Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: The Tennessee Court of Appeals at Nashville issued its decision in Tennesseans for Sensible Elections Laws v. Tennessee Bureau of Ethics and Campaign Finance in which the court struck down a state statute that barred nonpartisan PACs…

Latest Developments: The United States Department of Justice announced indictments against eight people for “conspiring to make and conceal conduit and excessive campaign contributions.”  Politico reports that, among those indicted is George Nader, a “(l)obbyist known for Trump ties (who…

Latest Developments: The United State Supreme Court vacated the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Thompson v. Hebdon and sent the case back to the Ninth Circuit for reconsideration.  The Court’s per curium decision expressed concern that Alaska’s contribution limit…

Latest Developments: The Oregon Supreme Court heard arguments this week on whether to overturn a 1997 ruling that prohibits campaign contribution limits in the state.  Oregon Public Broadcasting reports that the case arises as a result of a $500…

Latest Developments: The House Ethics Committee announced Thursday that it is suspending its investigation of Rep. Ross Spano (FL) at the Justice Department’s request. The Committee announced in September that it was “investigating the circumstances of loans to Spano’s…

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…

Latest Developments: The United States Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an individual who is associated with a nonprofit organization but was not paid, spent no money, and made no gifts to public officials in the…

Latest Developments: The 2019 CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability was published this week by the Center for Political Accountability and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.  According to the report, “(d)ata from the 2019 Index reflect large…

Latest Developments: Puerto Rico’s Department of Justice introduced its new online registration portal for lobbyists.  While the Department’s new website contains a link to the portal, The Weekly Journal reports that the Department still has some technical issues to work out. Reminder:…

Latest Developments: The Governor of California signed several campaign and election law bills this week: SB 47 requires that a petition for an initiative, referendum, or recall include the name of the committee promoting it, along with the…