Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: The District of Columbia’s Pay-to-Play Law Takes Effect November 9, 2022. The law was supposed to take effect November 2020, but it was paused for lack of funding.  The District’s Fiscal Year 2022 Budget (at page 207)…

Latest Developments:  A US Federal District Court in Illinois blocked two campaign finance reforms recently enacted in that state. The laws affected judicial elections, with one “prohibiting a judicial candidate from receiving contributions from any ‘out-of-state person’…[while…

Latest Developments: The Center for Political Accountability announced that its noted “CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability” would be expanded from “rating S&P 500 companies to evaluating the entire Russell 1000.” In effect, the expansion means…

Latest Developments: A US District Court Judge this week dismissed a Department of Justice suit accusing casino magnate Steve Wynn of being “an agent of the People’s Republic of China…[and] seek[ing] an injunction forcing him to register as…

Latest Developments: The Governor of California signed a suite of bills related to the state Political Reform Act.One of those bills, AB 1798, requiring certain disclosures on electronic advertisements, is inoperative. That bill defers to SB 1360, which “[r]evises…

Latest Developments: The Governor of California signed AB 1783, which, among other things, amends the Political Reform Act of 1974 to expand the definition of lobbyist “administrative action.” According to the legislative summary, while “[e]xisting law requires the…

Latest Developments: The United States Senate defeated S 443, otherwise known as the so-called “DISCLOSE Act” on a 49-49 party-line vote. The Act would have “provide[d] for additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, Super PACs and other…

Latest Developments: The United States Department of Justice indicted a Hawaii businessman developer as well the Maui County official he allegedly bribed with over $2 million in exchange for favoritism with government contracts. The DOJ contends that the…

Latest Developments: A US Federal District court convicted former Atlanta city official Mitzi Bickers in the latest development of a pay-to-play scandal which also ensnarled two city contractors and the former mayor. The DOJ alleged that “Bickers…

Latest Developments: The Attorney General of the United States released a memorandum concerning new restrictions on political activities of non-career department employees. The memo provides these employees with new admonishments, cautioning that they “may not participate in any partisan…