Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: The Supreme Court of Connecticut, in Markey et al. v. State Elections Enforcement Commission, overturned civil fines imposed on candidates who misused public campaign funds to “cast a negative light on a candidate running in…

Latest Developments: The Governor of Florida signed SB 1890, which limits contributions to ballot measure committees to $3,000 until the measure has qualified for the ballot. [The ACLU has filed suit to enjoin this provision.] Among other things, the measure also preempts…

Latest Developments: The Federal Election Commission unanimously adopted legislative recommendations that it will send to Congress for consideration. The New York Times notes that the proposal, among other things, would “ban political campaigns from guiding donors by default into recurring contributions…

Latest Developments: The Supreme Court of Montana issued a decision in COPP v. Montana Republican Party. In response to a complaint by the Montana Democratic Party, the Commissioner of Political Practices had sought campaign finance documents from the…

Latest Developments: The California Fair Political Practices Commission’s transparency portal displays a graph showing an extraordinary spike in charitable contributions made at the behest of public officials in 2020. The spike is due to contributions made at the…

Latest Developments: The Federal Election Commission met and, as part of its agenda, discussed a proposal to address so-called “Scam PACs.” According to the proposal, “These proposed changes would not label committees as scam PACs, nor would they require any…

Latest Developments: The Governor of Wyoming approved B. 148, which increases various state fees. The measure raises the lobbyist registration fee from $25 to $75 for lobbyists who receive reimbursement or compensation in excess of $500 in a reporting period….

Latest Developments: The United States Department of Justice announced that a “New Jersey woman was sentenced [this week] to two years in prison for engaging in a bribery and procurement fraud scheme while she served as a…

Latest Developments: The Federal Election Commission issued Advisory Opinion 2021-03, which permits “Members of the United State Senate and United States House of Representatives… (to) use campaign funds to pay for bona fide, legitimate, professional personal security personnel…

Latest Developments: The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reinstated a guilty verdict in United States v. Rafiekian. The defendant was accused of failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) when lobbying for Turkish…