Energy. The Free Beacon reports that “Dominion apologized after the spending effort was revealed by Axios …”