Essential Ethics

Latest Developments: Executive Order on Elections Includes a Lobbying Provision: President Trump’s wide-ranging Executive Order includes a provision referencing the longstanding “Byrd Amendment.” In addition to prioritizing foreign interference in elections, the “Attorney General shall likewise…

Latest Developments: Tennessee Republican Pardoned for Campaign Finance Violations: The New York Times reports that President Trump pardoned Brian Kelsey, an imprisoned former Tennessee state senator who was two weeks into a 21-month sentence for…

Latest Developments: COELIG Found Constitutional: After a lower court ruled in a lawsuit brought by former Governor Andrew Cuomo that the state’s Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (COELIG) was unconstitutional because the entity violated…

Latest Developments: Potential for Sweeping FCPA Changes: President Trump has issued an executive order pausing enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act on the grounds that current FCPA enforcement impedes the United States’ foreign policy…

Latest Developments: New Trump Ethics Agreement: The Trump Organization has issued a new ethics agreement that it said would govern how President Trump and his family would conduct themselves over the next four years to…

Latest Developments: Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) Draft Regulations: The Department of Justice has proposed changes to FARA regulations that may make it harder for private companies to avoid FARA registration for “commercial” activities, even…

Latest Developments: Largest-Known Campaign Finance Fine: The Court of Appeals of the State of Washington affirmed in full a 2022 trial court judgment that Meta, Facebook’s parent company, pay $24,660,000.00 in civil penalties and $10,522,159.59…

Latest Developments: Trump Signs Memorandum of Understanding to Assist in Transition: As reported by Politico, the Trump transition team has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Biden White House to assist in the transfer…

Latest Developments: Court Upholds Arizona ‘Dark Money’ Law: An appeals court in Arizona unanimously upheld Proposition 211. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club and the Center for Arizona Policy had argued that Arizona’s requirement to disclose donors…

Latest Developments: Annual Report on Private Ordering: The Center for Political Accountability, a non-profit organization promoting transparency and private ordering (self-regulation) in regard to corporate political spending, released its annual CPA-Zicklin Index. They noted a…