Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: A United States District Court judge in Georgia issued a preliminary injunction barring the incumbent Governor from spending leadership committee funds on his reelection campaign. Leadership committees are not subject to the same contribution limits as…

Latest Developments: The Federal Election Commission announced its “Lobbyist bundling disclosure threshold increases” for 2022. The updated FEC rules “require certain political committees to disclose information about lobbyists/registrants and lobbyist/registrant PACs whose bundled contributions within a covered period exceed” $20,200. The Oakland, CA Public Ethics…

Latest Developments: The White House announced the nomination of Dara Lindenbaum to the Federal Election Commission. Politico describes Lindenbaum as “a campaign finance attorney,” who “was general counsel to Stacey Abrams’ 2018 Georgia gubernatorial run and deputy general counsel for…

Latest Developments: The U.S. Senate Republican Leader filed an Amicus brief with U.S. Supreme Court in FEC v. Cruz, which seeks to strike down loan repayment restrictions in the McCain-Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. Senator McConnell’s brief urges that…

Latest Developments: The Federal Election Commission announced adjustments to campaign fine amounts. The new penalty amounts and the formulae for calculating them are published in the Federal Register The California Fair Political Practices Commission revealed the five largest donors and…

Latest Developments: The Conference Board released the results of a survey that “reveals the environment for corporate political activity shows no signs of calming in 2022.” The report cites hot-button issues, employees, and investors as factors contributing to the tumultuous…

Latest Developments: The Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council approved a pay-to-play policy order, including a draft ordinance POR 2020 #240 (page 57), which prohibits contributions to city officials “in excess of the threshold of $200.00 per year within one calendar year…

Latest Developments: The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved Ordinance 20-4404. The Chicago Tribune calls it the “biggest overhaul in 15 years.” The ordinance requires more disclosure; however, the “annual amount that vendors and lobbyists can donate to Cook County elected…

Latest Developments: The New York Joint Commission on Public Ethics ordered former Governor Cuomo to repay money he earned from a book deal. NPR explains that the Governor “promised it would have nothing to do with the ins…

Latest Developments: The United States Department of Justice announced that it is “considering changes to key regulations” with an intent to “modernize and clarify the scope and meaning of [the] Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).”While the DOJ does…