Latest Developments:
- An Alaska superior court judge issued a ruling last week agreeing with the nonprofit group Equal Citizens that the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) “abused its discretion by not revising” its opinion letter deeming that the state’s contribution limits to independent expenditure committees are unconstitutional. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled similarly in an analogous 2016 federal case, Thompson vs. Hebdon, yet the “APOC did not revise its enforcement practices,” according to local media. These strict limits, initially passed in 1996, impose an “annual per-person $500 contribution limit to independent expenditure groups.” Equal Citizens noted that its goal “is that the Alaska case makes its way to the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify aspects of Citizens United and how limits are enforced on contributions made to political groups”.
- An administrative law judge reversed the imposition of a 2017 $465,000 fine on Jeremy Durham, a former Tennessee lawmaker, “for violating the state’s campaign finance laws hundreds of times, including spending money on sunglasses, suits and spa products. While Durham is still under federal investigation, the judge made clear “that the legislature did not ‘give the registry an unbridled right to dole out civil penalties’.” The Tennessean speculates that the ruling against the record fine “could benefit other lawmakers who use campaign money in similar manners.”
In Case You Missed It:
- They were merely freshman: In the wake of first-term Rep. Katie Hill’s abrupt resignation last week, another freshman Democrat is being probed for misbehavior, this time for alleged campaign finance violations. The Hill reports that “the House Ethics Committee announced…that it is extending a review of Rep. Lori Trahan related to how she made personal loans to her campaign during a contested primary last year.” The article notes that candidates may make unlimited contributions and loans to themselves and that the Federal Election Commission permits these loans and contributions from accounts jointly held with spouses. However, Trahan’s case has the added wrinkle of a prenuptial agreement with her husband and questions remain about how her family “moved money around” in order to finance her campaign. Additionally, “Trahan also acknowledged that her campaign made errors in personal financial disclosure statements and federal election reports, noting that she has since hired a law firm to handle all future campaign reports.”
- Testing the steel of Pittsburgh’s campaign finance regs: NPR in Pittsburgh details the legal showdown between the Pittsburgh Ethics Hearing Board and outgoing Pittsburgh City Councilor Darlene Harris over the city’s campaign finance reporting requirements. The campaign finance ordinance requires “candidates for city office…to file monthly reports for the three months prior to the primary and general elections… [which is] a more rigorous requirement than in state law.” Harris, who filed according to state requirements, did not file according the city’s reporting schedule and has not paid fines imposed on her for this failure. She contends “that the city has no authority to impose campaign-finance reporting requirements that go beyond those in state law.”
- Land of Lincoln channels Honest Abe: Under the cloud of three state legislators currently under federal investigation or indictment, Illinois politicians have released various calls for ethics reform. On Wednesday, minority Republican lawmakers introduced two bills: HB 3956, imposing a stricter revolving door policy, and HB 3958, which prohibits, under penalty of felony, certain close family members of legislators from lobbying. However, with “only three days remaining in the fall veto session, GOP lawmakers are unlikely to be able to advance their proposals before the legislature adjourns for the year.” Meanwhile, the Democratic governor and state house speaker called for further study on how to address conflict of interest issues, especially after Monday’s arrest of “State Rep. Luis Arroyo, [who was] charged Monday with attempting to bribe a state senator to get support for gambling legislation that one of the clients [of the lobbying firm he manages] wanted.”
- Countdown to collect cash in New York: The New York Post reports on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s manic fundraising pace only one year after winning a third term. The fundraising frenzy takes place as the new Public Campaign Finance Commission, which Cuomo approved, “considers limiting campaign cash from wealthy donors… from $70,000 for statewide races to $12,000 in exchange for accepting matching public funds.” Critics speculate that the increased activity “could be an attempt by Gov. Cuomo to beat the clock and raise as much as possible before lower contribution limits go into effect.”