Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: The United States Supreme Court denied a petition to hear an appeal from the Ninth Circuit decision in Lair v. Mangan, a case that raised two issues:  (1) whether Montana’s base candidate contribution limits on individual and political…

Latest Developments: The United States District Court for the District of Maryland, in Washington Post v. McManus, found that the state’s Online Electioneering Transparency and Accountability Act, which was intended to curb foreign online/social media activity in domestic…

Latest Developments: President Trump signed the JACK Act (“Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act of 2018”; 2896).  That measure requires federal lobbyists to disclose convictions for certain financial crimes on their lobbyist registration and quarterly reports.  Bloomberg has a…

Latest Developments: The U.S. Congress passed the JACK Act (“Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act of 2018”; 2896).  That measure would require federal lobbyists to disclose convictions for certain financial crimes on their lobbyist registration and quarterly…

Latest Developments: The Federal Election Commission met on December 13.  The agenda included a discussion of an opinion, as requested by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), on whether a Member of Congress may use campaign money to pay for…

Latest Developments: The Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland signed Ordinance 18-0230 on December 3, 2018.  That measure will require semi-annual lobbyist activity reporting on July 31 and January 31, in place of the annual reports previously required.  The ordinance…

Latest Developments: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Thompson v. Hebdon, in which three individuals and the Republican Party challenged Alaska’s campaign contribution limits. The court upheld the challenged state limits on contributions…

Latest Developments: The Washington, D.C. City Council’s budget trailer measure, Act 22-422, includes the “Board of Ethics and Government Accountability Amendment Act of 2018 (Title I, Subtitle I of the Act).  That act, among other things, switches the…

Latest Developments: Election Day Results: Several States provided voters with the opportunity on Election Day to vote on ballot measures that covered, gifts, campaign contributions, redistricting commissions, public officials’ conduct, and lobbyist activity.  NPR has a discussion of the…

Latest Developments: A United States District Court in Illinois issued an opinion in Proft and Liberty Principles PAC v. Madigan. Under Illinois law certain events result in the lifting of limits on contributions to candidates.  However, the…