Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: The United States Senate confirmed elections lawyer Dara Lindenbaum to the Federal Elections Commission with a bipartisan vote. As Roll Call reports, the Commission “in recent years had too few commissioners to conduct official business or even hold…

Latest Developments: The Supreme Court of the United States, in FEC vs Cruz, ruled in favor of Sen. Ted Cruz in a case involving post-election contributions for repayment of a loan he made to his 2018 campaign which…

Latest Developments: The Governor of New Jersey conditionally vetoed an anti-corruption bill earlier this week, contending that it might “allow those who offer, solicit or accept bribes for corrupt acts to find loopholes to evade criminal liability, which…

Latest Developments: The United States House of Representatives passed S 3059, which would “require federal judicial officers, bankruptcy judges, and magistrate judges to file periodic transaction reports disclosing certain securities transactions….Specifically, the bill requires federal judicial officers,…

Latest Developments: The United States Supreme Court has declined, without comment, to hear a challenge to Rhode Island’s campaign finance reporting requirements. The state “requires independent expenditure groups to disclose all donors giving at least $1,000 and for…

Latest Developments: The Governor of Maine signed P. 619, which permits businesses to “contribute the paid staff time of its employees and independent contractors to establish the committee and to provide fundraising and administrative services directly to…

Latest Developments: The Governor of New York signed A 9006, a budget bill that replaces New York’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics with the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government. (See Part QQ of the bill, beginning…

Latest Developments: The U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report to congressional committees regarding compliance with lobby reporting requirements. The report found that “most lobbyists provided documentation for key elements of their disclosure reports to demonstrate compliance with the Lobbying…

Latest Developments: A Federal Grand Jury in Tennessee saw top state lawmakers, including the current state-House speaker, testify this week amidst a years-long “investigation [of]…a case involving the creation of a political vendor that gave kickbacks to…

Latest Developments: The Oregon Supreme Court issued a ruling in Ofsink v. Fagan, turning down an appeal asking the “Secretary of State to withdraw her orders that disqualified their  initiative  petitions  from  appearing  on the November 2022 general…