Latest Developments:
- The Puerto Rico Department of Justice announced that it plans to launch its electronic executive lobbying registry this week, according to the Weekly Journal. The former Governor of Puerto Rico issued Executive Order 2019-031 (Spanish) in July to require creation of an executive lobby registration platform, to be operated by the Department of Justice. According to the former Governor’s July Press Release (English), “(a)ny person who is a lobbyist and carries out any lobbying activity before a government agency must register with the Lobbyists Registry.”
Reminder:
The American Conference Institute presents the National Forum on the Foreign Agents Registrations Act on September 25, 2019 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. Join Jason Kaune of Nielsen Merksamer, who is participating on a panel about “FARA Prosecutions in Practice: How Practitioners are Approaching the Toughest, Most Critical Decisions in the Wake of Recent, High Profile Cases.” Use Code S10-655-655D20.S and receive a 10% discount. To sign up, use the following link: National Forum on FARA.
The Practising Law Institute presents a one-day, focused program on Corporate Political Compliance 2019 in San Francisco, CA on October 3, 2019. Nielsen Merksamer co-chairs this program. Nielsen Merksamer clients who wish to attend in person in San Francisco should contact their political law attorney for complimentary attendance until September 30. Nielsen Merksamer clients also enjoy a 20% discount off the cost of registration for the webcast using the code NFZ9 CPL19. To sign up, use the following link: PLI One-Day Program in San Francisco.
Nielsen Merksamer presents a briefing concerning California election, government and political law on Essential Ethics: What you Need to Know for 2020, on October 11, 2019, from 10:00 to 11:30 am at the Sutter Club in Sacramento. Join us for a complimentary briefing on the key issues you need to know for the 2020 election cycle. To sign up, use the following link: Essential Ethics 2020.
In Case You Missed It:
- Pay-to-Play Restriction Remorse: According to NJ.com, “apparently many of the forces aligned with the “good guys” are finding it difficult to live by the same rules reformers imposed in the past.” Specifically, “(i)n Hoboken, the city council recently received legal advice that its pay to play laws are too strict, and that the city should adopt the less stringent state pay to play laws.”
- PAC Scam: A Maryland political consultant who “raised close to $10 million – mostly from small-dollar donors, many of them elderly — while giving out just $48,400 to politicians,” has pleaded guilty to wire fraud, according to Politico. The article describes how he operated several PACs, collected donations, and “used the money to benefit himself and his associates.”
- Lobbyists Rule!: The Associated Press reports that in less than three years, the President has “named more former lobbyists to Cabinet-level posts than his most recent predecessors did in eight.” According to the article, “the influence industry has flourished” under the current administration.
- Family Funneling: Former Kentucky Democratic Party Chair James Lundergan, was found guilty last week “of illegally funneling…more than $200,000 in corporate contributions…to his daughter’s 2014 campaign against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.” According to The Washington Post, this conviction takes place amidst ongoing ethics investigations of his daughter, Kentucky Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes, for using state voter information for partisan purposes.
- The Ghost of Tammany Hall: Recently concluded federal and state investigations found that developers with business before New York City donated a combined $125,000 to a political non-profit controlled by Mayor Bill DeBlasio. One developer even received a call from the Mayor “soon after a stop-work order had been lifted on a hotel and condominium project in Brooklyn Bridge Park,” soliciting a contribution to his political non-profit, The New York Times reports; the other developers were solicited by the Mayor’s agents. While no criminal charges were brought against the mayor for violating the State’s behested payment prohibition, the developers paid fines totaling $45,000 and the contributions remain the subject of a JCOPE investigation.
- Privacy Transparency: Politico reports that the author of a bill in California to revise online privacy laws is married to the COO of Ring.com. According to the article, “(s)tate conflict-of-interest law prohibits lawmakers from engaging in decisions in which they have a financial interest, said Adam Silver, chief counsel to Assembly legislative ethics committee. But, he said, the ‘public generally’ exception applies to cases in which an entire industry, profession or trade group would be affected by a law – rather than a small group of companies.” A spokesman for the Speaker’s office noted that “it is generally up to lawmakers to recuse themselves when appropriate.”
- Illegal Lobbying, Chicago Style: The Chicago Board of Ethics levied a $25,000 fine against a “consultant” who engaged in lobby activities and failed to register, according to the Chicago Tribune. The article notes that a 2-year FBI investigation showed that the consultant offered Viagra and prostitutes to a former alderman in the course of his lobby efforts.