The Birmingham News reports: A 15-year-old state law meant to discourage big­-dollar donations to judicial cam­paigns has never been enforced, and each of the three branches of government in Montgomery blames another for the failure.

The attorney general says the state court system is supposed to come up with rules for enforce­ment; the state court system says the law first needs the blessing of the U.S. Justice Department, which the AG's office has not sought; and a legislative sponsor of the law says he'd be happy to rewrite it if someone would tell him what's wrong with it.

"Only the combined forces of the three branches of government could create such a confusing situ­ation," said Mark White, a Bir­mingham lawyer who led the 1996 review of the law and found sev­eral problems that make it hard to enforce.

A federal lawsuit filed last week asks that the law be formally blocked until the Justice Depart­ment can review it, contending that, as the situation stands now, the law could be haphazardly en­forced. Read the whole story --> Alabama judicial campaigns law unenforced for 15 years | al.com

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The Birmingham News reports: A 15-year-old Alabama law that says judges should not hear cases in which one of the parties donated at least $2,000 to their campaigns has never been enforced, locked in a stalemate over whether it first needs to be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice for evidence that it would not disenfranchise minorities.

A lawsuit filed this week in Washington by an Anniston City Council member tries to settle the question, but it also raises more questions about how an act of the Alabama Legislature can essentially be ignored for so long.

The 1995 law says that a circuit judge who received at least $2,000 from one of the people involved in the case -- or $4,000 for an appellate judge -- must recuse himself in order to avoid the "appearance of impropriety."

Soon after it was passed, the Alabama attorney general's office submitted the law to the Department of Justice, which normally reviews all changes to Alabama's election laws under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. But before the Justice Department could make a decision, the attorney general at the time, Jeff Sessions, withdrew the request for review and notified Washington that the state would enforce the new law and that it didn't need preclearance from the DOJ. -- Read the whole story --> Lawsuit seeks Justice Department review of unenforced 15-year-old state law | al.com

A copy of the complaint is shown below:

Little v. King Complaint

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The Cullman Times reports: With the shadow of an election violation hanging over his campaign, Jerry Parker captured the most votes in the Republican runoff Tuesday. But in a dramatic turn moments after the totals were announced, he declined to accept the party's nomination.

Parker said he had learned from the state attorney general's office that his failure to file a portion of his campaign financing papers on time could not be overlooked or amended. ...

I told you in the beginning I was no politician. I will stand on my principles; I take full responsibility for my actions. This is my fault and my fault alone. Unlike others, I will not cost the county I love so dearly one cent by fighting a lawsuit I can’t win.

“I want to see the Republican Party get on with the business of running my party, the party of Reagan. Therefore, I cannot and will not accept the Republican Party’s nomination for associate commissioner. God bless America and God bless Cullman County,” Parker finished. -- Read the whole story --> Commission shocker » Top News » CullmanTimes.com, Cullman, Alabama

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The Atmore Advance reports: A state Republican committee will meet Wednesday to review a primary election challenge from Jeff Peacock, who lost the state Senate District 22 primary to Danny Joyner.

And according to state elections officials, there is little precedent on the issue involved in the challenge beyond what is in the state's Fair Campaign Practices Act.

Peacock, an Atmore businessman and chairman of the Escambia County Republican Party, alleges that Joyner did not file proper financial disclosure forms with the secretary of state's office. Joyner has denied the allegations. ...

According to the Fair Campaign Practices Act, the Alabama Secretary of State's office requires all candidates running for state senate to file paperwork should contributions including in-kind donations and expenditures of $10,000 or more. Peacock believes Joyner's spending exceeded that threshold, which prompted him to contest his June 1 primary loss this week, which has him losing to the Brewton businessman 4,979 to 4,761. Read the whole story --> The Atmore Advance » Peacock challenge leads to hearing

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The Tuscaloosa News reports: The Republican Party steering committee has asked Supreme Court GOP primary candidate Tracy Cary to disclose where his campaign got the money to buy a reported $650,000 in political advertising.

Cary, challenging incumbent Justice Bill Bolin, filed a campaign finance waiver with the secretary of state?s office on Monday. The waiver states that Cary had not met the minimum threshold of contributions requiring him to itemize contributions.

Bolin?s campaign said Cary bought $650,000 worth of television advertising that started airing this week.

GOP chairman Mike Hubbard said Thursday he asked Cary to disclose his funding with an amended pre-primary report. Read the whole article --> GOP wants candidate to reveal contributions? source | TuscaloosaNews.com

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TPMMuckraker reports: Five years after he was charged with conspiracy and money laundering in an alleged scheme to funnel corporate money into the 2002 Texas elections, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay may soon stand trial after a ruling by a state appeals court cleared perhaps the final remaining obstacles in the case. ...

DeLay and the two other men allegedly raised $190,000 in corporate money in Texas through a fundraising committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, and sent it the Republican National Committee, which in turn distributed the money to candidates in Texas, where corporate donations are banned.

Overturning a lower court Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled in a case brought by DeLay's two co-defendants, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, clearing the way for the case to move forward. Read the whole story --> DeLay Money Laundering Case May Finally Be Headed To Trial | TPMMuckraker

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The Talladega Daily Home reports: A city schools board member was recently indicted on charges of campaign form violations.

But several other officials, including candidates for Alabama governor and state school board members, may have made one of the same violations.

Troy "Skip" Smithwick was charged January 29 with failure to file annual campaign contribution reports and improper reporting of contributions. Both charges are Class B misdemeanors under state law.

Smithwick's attorney, Rod Giddens, has filed motions on his behalf to dismiss the claims based on "selective prosecution." Read the whole story including names of late filers --> The Daily Home - Smithwick defends allegations

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From the MapLight.org website: MAPLight.org, the award-winning nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization dedicated to illuminating the connection between money and politics, has launched a new web site which shines the light of transparency and accountability in powerful ways as never before.

The new site is being launched during Sunshine Week, a nonpartisan, national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information.

MAPLight.org users will find on the new site robust tools to

* illuminate how money aligns with votes
* reveal data on individual legislators and how much money they have received from industry and organizations
* expose specific contributions to persons, by parties, by committee, and within date ranges

and important and vital features including

* a new U.S. Congress research blog
* a powerful search engine
-- MAPLight.org: New Web Site Reveals Money and Politics Links in New Ways | MAPLight.org - Money and Politics

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GovTrack Insider reports: A long-stand­ing con­sti­tu­tion­al de­bate, dat­ing to at least the 1960s in its cur­rent form, resur­faced Tues­day af­ter­noon in the House Ju­di­cia­ry Com­mit­tee’s Sub­com­mit­tee on the Con­sti­tu­tion, Civil Rights and Civil Lib­er­ties. Do states’ rights su­per­sede the im­per­a­tive for sub­stan­tive equal pro­tec­tion under the law? Fol­low­ing the Civil Rights move­ment, it has been gen­er­al­ly ac­cept­ed that civil rights are more im­por­tant in all but con­ser­va­tive ac­tivist cir­cles. But when ap­plied to laws deny­ing the vote to ex-of­fend­ers, the issue has not been so sim­ple.

The back­drop for this de­bate was a new bill in­tro­duced by Ju­di­cia­ry Com­mit­tee Chair­man Rep. John Cony­ers, H.R. 3335: Democ­ra­cy Restora­tion Act of 2009 (“to se­cure the Fed­er­al vot­ing rights of per­sons who have been re­leased from in­car­cer­a­tion”). Since Congress is un­der­stood to have gen­er­al ju­ris­dic­tion to be able to set the guide­lines for the elec­tion of fed­er­al can­di­dates, it nat­u­ral­ly can pre­vent states from plac­ing ob­sta­cles to vot­ing de­signed to dis­en­fran­chise a par­tic­u­lar racial, eth­nic, or eco­nom­ic group.

The ef­fect of state laws deny­ing vot­ing rights to ex-felons is dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly harm­ful to African-Amer­i­cans, said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA3). Scott, a co-spon­sor of the bill, chaired the sub­com­mit­tee hear­ing (in the place of long­time New York City Rep. Jer­rold Nadler (D-NY8), who did not at­tend for rea­sons not open­ly ev­i­dent). Scott added that such ef­fects are so detri­men­tal as to ef­fec­tive­ly dis­en­fran­chise en­tire African-Amer­i­can com­mu­ni­ties. In­deed, ac­cord­ing to Scott, the amount of African-Amer­i­cans with­out the right to vote is seven times the av­er­age for Cau­casians. -- Read the whole article --> H.R. 3335 addresses one person one ... - GovTrack Insider

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Peter Overby reports on All Things Considered: A court-appointed officer in Dallas has sued national party committees, both Democratic and Republican, to recover campaign contributions from indicted financier R. Allen Stanford. The money at stake totals $1.6 million.

The officer, known as a receiver, says the money belongs to investors who were allegedly defrauded by Stanford. The disgraced financier is accused of using their money in a Ponzi scheme instead of investing it. ...

The SEC froze Stanford's assets a year ago, well before the Justice Department indicted him. The SEC also asked the federal district court in Dallas to appoint the receiver, who's responsible for recovering other money that Stanford had thrown around in his high-flying lifestyle. -- Read or listen to the whole story --> Courts Seek To Recover Stanford's Political Pledges : NPR

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The Daily Home reports: City Schools Board Member Troy ?Skip? Smithwick was indicted on two counts relating to campaign contributions by a Talladega County Grand Jury.

A spokesperson for the Talladega County Sheriff?s Department said Smithwick was charged on Friday and released on a $5,000 bond. The two charges were failure to file annual reports and improper reporting of contributions.

Both charges are Class B misdemeanors under state law.

The indictment stems from an investigation into contribution forms submitted by Smithwick during a 2008 campaign. That year, he ran in the Republican primary for the District 3 State School Board seat.

Under state law, all candidates are required to submit their annual contribution reports no later than Jan. 31 of the following year. Smithwick?s final report was dated as received Oct. 6, 2009, by the Secretary of State. -- Read the whole story --> The Daily Home - Grand jury indicts BOE member Misdemeanor charges stem from failure to file campaign forms

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The Supreme Court has overturned the prohibition on corporate money in campaigns, holding that corporations have the same First Amendment rights as people do. They did not strike down the requirement of reporting those contributions.

The opinions in the case run 176 pages. It will take a while to digest it all. In the meanwhile, the opinion is here: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf, in case you want to read it yourself.

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The Huntsville Times reports: U.S. Rep Parker Griffith neglected to mention the fine print attached to his seemingly broad offer to refund campaign contributions.

Griffith, who switched from the Democratic to the Republican party Dec. 22, initially said he'd return the campaign cash of disappointed supporters. The next day he excluded money spent on his behalf by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

But this week many supporters who asked for their money back were surprised to be turned away with a form e-mail, which says that the money given in 2008 has long since been spent. There could be no refund. - Read the whole story at --> Griffith won't return some donations - al.com

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Four bills are up for hearing today in the Alabama House Committee on Constitution and Elections:

HB 30 -- Elections, overseas absentee voting, Electronic Overseas Voting Advisory Committee, established to advise whether secure electronic means of voting available, duties of absentee election manager, overseas voter certificate required, Secretary of State to implement rules

HB 85 -- Campaign contributions, PAC to PAC transfers, prohibited, Sec. 17-5-15 am'd.

HB 129 -- Electioneering communications and paid political advertising, disclosure of source of funding required, exceptions, contributions by political committees further provided for, Secs. 17-5-2, 17-5-8, 17-5-12 am'd.; Act 2009-751, 2009 Reg. Sess. am'd.

HB 145 -- Elections, write-in candidates, registration with judge of probate or Secretary of State prior to election required, compliance with Fair Campaign Practices Act and State Ethics Law required, Sec. 17-6-28 am'd

Note -- to view the Alison system, you must be using Internet Explorer or the IE Tab add-on to Firefox.

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The Huntsville Times reports: Campaign reporting by public officials included in package

Two area Republican legislators said Wednesday they will sponsor a package of bills in the 2010 session aimed at raising the bar of transparency in state government and elections, and among public officials. ...

The bills included in the package would: ...

Ban transfers among political action committees and also among principal campaign committees.

Require campaign finance reports filed with the secretary of state to include the occupation and employer of donors giving $100 or more to a campaign.

Require last-minute campaign contributions be electronically filed with the secretary of state's office for public disclosure immediately before an election. The legislation would also require all campaign and PAC reports to be included in a searchable database available to the public via the Internet. ...

Ban candidates who fail to file campaign finance reports from seeking office again. -- Read the whole article --> Orr, Ball to sponsor reform bills - al.com

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From a press release of the Center for Governmental Studies: Loopholes, Tricks and End Runs: Evasions of Campaign Finance Laws, and a Model Law to Block Them, a new report issued today by the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS), concludes that while many campaign finance reforms have taken some of the negative influences of money out of electoral and governmental processes, they have been undermined by “loopholes” in existing laws that have allowed candidates and elected officials to raise money far in excess of existing contribution limits.

Loopholes, Tricks and End Runs describes “legal defense funds,” “charitable fundraising,” “political party fundraising,” “reimbursed travel,” “candidate-controlled ballot measure committees” and other devices that politicians use to collect large, and often undisclosed, payments from moneyed donors. The report recommends a comprehensive a model law to plug these loopholes and control the flow of money into politics.

Current campaign finance laws assume that these types of payments to candidates and elected officials are substantively different from the money politicians receive through regulated campaign committees, that they don’t unduly influence their recipients, and that they can be made in addition to the limits placed on normal campaign contributions.

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TPM Muckraker reports: A heavy-hitting group of conservative lawyers led by Ken Starr and Ed Meese is jumping to the defense of a Democratic trial lawyer and major John Edwards backer. ...

To explain: The American Civil Rights Union -- a conservative legal organization whose policy board counts Starr and Meese, and several other prominent right-wing lawyers as members -- has filed an amicus brief in a key campaign-finance case.

Pierce O'Donnell, a high-profile Los Angeles trial lawyer, is charged with reimbursing employees of his law firm for contributions to Edwards's 2004 presidential bid, in violation of campaign-finance law. A judge ruled in O'Donnell's favor this summer, finding that the law under which O'Donnell had been charged did not explicitly prohibit reimbursing donors, but the case is now on appeal.

The ACRU says its concern is simply one of proper legal procedure. In its brief, the group argues that the government tried O'Donnell under the wrong statute -- one which doesn't cover his actions -- and therefore that convicting him "would transgress the fundamental rights and liberties of American citizens, as in a rogue, authoritarian state, rather than an enlightened liberal society." -- Read the whole story --> Strange Bedfellows: To Weaken Campaign-Finance Law, Starr's Group Defends Edwards Backer | TPMMuckraker

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The Talladega Daily Home reports: [Sylacauga] City School Board member Skip Smithwick filed his final report on campaign contributions Oct. 6, after questions arose from a member of the state Board of Education.

Smithwick, a member of the City Schools BOE for nine years, ran in the Republican primary for the District 3 state school board seat in 2008. He was defeated by incumbent Stephanie Bell.

Betty Peters, the board?s District 2 representative, asked state Attorney General Troy King in August to investigate Smithwick?s campaign finance reports, according to The Dothan Eagle.

Donations totaling around $52,000 had not been reported. The previous report Smithwick had filed in May 2008 showed donations totaling approximately $253,000. -- Read the whole story --> The Daily Home

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The Gadsden Times reports: A new lawsuit relating to the 2008 Cedar Bluff municipal elections was filed Wednesday in the Circuit Court of Cherokee County.

The suit, filed by Evan Smith, is a complaint for declaratory, injunctive and other relief in regard to the fact that three of the candidates in the August 2008 election have not yet filed their financial reports (contributions and expenses) for 2008.

The Fair Campaign Practices Act (Title 17-5 of the Alabama Code) requires a candidate to file an annual report listing donors who contribute more than $100 to the candidate’s campaign, the names of persons to whom expenditures more than $100 have been made, the grand total of receipts for the campaign during the year, the grand total of expenses during the year, the amount and nature of debts and obligations owed and how they were extinguished. -- Read the full article at --> Lawsuit related to 2008 Cedar Bluff elections filed

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The Birmingham News reports: Large chunks of campaign cash contributed to Birmingham City Council candidates are untraceable because the contributing political action committees haven't filed either campaign disclosure forms or organizational papers, an apparent violation of Alabama's Fair Campaign Practices Act.

In other cases, the source of the money that fueled city races can't be determined because the cash was transferred among PACs before being given to candidates, a Birmingham News review of financial disclosure forms shows.

The biggest PAC contributor to council candidates was former Mayor Richard Arrington's JENNRO PAC, the review found. Other major contributors included bingo interests and the people and groups associated with Business Alliance for Responsible Development.

Among the PACs that contributed to council races but that did not file paperwork allowing the source of the money to be tracked was New Generation PAC.

The group is listed as having contributed $15,000 to Sheila Tyson's campaign and $6,000 to Ernestine G. Williams' campaign. That's more than half of the total Tyson raised and more than 90 percent of Williams' campaign total. -- Read the whole story --> Large chunks of Birmingham city council campaign cash untraceable - Stories from The Birmingham News - al.com

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The Dothan Eagle reports: Betty Peters believes that if you’re going to get something done, you’ve got to take it to the top.

The district 2 state school board member did just that last night, calling on Alabama Attorney General Troy King to investigate what she labeled as wrongdoing by a candidate for the district 3 state school board seat in last year’s election.

Peters said that Skip Smithwick, who ran for Stephanie Bell’s seat, has not properly filled out campaign finance reports detailing from where he received all of his campaign contributions.

According to Smithwick’s latest filing, filed in June 2008, Smithwick reported donations totalling about $235,000.

Not reported on Smithwick’s filing are donations from some political action commitees, including a $31,000 contribution from The Environmental Campaign Fund, a $15,000 contribution from the Arbor Committee , a $5,000 contribution from the Fund for Alabama’s Children and Education and a $100,000 contribution from the Real Democrat PAC. The PACs listed their donations to Smithwick as required in their filings with the Alabama Secretary of State’s office. -- Read the whole story --> State school board member calls on AG to investigate campaign finance

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The Birmingham News reports: Legislation aimed at helping soldiers overseas vote electronically in elections died Friday after the Senate added an unrelated provision to prohibit a federal campaign from giving to a state race.

Secretary of State Beth Chapman said "political games" killed the bill. ...

The House passed the military voting bill, but the Senate on April 30 added language that would prohibit a federal candidate or officeholder from transferring funds to a state campaign for office. Doing so would be a violation of the Fair Campaign Practices Act, senators wrote.

Chapman and legislators said Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, made the change to the bill. Several legislators said they thought the change was aimed at stopping U.S. Rep Artur Davis from transferring his federal campaign money to his state race for governor. -- Military voting bill dies on final night of session; Chapman says politics killed it - al.com

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The Birmingham News reports: Federal prosecutors today will ask a judge to sentence former state Sen. E.B. McClain to 17½ years in prison.

A lengthy prison sentence is warranted, prosecutors say, because McClain has a penchant for breaking the law for personal gain, a claim they plan to back up by introducing evidence of illegal conduct for which McClain has not been charged. The sentence is also needed to send a stern message that public corruption won't be tolerated, they say. ...

From 2001 to 2007, McClain routinely broke state law by taking campaign funds for personal use, according to the sentencing memo. According to prosecutors, McClain:

Either transferred or deposited directly at least $85,000 in campaign funds into his personal account, then used those funds to pay personal expenses.

Made at least 26 ATM cash withdrawals from a campaign fund totaling $8,500 and used the money at dog tracks and casinos in Alabama and Mississippi.

Used more than $14,000 in campaign funds to buy furniture and appliances and to make mortgage payments. He also made $4,400 in ATM cash withdrawals on another occasion. It's unclear what that money was used for. -- Federal prosecutors seek to sentence former state Sen. E.B. McClain to 17½ years and the Rev. Samuel Pettagrue to 14 years - Page 2 - al.com

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The TimesDaily reports: Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks said Friday that U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, of Birmingham, broke campaign finance laws for using money from congressional fundraisers for his gubernatorial bid before June 1.

June 1 is the first day candidates can legally begin raising campaign money.

Davis and Sparks have both said they running for governor in 2010.

"He has broken the law; he violated the law," Sparks said in an interview. "How can you run around having congressional fundraisers, not filing with the secretary of state and handing the money over to your campaign, and he's the guy coming out talking about ethics?"

Davis campaign spokeswoman Anna Ruth Williams said Davis stopped congressional fundraising and filed his campaign papers with the secretary of state last week as soon as he realized his campaign had passed the $25,000 spending threshold that mandates filing. -- Sparks says Davis broke finance rules | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL

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The Sunday Herald reports: THE SNP has been accused of "grave robbing" after the party put forward a "macabre" plan for fundraising at funerals. Nationalist bosses are asking grieving relatives if they can place envelopes on seats at memorial services for the purpose of raising cash for the party. Opposition parties have condemned the proposal. ...

This builds on the party's existing fundraising policy of encouraging members to leave cash to the SNP in their wills by calling on activists to leave "In memory" gifts.

One of the fundraising methods allows friends and family to celebrate "the life of a loved one" by donating money to the SNP.

However, the strategy goes further by identifying mourners at funerals as potential contributors to the Nationalist cause. The blurb states: "If you are arranging a funeral or memorial service for a loved one, you may wish to ask friends and relatives to donate to charity instead of buying flowers.

"If you wish to collect for the SNP in this way we can provide you with envelopes that can be handed out or left on seats at the service. Most funeral directors will be happy to assist with this and we can send information directly to them." -- Snp Under Fire Over Macabre Plan For Fundraising Funerals (from Sunday Herald)

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Usually, I quote a little portion of the article, but these are primarily visual, so I will just give you the links.

Visualizing Contributions to the 110th Congress — The House Edition

Visualizing Contributions to the 110th Congress—House Edition (Take 2)

Visualizing the Campaign Contributions to Senators in the 110th Congress — The TARP EDITION

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CQ Politics reports: Texas Rep. Joe L. Barton ’s campaign reported losing $703,500 in the financial markets last year.

A large chunk of those stock market losses — $196,900 — were in shares of four companies that have a stake in the bills handled by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, where Barton is the top Republican.

Barton is one of a handful of House members whose campaign accounts are heavily invested in stock and bond markets, and, like many other investors, his campaign savings took a pounding when the stock market crashed. ...

It is legal for lawmakers to invest campaign money, and House conflict-of-interest rules do not apply to campaign holdings.

But the confluence of Barton’s legislative jurisdiction and campaign assets raises questions about the propriety of the arrangement. -- Campaign of Energy Leader Lost $700,000 in Markets

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The Center for Responsive Politics announces: If you're a dataphile who hasn't been able to get enough of OpenSecrets.org, make sure your champagne glasses are full as you read on. For the first time in CRP's 26-year history as Washington's premier money-in-politics watchdog, we're making our most popular data archives fully available to the public for download -- for FREE. Starting next week, we'll be putting our vast data on campaign finance, lobbying and the personal finances of lawmakers in more hands, with the expectation that more people counting cash will lead to more people making change. We expect all sorts of mashups, maps and other cool projects to result from this new capability, which has been graciously underwritten by the Sunlight Foundation. Stay tuned for details about how to use this data, and be prepared to dive in!

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Peter Overby reports on Morning Edition: On Wednesday, the House is scheduled to take up a spending package that covers most of the government and is loaded with earmarks, special provisions targeting money for particular projects, places or companies in members' districts. At the same time, lawmakers also will consider a resolution on investigating the links between earmarks and campaign contributions.

The ethics resolution comes from Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, who has become one of the chamber's most ardent critics of earmarks. "This is not a partisan resolution because this is not a partisan issue. I would implore my colleagues not to treat it as such," he said. -- House Lawmakers Ponder Pork And Campaign Cash : NPR

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The Birmingham News reports: The Alabama House of Representatives, for the eighth consecutive year, approved legislation Thursday to ban political action committees from shuffling money to obscure the source of campaign contributions.

The House voted 98-0 for the bill banning PAC-to-PAC transfers. The bill now moves to the Alabama Senate, where many years it has died without coming up for a vote. The Senate passed a version of the ban last year, but the bills died in a conference committee. ...

McLaughlin's two-page bill would make it illegal for a political action committee to give money to another political action committee. PACs could give only to principal campaign committees. -- Alabama House again approves PAC transfer ban - al.com

Note: The bill, HB 154, may be downloaded here.

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The Fort Mills Times reports: A Kentucky Senate panel has approved a plan that would require candidates for statewide office to report campaign contributions more frequently around an election.

The proposal by Republican State Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown would require statewide candidates to file a campaign finance report with the state 60 days before general and primary elections. The proposal also would require candidates for statewide office to file electronic financial reports to the state.

Currently, candidates only have to report their financial contributions 32 and 15 days before an election. -- Fort Mill Times | FortMillTimes.com - Senate panel approves campaign finance requirement - Fort Mill, SC

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The Washington Post reports: Michael S. Steele, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee, said yesterday that there was nothing improper in a payment of more than $37,000 to his sister's company for work on his 2006 Senate campaign and that he would work with the FBI "to clear up my good name." ...

Campaign records indicate that $37,262 paid to Brown Sugar Unlimited covered catering and Web services. But it came 11 months after Turner, a pediatrician who lives in Potomac, had legally dissolved the company.

In the ABC interview, Steele said that not paying his sister for her work would have been a violation of campaign finance law. He criticized The Post for publishing a story where "there is no story" and said he provided receipts to prove the expenses were legitimate. On Friday, a spokesman for Steele provided a receipt for catering costs totaling almost $15,000 for two events, about half the total. The spokesman said they were searching for receipts to document the rest.

When asked about the timing of the payment, after Turner had dissolved the company, Steele told host George Stephanopoulos:

"That, I don't know about. What I do know about is the fact that, as she understood it, the company was still in existence. Her lawyers were telling her they were in the process of dissolving the company, so at the time when the checks were written back to her to reimburse her, she just said, 'Go ahead and write the checks to the company,' because the company had, you know, done the services that were provided." -- Steele Defends Payment to Sister - washingtonpost.com

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The Hill reports: After years of delay, the Senate moved closer to considering a measure that would require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically, an action transparency advocates hail as bringing the upper chamber into the 21st century.

Thanks to an expanded Democratic majority and signals from several Republicans that they are willing to back the legislation, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act will likely get a swift hearing and pass the chamber with more than the 60 votes required to cut off debate. -- TheHill.com - Senate bill would mandate electronic filing of reports

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The Birmingham News reports: A spending surge the week before the Nov. 4 election helped paste a $5.3 million final price tag on the Alabama Supreme Court race, making it the nation's most expensive in 2008, according to new campaign disclosures and watchdog groups.

Republican Greg Shaw, Democrat Deborah Bell Paseur and a third-party group spent nearly $850,000 during the last week of the campaign to buy airtime for ads, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

Total candidate spending was nearly $4.3 million - $2.5 million by Paseur and $1.8 million by Shaw, according to state campaign disclosures, including final accountings filed this week. Third-party groups spent at least $1 million more. ...

Shaw, Paseur and the Virginia-based Center for Individual Freedom spent about $4 million on TV ads, according to disclosure forms and the Brennan Center, which tracks the influence of politics on the judiciary. That paid for nearly 11,000 ad spots, the Brennan Center said. -- Alabama high court race again garners most expensive pricetag in U.S. - al.com

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The National Law Journal reports: Federal criminal corruption charges lodged against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich have highlighted a gray area in the state's laws: whether the state's top executive can use campaign contributions for his legal defense fees.

Illinois State Board of Elections officials say there's no state law that bars spending the funds on legal fees because it's not in a list of prohibited personal uses. Still, the board has never taken a stance on the issue and could come down on either side if a complaint were filed, said Steven Sandvoss, general counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections.

"You would have to determine whether or not this is personal or related to his serving as a public official," Sandvoss said.

The issue has cropped up in Illinois in the past and emerged as an issue in other states that have grappled with criminal wrongdoing by elected officials. New York and New Jersey have bills pending in their legislatures that would stop public officials charged with crimes from using campaign contributions for legal defense. -- Law.com - Can Blagojevich Use Campaign Contributions for His Legal Defense?

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The Mobile Press-Register reports: Two Daphne Middle School educators allege in a complaint filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission that their teachers union illegally funneled funds to a political action committee, and ultimately forced them to contribute to President-elect Barack Obama's campaign, according to the document.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a nonprofit based in Springfield, Va., that joined and filed the complaint on behalf of the educators, asked the FEC in Washington to investigate a "union scheme" that seeks to divert members' money to the National Education Association's political action committee, according to the complaint. The Right to Work Foundation provides free legal aid to employees who feel that a union violated their human or civil rights, according to the agency's Web site.

Robert Chanin, general counsel for the National Education Association in Washington, said he hasn't seen the complaint yet, but his office will represent the local and state affiliates. Generally, officials receive instruction in federal law compliance, he said. Chanin said he believes a review of the facts will prove the association followed the law, as has been the case in previous challenges. ...

Daphne Middle School Assistant Principal Jeanne Fox and eighth-grade science teacher Claire Waites allege in their complaint that after they were elected to serve as local delegates to the July National Education Association convention in Washington, they were forced to make a donation to the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education. -- Two Daphne educators say teachers union made them to contribute to Obama campaign - al.com

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New York Law Journal reports: Nora S. Anderson, 56, who is scheduled to become Manhattan surrogate on Jan. 1, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that she falsely reported $250,000 pumped into her campaign as her own money when in fact the funds came from Seth Rubenstein, the lawyer in whose office she has worked for the last nine years. (See the indictment.)

Rubenstein, 81, a well known trust and estates lawyer based in Brooklyn, likewise pleaded not guilty to the same charges of making contributions above campaign spending limits and concealing the source of the contributions. ...

Both Anderson and Rubenstein were charged in a 10-count indictment and face a maximum prison term of 1 1/3 to four years if convicted of any of the top six counts, all Class E felonies.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said the "crux of the case" is that the two sought to evade campaign spending limits that apply to Rubenstein as a contributor but not to Anderson as the candidate by making it appear that his contributions had in fact come from her. -- Law.com - Not Guilty Pleas Entered Over Judge-Elect's Campaign Contributions

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The New York Times reports: Much of the attention on the record amounts of money coursing through the presidential race this year, including in Senator Barack Obama’s announcement on Sunday of his $150 million fund-raising haul in September, has focused on the explosion of small donors.

But there has been another proliferation on the national fund-raising landscape that was not fully apparent until the latest campaign finance reports were filed last week: people who have given tens of thousands of dollars at a time to help the candidates.

Enabled by the fine print in campaign finance laws, they have written checks that far exceed normal individual contribution limits to candidates, to joint fund-raising committees that benefit the candidates as well as their respective parties.

Many of these large donors come from industries with interests in Washington. A New York Times analysis of donors who wrote checks of $25,000 or more to the candidates’ main joint fund-raising committees found, for example, the biggest portion of money for both candidates came from the securities and investments industry, including executives at various firms embroiled in the recent financial crisis like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and AIG. -- In Fine Print, a Proliferation of Large Donors

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Ellen Miller writes on the Sunlight Foundation blog: Wonder just how Wall Street has become so influential on Capitol Hill that it can command the attention of the federal government from the President on down? The answer isn’t only in how gyrations in the stock market may affect the real economy. The answer is revealed by the fact that the finance, insurance and real estate (FIRE) industries that collectively are at the center of the current crisis are the single largest sector–by far–of all the major economic and interest groupings that give campaign contributions to federal politicians.

Our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics have been keeping track since 1990, and their data tells a compelling story. What you see is a new way of actually picturing the role of FIRE in relation to all these other sectors, and also in terms of how money from FIRE has tilted to one political party and then the other. You can click on the chart, which was built using Google’s Motion Chart tool, layered on top of a simple spreadsheet, and mouse over the colored circle to drill down on the data. First, we recommend you watch this explanatory screencast by our very own Larry Makinson.

-- Finance Industry Giving Visualized

After you watch the blurry video, follow the link above to play with the chart yourself.

Hat tip to Concurring Opinions for the link (and some pretty interesting commentary).

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The Caucus blog of the New York Times reports: Looking for spare tickets to that joint concert on Oct. 16 by Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel for Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign? Beware. ...

So is it legal to resell tickets to a political fund-raiser? It depends. If the tickets on the resale sites are from individuals — as are many of the tickets on Ticketnetwork, said its chief executive, Don Vaccaro — then in most cases it should be O.K.

But Kenneth A. Gross, a campaign finance lawyer with Skadden, Arps, said it would be a problem if a corporation, like a ticket brokerage, bought the ticket, or if one of its employees bought the ticket and was reimbursed by the company or someone else. This would be an illegal corporate donation, or a donation made in the name of someone else, which is also prohibited. -- Paying Extra to See a Show

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The New York Times reports: The Republican National Committee plans to file a complaint on Monday against Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign raising questions about the legitimacy of its small contributions and donations from overseas.

Republican officials are demanding the Federal Election Commission conduct a full audit of the Obama campaign’s donations, although it appears that no action would be taken, even if the commission found merit in the complaint, until after the November election.

The Obama campaign has been powered in large part by small-dollar contributions, with donations of $200 or less accounting for more than $220 million of the record-breaking $450 million it has collected so far.

But such donations do not have to be itemized in reporting to the election commission unless the donor’s total contributions exceed $200. The lack of information on such donors has been highlighted by watchdog groups as potentially troublesome. The groups have also praised the campaign of Senator John McCain for offering on its Web site a tool that allows a search of all of its donors, including those who gave less than $200. -- G.O.P. to File Complaint Over Donations

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The Mobile Press-Register reports: Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim James has mailed out a letter encouraging "pledges" of financial support to his campaign, eight months before state law says fundraising can begin.

In a letter dated Aug. 20, the campaign says it is trying "to lay the groundwork early" for its 2010 campaign.

"We are obtaining numerous pledges of support, including financial support to build the war chest that will be needed for the 2010 election cycles," the letter says. "However, no financial 'pledge' can or will be collected or paid prior to one year from the date of the 2010 general election." -- Tim James seeks 'pledges' before start of fundraising - al.com

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AP reports: Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht, appearing before the Texas Ethics Commission, defended himself Thursday against allegations he broke campaign finance laws by accepting discounted legal fees to fight an abuse of office complaint. ...

Hecht was sanctioned in 2006 by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which alleged that he had abused his office by promoting Harriet Miers for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Legal canons bar Texas judges from endorsing candidates for public office, but Hecht was able to get the sanction reversed on appeal by arguing that Miers was not running for elective office.

In the process, Hecht racked up about $440,000 in legal fees. Hecht later told supporters that he had gotten a substantial discount on the fees from attorney Chip Babcock and his firm, Jackson Walker. But a liberal watchdog group, Texas Watch, said Hecht never properly reported a discount totaling about $100,000.

The group filed a sworn complaint, saying the failure to report the cut-rate fees as a campaign gift constitutes a violation of state campaign finance laws. Texas Watch now wants the commission to fine the Republican judge up to $300,000. -- Supreme Court justice defends self at hearing | AP Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

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A New York Times report begins: The A.F.L.-C.I.O and three other pro-labor groups will urge the Federal Election Commission on Thursday to rule that Wal-Mart acted illegally by warning many store managers and department heads that a Democratic victory in November would hurt the company by helping workers unionize.

The pro-labor groups plan to file a complaint with the commission on Thursday asserting that Wal-Mart warned so vigorously that the Democrats would enact pro-union legislation that the company had engaged in illegal express advocacy.

The pro-labor organizations — including the Change to Win Federation, American Rights at Work and WakeUpWalMart.com — argue that federal regulations make it legal for companies to engage in such political advocacy with high-level managers, but not with low-level managers like Wal-Mart’s department heads, who are often hourly employees. ...

In their complaint, the four groups cite an article in The Wall Street Journal, which said that Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, was mobilizing its store managers and department heads around the country to warn that if the Democrats win, they are likely to enact a law that makes it easier for workers to unionize Wal-Mart and other companies. -- Groups to File Complaint Against Wal-Mart

Jurist Paper Chase links to a copy of the complaint.

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TPM Election Central reports: This is interesting: A good government group is set to ask the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into the two big McCain stories of recent days -- the bundled contributions from Hess executives, and the bundling by Harry Sargeant, the guy who raised cash for McCain from a host of unlikely donors.

The request, which will be made on Monday by Campaign Money Watch, which first flagged the Hess story to us, raises at least the possibility that such a probe could be initiated during the campaign. Barring that, it could keep the stories going in the press a bit.

David Donnelly of Campaign Money Watch confirms to me that they'll make the formal request on Monday, and MoveOn also is demanding a Federal probe in an email that just went out to supporters. Donnelly says that his group's request is being triggered by McCain's letter to the donors whose contributions had been bundled by Sargeant.

Donnelly said that the letter, which advised the donors of the legal ins-and-outs of such contributions, didn't go far enough in trying to determine what had happened. -- TPM Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Group To Ask Justice Department To Probe McCain's Bundlers

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The Washington Post reports: Sen. John McCain's campaign is returning about $50,000 raised by a Florida oil executive because some of the funds were collected by a foreign national and came from donors who may not support the candidate, aides said yesterday. ...

The decision to return the money follows a report in The Washington Post that found that Harry Sargeant III submitted a bundle of checks for $2,300 and $4,600 on a single day in March, all of them from donors in Southern California who had never given before this year's campaign and did not appear to be likely candidates to contribute as much as $18,400 per household.

Although the contributions were credited to Sargeant, whose company has Defense Department contracts worth as much as $1.4 billion, the checks came from Americans of seemingly modest means.

Donors included the manager of Riverside-area Taco Bell restaurants, a couple who at one time ran a liquor store in Colton and a Whittier auto mechanic. Sargeant, who runs the International Oil Trading Co., in Boca Raton, Fla., said he asked several friends and colleagues to gather the funds for McCain. He had done the same for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) and for former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani (R) during the primaries. -- McCain Campaign Returning $50,000 From Fla. Bundler - washingtonpost.com

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A New York Times article begins: The Jordanian business partner of a prominent Florida businessman, who has raised more than $500,000 for Senator John McCain, appears to be at the center of a cluster of questionable donations to his presidential campaign.

Campaign finance records show Mr. McCain collected a little more than $50,000 in March from members of a single extended family, the Abdullahs, in California and several of their friends.

Amid a sea of contributions to the McCain campaign, the Abdullahs stand out. The checks come not from the usual exclusive coastal addresses, but from relatively hardscrabble inland towns like Downey and Colton. The donations are also startling because of their size: several donors initially wrote checks of $9,200, exceeding the $2,300 limit for an individual gift.

Making matters murkier, some couples in the family who contributed more than $9,000 to Mr. McCain also gave the maximum in December to either Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton or Rudolph W. Giuliani, or both, totaling in the case of at least one family more than $18,000. -- Family’s Donations to McCain Raise Questions

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Religion Clause reports: The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments in Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church v. Unsworth, a challenge to Montana's election campaign reporting laws. The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices had ruled that the church should have reported its support of activities in 2004 to get voters to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage. -- 9th Circuit Hears Church's Challenge To Montana Election Finance Reporting Law (The post has links to background information and the oral argument audio.)

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Dan Solove writes on Concurring Opinions: Pursuant to the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), people's campaign contributions must be accessible to the public. I've long found this to be problematic when applied to the campaign contributions of individuals. Certainly, information must be reported to the government to ensure that campaign contribution limits aren't exceeded. But I don't know why it is the public's business to know what candidates I've given money to and how much. Go to Moneyline CQ or Fundrace2008 or OpenSecrets.org and you can search for the campaign contributions of anyone. You can learn a person's address, occupation, and the amounts he/she contributed and to whom.

I find this problematic for at least two reasons.

1. I believe that the disclosure of people's campaign contributions violates the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects one's right to privacy in one's associations, and campaign contributions often reveal one's political party affiliation. ...

2.Another problem with making the data so publicly accessible is that it facilitates abuse by employers or others who might discriminate against people because of their political views. -- Concurring Opinions

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From a press release of the Reform Institute: The skyrocketing sums being injected into elections for judgeships are undermining the judiciary. This disturbing trend is exemplified by the case of Caperton et al v. Massey Energy, which the U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to review.

In keeping with its commitment to fundamental governance and election reform, the Reform Institute has joined with the Brennan Center for Justice and the Campaign Legal Center today in filing an amicus brief in support of petitioners. As the brief states, “Amici share a concern that the injection of massive sums of money into judicial campaigns by litigants and lawyers, can, in certain circumstances, threaten the integrity, impartiality, and independence of the courts, and thereby deprive litigants appearing before those courts of due process of law.”

The petitioners, led by former Solicitor General Ted Olson, argue that their Due Process rights were abridged because a West Virginia Supreme Court Justice refused to recuse himself from hearing the appeal of a $50 million jury verdict, even though the CEO of the company appealing the verdict contributed over $3 million to his campaign for the bench. The Justice, Brent Benjamin, ultimately was the deciding vote in overturning the verdict. As Mr. Olson remarked, “A line needs to be drawn somewhere to prevent a judge from hearing cases involving a person who has made massive campaign contributions to benefit the judge.”

“This case perfectly illustrates how large contributions in judicial races can distort the judicial process, providing at the very least, the appearance of corruption,” according to Cecilia Martinez, Executive Director of the Reform Institute. “When litigants feel that they are at a disadvantage in court proceedings due to contributions to the presiding judge from the opposing party, respect for the rule of law suffers.” -- Massive Money in Judicial Elections a Threat to Due Process

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Left in Alabama asks about the reported take from VP Cheney's campaign trip to Birmingham:
Does that math work for you? 100 guests times $500 each equals $50,000. They only say that "several" paid $2000 per couple for the photo op. Several is a loose term, but I don t think it stretches to the 37 to 50 couples needed to make up the difference between that $50 000 and the "$125 000 to $150 000 raised." I have another question about the amount raised. Assuming Cheney really did bring in $125,000, is that gross or net ? Because there were some expenses, you know. Did Shoal Creek Country Club donate the space and the lunch? Surely the Republican Party had to pay for that out of the receipts. What about the Alabama state trooper escorting the motorcade or the Birmingham police and Jefferson County sheriff s deputies who blocked adjoining roads What about the cost of feeding Blue Moon barbeque to the 75 people who remained on Cheney s plane while he was at the Country Club? In fact, what about the cost of flying Cheney and that huge entourage down here for a fundraiser? -- Left In Alabama:: Cheney Visit - Does This Math Work For You?

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The Hill reports: Record amounts of overseas money are flowing into the presidential campaigns, and finance experts say there is no sure way to rule out that foreigners are making illegal donations.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who spoke to an adoring crowd of 200,000 in Berlin last week, has already received twice as much money from abroad as President Bush and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) did together during the entire 2004 campaign.

While only American citizens by law may donate to the campaigns, finance experts say it would not be that difficult to circumvent the safeguards that have been put into place to prevent foreigners from giving to U.S. presidential campaigns — if they are willing to make false statements and risk legal trouble in the U.S.

“An individual can easily donate online and otherwise, and if they’re dishonest or overenthusiastic, they can lie about who they are and what their status is to make an unlawful contribution,” said Jan Baran, an elections and ethics lawyer with the firm Wiley Rein. -- TheHill.com - Overseas money flowing to presidential candidates

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The Wall Street Journal reports: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mobilizing its store managers and department supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart.

In recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized. ...

Wal-Mart may be walking a fine legal line by holding meetings with its store department heads that link politics with a strong antiunion message. Federal election rules permit companies to advocate for specific political candidates to its executives, stockholders and salaried managers, but not to hourly employees. While store managers are on salary, department supervisors are hourly workers.

However, employers have fairly broad leeway to disseminate information about candidates' voting records and positions on issues, according to Jan Baran, a Washington attorney and expert on election law. -- Wal-Mart Warns of Democratic Win - WSJ.com

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The Arizona Republic reports: The Arizona Republican Party has accused Democrat Bob Lord of violating fundraising laws in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission.

The complaint was filed last week and became public earlier this week.

Lord, an attorney, is challenging seven-term Congressman John Shadegg in Congressional District 3. Lord has raised more than $1 million, far more than any previous Shadegg opponent.

Randy Pullen, chairman of the Arizona Republicans, said in a letter to the commission that Lord apparently counted donations received after the June 30 reporting deadline as part of the funds raised by the deadline. Pullen said that violates the law. -- The rules of reporting funds at issue in Shadegg-Lord race

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The Hill reports: National Democrats are trying their luck with a series of candidate ads that inhabit a gray area of the law, and observers say the approach could be a game-changer in the continuing battle over campaign finance reform.

In recent weeks the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) has begun its 2008 ad campaign by funding issue ads that feature their candidates in Mississippi and Oregon and are coordinated with their campaigns.

However, the ads don’t expressly ask viewers to vote for those candidates, and Democrats maintain that this loophole will allow them to spend lots more money on the television spots.

Campaign finance regulations restrict the amount of money the DSCC can spend on coordinated efforts with a candidate’s campaign. But because the ads don’t ask viewers to vote for the candidates, Democrats contend that law doesn’t apply.

Republicans argue the ads are illegal — or at the very least, unethical — and have filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The ads are also being judged in the court of public opinion, and the GOP has gained some traction with a media blitz. -- TheHill.com - DSCC pushes the envelope with issue ads featuring candidates

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Marketplace, the public radio program, is running a series this week on leadership PACs: Companies and unions have used political action committees to raise money for congressional candidates for years. Thirty years ago a couple of congressmen copied the idea with a view to raising money for their parties and political allies in tough election fights — and the Leadership PAC was born.

Today, Leadership PACs are booming. Those who run them can accept bigger donations than they can to their election campaign funds. The donations typically are from lobbyists and other special interests.

Marketplace identified almost 350 political action committees run by current and former members of congress, governors and unelected candidates. These PACs raised more than $400 million since 2000, but they gave away just $150 million to federal candidates' campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission reports. -- PAC Men

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Nate writes at FiveThirtyEight.com: The latest FEC filings reveal that Hillary Clinton's campaign owed more than $25 million in debt as of June 30. The problem is not quite as bad as that initial price tag would suggest, as about $13 million of the $25 million in debt is owed to Clinton herself. Under federal finance law, Clinton will not be able to recoup more than $250,000 of that money once the convention occurs and her campaign is officially terminated.

Nevertheless, the other half of the debt -- about $12 million -- takes the form of accounts payable owed to individual vendors. A substantial amount of that ($5.3 million) is owed to Mark Penn's consulting firm, and another million-plus to other pollsters and consultants. But there are also more mundane sorts of expenses. Approximately $2.0 million is owed to event-staging companies such as caterers, equipment rental firms and lighting companies. Another $1.2 million is owed to printers, and $0.5 million to phone banking companies. Almost all of the companies in these categories are small businesses. The Clinton campaign also has about half a million dollars in unpaid phone bills owed to AT&T and Verizon, and $230,000 in uncompensated travel expenses to campaign staff.

Clinton's obligations for paying off her debt are a little murky. In theory, all of her vendors -- yes, even Mark Penn -- are required to make a good-faith effort to collect their debts because otherwise this might constitute an illegal campaign contribution. Consider the following, for instance: Verizon allows the Clinton campaign to accumulate $300,000 in cellphone expenses, but lets the campaign know that it's not going to worry about the bills being paid. This is tantamount to Verizon donating $300,000 directly to the campaign, which is illegal under campaign finance law. -- FiveThirtyEight.com: Electoral Projections Done Right

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The Mobile Press-Register reports: About a quarter of the candidates who appeared on Mobile and Baldwin county primary election ballots in June broke rules on disclosing their financial interests, according to information from the Alabama Ethics Commission and party officials.

Alabama law dictates that candidates who fail to submit that information on time be disqualified, and an incumbent on the Mobile County school board has been trying unsuccessfully to get his opponent booted from Tuesday's runoff ballot for filing the financial disclosure late.

But errors with other candidates' filings went largely unnoticed and were the result of confusing and sometimes ambiguous rules governing statement of economic interests forms, said candidates, party officials and the head of the Ethics Commission. -- Election filing rules often broken- al.com

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The New York Times reports: The presidential campaigns of Senators Barack Obama and John McCain moved Friday to disclose more information to the public about their top fund-raisers, after it was disclosed that they had been lax in identifying many of them.

Though not legally required, identifying elite fund-raisers who “bundle” millions of dollars in campaign contributions from acquaintances is a concern of watchdog groups devoted to promoting transparency and curbing the influence of money in politics.

In a bit of one-upmanship, the McCain organization issued a letter Friday to a group of campaign finance watchdogs announcing that it would begin publishing on its Web site the names of all its fund-raisers who bring in $50,000 or more, instead of the $100,000 and $250,000 thresholds it had used before.

The letter, signed by Rick Davis, the campaign’s manager, also said this list of bundlers would identify their occupations and employers, in addition to their home cities and states, which are already provided. Watchdogs say employment information is crucial to acquiring a sense of what a fund-raiser’s interests may be. -- Campaigns to Disclose More on Bundlers - NYTimes.com

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The New York Times reports: Senators Barack Obama and John McCain have long been among the most outspoken critics of the influence of money in politics.

Yet records show that in their presidential campaigns, neither has lived up to his promise to fully disclose the identities of his top money collectors who bundle millions of dollars in campaign contributions.

Since November, Mr. Obama had added just two new names to a list of 326 fund-raisers who have bundled contributions of $50,000 or more for him, despite the campaign’s taking in more than $180 million during that time. ...

It is unclear how many bundlers might be missing from Mr. McCain’s list. He has enjoyed a surge in fund-raising in recent months, after struggling much of last year, and absorbed many former fund-raisers for Mitt Romney, Rudolph W. Giuliani and other Republican rivals who were not on his initial list.

Brian Rogers, a spokesman for Mr. McCain, said on Thursday that staff members were in the process of updating their bundler list. He said he believed it was “reasonable” to expect the campaign would add to it “every couple months.” -- Candidates Are Slow to Identify ‘Bundlers’

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The Washington Post reports: In summer 2003, an Illinois state senator used a new law to collect campaign contributions six times the normal limit for his insurgent U.S. Senate race against a multimillionaire securities trader.

But last week the Supreme Court struck down that law, the Millionaire s Amendment, which helped launch the national political career of Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill. by leveling the financial playing field a bit. Writing for a 5 to 4 majority, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said the law amounted to an unprecedented penalty on candidates such as Obama s opponent who want to exercise the First Amendment right to spend their own money in a run for office.

House and Senate candidates who had counted on the same aid in taking on wealthy, self-financed opponents are now scrambling for help and advice. Six years after an overhaul of campaign finance law, they find themselves prohibited from accepting the same outsize donations that helped Obama, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman I-Conn. and others win their seats. ...

In the first round of this summer's primary for Alabama's 2nd Congressional District, state Rep. Jay Love (R) donated $500,000 to his campaign. By waiting until May 20 to cross a self-financing threshold, he left his opponents less than two weeks to collect larger-than-normal donations.

Now, because of the court's ruling, Love is free to spend unlimited amounts of his own money against state Sen. Harri Anne Smith in the July 15 GOP runoff. Smith's donors, meanwhile, must abide by campaign finance limits. -- Fundraising Ruling Prompts a Scramble - washingtonpost.com

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The local NPR station reports that Ray Bryan has sued the Republican Party to keep the Party from decertifying his primary win. The latest story in the Anniston Star is behind a subscription firewall, but the Star reported a week ago: Local attorney Ray Bryan may not become circuit judge despite having won the June GOP primary election, according to state Republican Party officials.

Alabama Republican Party Executive Director John Ross said the party's steering and candidates committee has moved to decertify Bryan, and plans to appoint a replacement, after he was late filing forms required by the state's Fair Campaign Practices Act. -- Bryan may lose judgeship over finance filings | AnnistonStar.com

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DailyKos quotes a report from Roll Call: The [National Republican Congressional] committee will need to hire an outside firm to conduct a standard audit of its books for 2007, and until that audit is complete, the NRCC will not be able to take out any bank loans to fund independent expenditure campaigns in late-breaking races ...

The ability to obtain a line of credit, while standard practice for a national party committee, could be particularly important for the NRCC this fall. The committee had $6.7 million in cash on hand as of April 30 and has 30 open seats to defend and several incumbents being threatened by the cash-flush Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. -- Daily Kos: State of the Nation

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The NY Times Caucus blog reports: A scheme by a former treasurer resulted in a loss of about $725,000 to the House Republicans’ campaign arm, according to an audit released today.

Christopher J. Ward, long a trusted financial figure in Republican circles, funneled money belonging to the National Republican Congressional Committee and covered up his scheme by faking external audit reports between 2002 and 2006.

Representative Michael K. Conaway of Texas, the new head of the N.R.C.C.’s audit committee discovered Mr. Ward’s actions in late January. After Mr. Ward repeatedly put off meetings with auditors, he admitted that no audits had been performed.

An external audit has finally been performed, by Covington & Burling with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the N.R.C.C. released a summary of the findings today. -- NRCC Lost ,000 to Former Treasurer, Audit Finds - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog

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The New York Times reports: One of Senator Barack Obama’s first acts after claiming the Democratic nomination was declaring he would not take special-interest money for his presidential bid, even going so far as to bar lobbyists from donating to the Democratic National Committee.

But there is one important area where special-interest money is flowing into the Democratic campaign effort — the millions of dollars being raised from corporations to finance the party’s convention in Denver.

Elected Democratic officials have been calling on corporations — meeting with Wall Street executives and flying to San Diego, Philadelphia and Las Vegas — to raise the $40 million the party has budgeted for the convention, in August. In return, these Democratic officials are promising corporate donors “sponsor benefits packages” that include private sessions with federal officeholders and other influential party leaders.

This search for cash comes as national party committees, like the D.N.C., are barred from soliciting or spending soft money, the unrestricted donations to political parties. But there is one major exception to these limits: the unlimited contributions from corporations and unions for the party’s convention. Even more, donations for the conventions, unlike other campaign contributions, are fully tax-deductible to corporations as a business expense. -- Candidates Forgo Soft Money; Conventions Don’t

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AP reports: The Oklahoma Legislature gave final approval on May 22 to a bill banning political contributions from lobbyists to legislators during and immediately after legislative sessions. The prohibition would apply to legislative incumbents and challengers alike.

Rep. David Dank, R-Oklahoma City, introduced the measure, H.B. 2704, which passed the House, 90-6. The Senate later approved it, 47-0. Gov. Brad Henry is expected to sign it.

This is a giant step forward for clean and open government, Dank said. It puts some important distance between giving money and passing legislation. We have succeeded in separating the lawmaking process from campaign cash.

He said it would stop the practice of lobbyists handing out $5,000 checks on Monday before action on legislation in which they are interested on Tuesday. Under the measure, lawmakers could not accept campaign cash from lobbyists or the companies or organizations they work for from the beginning of the legislative session until five days after adjournment. -- firstamendmentcenter.org: news

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The Detroit Free Press reports: Southfield lawyer Geoffrey Fieger and his law partspener Vernon (Ven) Johnson were acquitted by a federal jury in Detroit today of illegally contributing more than $100,000 to John Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign.

The defendants smiled after the verdicts were announced following 20 hours of deliberations over four days and a 20-day trial.

“I’m very pleased with the American system and the jury. I thank the jury for listening. I hope this puts an end to political prosecutions in the age of Mr. Bush,” Fieger said.

Feiger was facing a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison had he been convicted of obstruction of justice, along with certain loss of his law license. Both Feiger and Johnson would have faced a maximum of 5 years for the other charges. -- Fieger, law partner acquitted of illegal political donations

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The Washington Post reports: For weeks, Republican presidential candidate John McCain had been hammered for supporting the Air Force's February decision to award a $40 billion contract for refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman and its European partner. Democrats, labor unions and others blamed the senator for a deal they say could move tens of thousands of jobs abroad.

McCain's advisers wanted to strike back against key Democratic critics. But they did not mount an expensive advertising campaign to defend the candidate's position. They called a tax-exempt nonprofit closely aligned with the senator from Arizona, seeking information and help.

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) partnered with Northrop and one of its consultants to produce a vitriolic advertising campaign defending the tanker deal. ...

The McCain campaign said that it did not coordinate with CAGW on the group's ads about the tanker deal and that Swindle played no role in initiating the attack on Northrop's opponents. "One campaign staffer called CAGW to ask for information about what CAGW had said in the past on the issue, and was told that CAGW had a policy of not talking to the campaign. That was the end of the conversation," spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said in a statement. -- McCain Campaign Calls; A Nonprofit Steps In - washingtonpost.com

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The New York Times reports: In Republican circles, Christopher J. Ward was the go-to guy for politicians who needed help managing their campaign finances. As a staff member at the National Republican Congressional Committee and its treasurer since 2003, Mr. Ward was so valued that more than $360 million in donations to the committee passed through his hands — with few questions asked. ...

Eventually, he was named treasurer for 83 other Republican committees, including leadership political action committees for members of Congress and campaign committees for prominent Republicans. He regularly managed the finances of presidential dinner fund-raising committees, and was even a partner in a private company that advised politicians on complying with federal campaign finance laws. ...

He is now the focus of a Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry prompted by the disclosure of the National Republican Congressional Committee that hundreds of thousands of dollars was missing and presumed stolen by Mr. Ward, who was fired from the committee in January.

Investigators are examining what may have been a sophisticated embezzlement scheme involving forged audits and multiple wire transfers from political groups to Mr. Ward’s personal bank accounts. -- Awash in Contributions, Campaigns Offer Tempting Targets for Thieves - NYTimes.com

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Politico reports: The record-shattering fundraising by Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has reshaped the financing of presidential elections and generated breathless coverage and analysis of the otherwise arcane area of campaign finance.

Yet it’s had another consequence that has gone all but unnoticed. The campaign finance reports filed by Obama and Clinton have grown so massive that they’ve strained the capacity of the Federal Election Commission, good government groups, the media and even software applications to process and make sense of the data.

A milestone of sorts was reached earlier this year, when Obama, the Illinois senator whose revolutionary online fundraising has overwhelmed Clinton, filed an electronic fundraising report so large it could not be processed by popular basic spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel 2003 and Lotus 1-2-3.

Those programs can’t download data files with more than 65,536 rows or 256 columns. -- FEC, media can t handle Obama jackpot - Kenneth P. Vogel - Politico.com

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The Herald reports: A referendum on independence could lead to unfair and unbalanced campaigning by political parties if it were called by Holyrood, it has emerged.

John McCormick, the Electoral Commission s Scottish member, said yesterday that the current election law, passed in 2000, would set clear rules if Westminster calls another national referendum, including a cap on campaign finance, registration of non-party campaign organisations and a register of donors. The Electoral Commission chairman, currently Sam Younger, would be the national referendum returning officer, or he could delegate that role.

But that does not apply to the Scottish Parliament if it calls a referendum, meaning the campaign could be skewed by large amounts of money, without its source being open, allowing one side to dominate the campaign.
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With the SNP wanting a referendum in autumn 2010 and with Labour s Holyrood leader, Wendy Alexander, saying she will back one, at least in principle, the rules to ensure a fair fight are far from clear. -- Fairness Warning On Rules For Referendum from The Herald

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Crain's Detroit Business reports: High-profile lawyer Geoffrey Fieger described Wednesday how he spent part of a weekend in his firm s library doing research that convinced him that reimbursing employees and others for political donations was legal.

But Fieger, who rose to prominence representing assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, said during cross-examination by assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Helland that there was no reason to document that opinion.

"I've been practicing law for 30 years," Fieger said while on the stand a second day in his own defense at his federal campaign finance trial. "I don t write memos to myself ... about thoughts in my own mind." ...

Under questioning from defense attorney Gerry Spence, Fieger said there was no attempt to conceal the reimbursements, which he said clearly were listed in the books. He also said taxes were paid on them. -- Fieger back on the stand during his federal trial in Detroit - Crain s Detroit Business

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The Washington Post reports: As if the spring hasn t been tough enough on House Republicans, there is also the issue of bills piling up from the investigations into the alleged embezzlement scheme at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

New reports filed with the Federal Election Commission show that the NRCC spent more than $210,000 on legal and accounting bills in April. Those payouts, to the law firm Covington & Burling and the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, bring the total amount spent by the committee to $355,000 since party officials in January accused their former treasurer of cooking the NRCC s books for several years.

The cash-strapped NRCC is paying the legal-and-accounting team to scour a decade of financial records to determine how much money was allegedly diverted by Christopher J. Ward, the NRCC s former treasurer. He is under FBI investigation for possible embezzlement and bank fraud.

The $355,000 in legal and accounting fees is almost as much as the NRCC spent earlier this month in a Louisiana special election, where $436,000 went toward campaign ads in attacking Don Cazayoux D-La. , who won anyway. -- Good Money After Bad at the NRCC? - washingtonpost.com

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The Detroit News reports: The government on Monday closed its criminal case against high-profile Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger and his law partner Ven Johnson.

The United States rest, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Helland said after defense lawyers finished cross examining FBI Special Agent Jeffrey Rees, who spent four days in the witness box.

Fieger, 57, and Johnson, 46, were indicted in 2007 on conspiracy and illegal campaign contribution charges. They are accused of making $127,000 in illegal donations to the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John Edwards by reimbursing employees, employee relatives and law firm vendors. Fieger is also charged with obstruction of justice, a 10-year felony.

Defense lawyers have acknowledged the political donations were reimbursed by Fieger and his firm and the key issue is whether Fieger and Johnson knowingly broke the law.

In 15 days of testimony, defense attorneys have attempted to redirect the focus to the government s conduct, portraying Fieger as a man with a bullseye on his back because of his politics and pointing to the unusually large amount of government resources directed at a campaign finance prosecution. -- Feds rest case against Fieger

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The Birmingham News reports: A proposed ban on the shuffling of money between political action committees died on the final night of the legislative session.

The campaign finance reform measure died in conference committee despite having been the first bill passed by the House of Representatives this year.

Bill sponsor Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville, said he was frustrated with the Senate delays on the bill. ...

McLaughlin has tried for several years to get legislators to approve a ban on the convoluted transfers among committees that make it difficult to tell who is funding political campaigns. Despite his frustration, he said he will once again bring the bill next session.

McLaughlin said he had not been able to get two senators on the six-member conference committee to agree to a compromise. -- Alabama legislature kills PAC transfer ban- al.com

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Peter Overby on NPR reports on ways to pay the debt: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was some $10 million in debt at the end of March. Then she loaned her campaign $11 million. The campaign won't say what her total debt is. How might Clinton go about paying off some of the bills? -- How Will Clinton Resolve Campaign Debt? : NPR

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The Detroit Free Press reports: A paralegal testified today that the FBI agent in charge of the criminal probe against Southfield lawyer Geoffrey Fieger tried to bully her when he questioned her about contributions she made at Fieger’s behest to John Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign.

Under cross-examination by Fieger defense lawyer Gerry Spence, SueEllen Sandner said she was so disgusted with the way FBI agent Jeffrey Rees treated her, she refused Monday to meet with a federal prosecutor in advance of today's testimony if Rees would be there.

“He was fairly aggressive with me when I didn’t say the words he wanted me to say,” Sandner said of her first conversation with Rees in December 2005. He called her shortly after agents raided Fieger’s law firm looking for evidence that Fieger and law partner Vernon (Ven) Johnson recruited 64 people to contribute to Edwards’ 2004 presidential campaign and reimbursed them with law firm funds.

Defense lawyers have conceded that Fieger and Johnson reimbursed employees for contributing, but that the pair didn’t think they were breaking the law. Their lawyers have focused on federal investigative tactics. -- Paralegal: FBI agent tried to bully me in Fieger case

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The Trailhead blog at Slate.com reports: Ever since the Clinton campaign went on life support earlier this week, there’s been speculation that Barack Obama could persuade Hillary to drop out by promising to pay off her campaign debt. The Huffington Post’s Tom Edsall wrote that “it is not uncommon for winning presidential campaigns to pick up some or all of a competitor's debts and obligations, although the size of Clinton's debt and her personal loans to her campaign are unprecedented - somewhere over and above $20 million.” Meanwhile, diarists at DailyKos started hyperventilating that their Obama donations would be given to subsidize Clinton’s ailing campaign. Is their fear justified?

No it’s not. Obama can’t just “pay back” Clinton’s debt. FEC rules limit contributions from one candidate committee to another at $2000, according to FEC spokesman Bob Biersack. So even if Obama wanted to cut Hillary a $10 million check, he couldn’t. Nor could he route his money through the DNC, since national party committees can only give $5000 to a candidate committee.

What Obama can do is fundraise for her. Over the past year, Obama has established a formidable online fundraising apparatus that has raked in more than $240 million since the campaign began. If he called for supporters to chip in for Clinton, or set up a joint fundraising committee, he could probably drum up some cash. How much is unclear. -- Trailhead : Debt Relief

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The Birmingham News reports: An effort to ban shuffling money between political action committees is coming down to the final day of the legislative session.

A conference committee on Thursday debated a watered-down version of the ban originally proposed by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville.

The proposed compromise bans PAC-to-PAC transfers, but would carve out one-way street exemptions for political parties and legislative caucuses and require new filings to shed light on who s getting and giving money in Alabama politics.

PACs could give money to political parties and legislative caucuses, but the parties and caucuses could not give money to another PAC, under the compromise. PACs, political parties, legislative caucuses and "get out the vote" groups would have to file new quarterly reports listing their contributions and donations in addition to the reports they file before elections. -- Alabama Legislature s proposed PAC compromise would require new disclosure- al.com

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Why Clinton Stands to Lose Millions - US News and World Report
US News and World Report reports: Experts disagree on whether or not Clinton will actually stick in the fight until the Democratic National Convention in August. But the date looms large for another reason—at least, if she hopes to recoup any of the millions she has sunk into the campaign. Thanks to a little-known provision in 2002's McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform bill, a campaign must repay the loan to a candidate before Election Day. In this case, that's the nominating convention. After the election has passed, a bankrupt campaign is limited to gathering just $250,000 from contributors, which means that modest sum is all it can give back to a candidate. In short, Clinton stands to lose $11,150,000. "If she wants to be repaid, she'd have to move on that between now and the national convention," says former Federal Election Commission chairman Michael Toner. "Otherwise, it just becomes another contribution." The campaign, meanwhile, has other debts to consider as well. According to her latest FEC filing, the Hillary Clinton for President campaign committee owes millions to vendors, including more than $4.5 million to Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, the consulting firm of her former chief strategist Mark Penn.

That adds another wrinkle to her decision to stay in the race. Time is running out to pay off friends, allies, and vendors. Plus, by all accounts, Clinton's most ardent supporters are tapped out, either unwilling or unable by law to donate any more. If she's going to continue competing, she has to ask herself how many more millions she's willing to spend in a quest many describe as increasingly quixotic. In short, how much does she care about the money? Politics guru Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia figures not much; after all, the Clintons earned $109 million since leaving the White House. "It's like Michael Bloomberg spending a billion. Would he miss it? Is she going to miss $10 million? There's only so much you can spend yourself anyway." -- Why Clinton Stands to Lose Millions

Hat-tip to Taegan Goddard's Political Wire for the link.

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The Detroit Free Press reports: An attorney from Geoffrey Fieger’s law office, called as a prosecution witness to testify in the high profile lawyer’s federal trial for alleged illegal political fund-raising, told jurors today that he’d followed the same practices throughout his 24-year career.

“I’ve done exactly what I’ve done at the Fieger firm that’s the subject of this litigation on numerous occasions through my legal career at another firm,” Jeffrey Danzig testified on direct examination.

Fieger and partner Vernon (Ven) Johnson are charged with breaking campaign finance laws. Money was collected from employees, friends, relatives and other for the 2004 John Edwards presidential bid and the donations were then reimbursed by law firm checks.

The times he’d done the same thing while at the Lopatin-Miller law office were “too many to count,” Danzing said in later cross-examination. -- Attorney working for Fieger: I've followed the same practices for 24 years

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The Detroit News reports: A lawyer who works for indicted Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger testified Monday that Fieger s law firm reimbursed him for $8,000 in political donations he made on behalf of himself, his wife, and his two college-age children.

But attorney Paul Broschay testified he was not promised he would be reimbursed for the checks he wrote to the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John Edwards and would have donated to the Edwards campaign even if partners at the firm had not asked him to do so. He did not think he did anything illegal, Broschay told a jury in U.S. District Court.

Fieger, 57, and his law partner, Ven Johnson, 46, were indicted in 2007 on conspiracy and illegal campaign contribution charges. They are accused of making $127,000 in illegal donations to the Edwards campaign by reimbursing employees, employee relatives and law firm vendors. Fieger is also charged with obstruction of justice, a 10-year felony. Both have pleaded not guilty. -- Fieger paid for political donation, lawyer testifies

The Detroit Free Press explains how he can to testify: Paul Broschay, a former Detroit and Trenton police officer, said agents came to his home under the guise of serving a grand jury subpoena, but proceeded to play "good cop, bad cop" in hopes of getting him to say something damaging about Fieger and his law partner, Vernon (Ven) Johnson. Both men are on trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit on charges of illegally reimbursing 64 employees, friends, family members and vendors to contribute $127,000 to Edwards' ill-fated campaign.

Broschay said he tried to cooperate at first, but asked the agents to leave after his daughter, then a Michigan State University student, called home and was hysterical because agents confronted her in her apartment.

"It kinda pissed me off," said Broschay, who testified under a grant of immunity from federal prosecutors. -- Agents bullied me, Fieger lawyer says

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The Birmingham News reports: Homewood Mayor Barry McCulley apologized Monday for granting the McCain presidential campaign a reduced rental rate at Rosewood Hall for an April 21 fundraiser.

The campaign was charged $250 to rent two rooms, which have a posted rate of $1,200.

I did exceed my authority by changing the rental rate of Rosewood Hall prior to the John McCain event, McCulley said in a three-page statement. At that time, I believed that I had been given that authority. ...

McCulley reiterated that he wasn't attempting to give the McCain campaign a special deal: "My motives were simply to implement what had already been discussed, in order to create additional revenue for the city where there had been none due to rates for Monday and Tuesday nights being too high."

McCulley said he asked the McCain campaign to pay the balance of the rent.

"Short of that, I will find a way to pay the difference myself," he said. -- Homewood Mayor McCulley apologizes for reduced rental rate to McCain event- al.com

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The New York Times reports: Given Senator John McCain’s signature stance on campaign finance reform, it was not surprising that he backed legislation last year requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on corporate jets. The law, which requires campaigns to pay charter rates when using such jets rather than cheaper first-class fares, was intended to reduce the influence of lobbyists and create a level financial playing field.

But over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.

Mr. McCain’s campaign paid a total of $241,149 for the use of that plane from last August through February, records show. That amount is approximately the cost of chartering a similar jet for a month or two, according to industry estimates.

The senator was able to fly so inexpensively because the law specifically exempts aircraft owned by a candidate or his family or by a privately held company they control. The Federal Election Commission adopted rules in December to close the loophole — rules that would have required substantial payments by candidates using family-owned planes — but the agency soon lost the requisite number of commissioners needed to complete the rule making.

Because that exemption remains, Mr. McCain’s campaign was able to use his wife’s corporate plane like a charter jet while paying first-class rates, several campaign finance experts said. Several of those experts, however, added that his campaign’s actions, while keeping with the letter of law, did not reflect its spirit. -- McCain Frequently Used Wife’s Jet for Little Cost

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TalkLeft reports: Flamboyant attorney and legal analyst Geoff Fieger, perhaps best known for his defense of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, is on trial in federal court in Detroit. He and his law partner, Van Johnson, are charged with having employees at their law firm and others donate to John Edwards' presidential campaign and then reimbursing them, in violation of federal campaign laws. Fieger is also charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly concealing a memo and tampering with grand jury witnesses. -- Gerry Spence Opens for Fieger in MI Criminal Trial - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime

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The Mobile Press-Register reports: At least 86 individuals will enjoy access to Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, thanks to their pledges of $40,000 each to a Republican fundraising committee designed to gain control of the Legislature. The state GOP says it won t release their names until January, when campaign finance reports are due.

Alabama Republican Party Executive Director John Ross also said the party would not specifically identify donors to the Governor s Circle on the party s report.

Members of the Circle have pledged $10,000 a year over the next four years as part of the fundraising program called Campaign 2010. In return, the donors have been promised access to exclusive events and conference calls with Riley. ...

State law does not require the disclosure of donors until the January reports, and neither Democrats nor Republicans are known to disclose donors before legal requirements kick in. -- Donors in Riley s Circle kept under wraps- al.com

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The New York Times reports: The conservative group Freedom’s Watch, headlined by two former senior White House officials, had been expected to be a deep-pocketed juggernaut in this year’s presidential election, heralded by supporters on the right as an aggressive counterweight to MoveOn.org, George Soros and the like.

But after a splashy debut last summer, in which it spent $15 million in a nationwide advertising blitz supporting President Bush’s troop escalation in Iraq, the group has been mostly quiet, beset by internal problems that have paralyzed it and raised questions about what kind of role, if any, it will actually play this fall. ...

Independent groups not constrained by the limits placed on campaign contributions to candidates and parties have increasingly become major players in races for federal offices. Those known as 527s, named for the section in the tax code they fall under, raised more than $400 million in the 2004 election cycle alone, according to the Campaign Finance Institute. Such efforts could be especially beneficial for Mr. McCain, who has badly trailed his Democratic counterparts in fund-raising. ...

Although the organization was founded by a coterie of prominent conservative donors last year, the roughly $30 million the group has spent so far has come almost entirely from the casino mogul Sheldon G. Adelson, the chairman and chief executive of the Sands Corporation, who was recently listed as the third-richest person in the country by Forbes magazine.

Mr. Adelson has insisted on parceling out his money project by project, as opposed to setting an overall budget, limiting the group’s ability to plan and be nimble, the Republican operatives said. Mr. Adelson, who has a reputation for being combative, has rejected almost all of the staff’s proposals that have been brought to him, leaving the organization moribund for long stretches, the operatives said. -- Great Expectations for a Conservative Group Seem All but Dashed

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The New York Times reports: [Harold Ickes] is president of Catalist, a for-profit databank that has sold its voter files to the Obama and the Clinton presidential campaigns for their get-out-the-vote efforts. With his equity stake in the firm, Mr. Ickes stands to benefit financially no matter which candidate becomes the Democratic nominee.

In creating Catalist, Mr. Ickes, who was deputy chief of staff in the Clinton White House, has formed a rare entity on the political scene, a for-profit limited-liability corporation that allows wealthy Democratic donors to help progressive organizations and candidates by investing in the company. And if Catalist, which has data on 230 million Americans, is successful as a business, these donors-turned-investors stand to reap financial returns from using their money to help elect Democrats.

But some campaign finance watchdogs say they wonder whether Catalist was established not so much to make money but to find a creative way to allow big-money liberal donors to influence the election without disclosing the degree of their involvement or being subjected to other rules that would govern spending by an explicitly political organization.

Catalist has raised over $11 million in venture capital, including more than $1 million from the billionaire financier George Soros, according to his aides. It also counts on such large unions as the Service Employees International Union and the A.F.L.-C.I.O., to buy its products and create revenues. And it plans to be the go-to source for voter data for a broad swath of groups often aligned with Democrats — like the Sierra Club, Emily’s List and Clean Water Action — as they embark on ambitious get-out-the vote efforts this fall. -- Clinton Aide’s Databank Venture Breaks Ground in Politicking

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The Charleston Gazette reports: Anonymous advertising in West Virginia political campaigns would open the door for a repeat of the 2004 Supreme Court race, where voters did not learn until later who was spending millions of dollars on behalf of candidates, several lawyers told a federal judge Wednesday.

But the Center for Individual Freedom argued that West Virginia s election laws - which require the group to disclose its donors if it buys political advertising - violate its free speech rights under the First Amendment.

The Virginia-based organization asked U.S. District Judge David A. Faber to grant it an injunction allowing it to advertise in the upcoming state Supreme Court election without disclosing its spending or its donors. The state s primary election is May 13.

Last month, the center filed a lawsuit against the state s top election official, Secretary of State Betty Ireland. Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney Timothy Boggess was also NAMEd in the suit as a representative of all the state s prosecutors.

Three of the four Democratic candidates for state Supreme Court have joined in fighting the injunction, as have the West Virginia AFL-CIO, the state Education Association, the Council of Churches and other groups. -- Lawyers argue over rules for political ads

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AP reports: The Ohio Elections Commission has levied a record $5.2 million fine against a political action committee headed by former Michigan Republican Chairwoman Betsy DeVos that supports candidates who favor school choice.

All Children Matter s political action committee in Virginia sent $870,000 to its PAC in Ohio for the 2006 election cycle. The contribution was illegal because All Children Matter s Virginia PAC wasn t registered in Ohio, said Philip Richter, the commission s executive director.

Former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos, Betsy s husband, set up All Children Matter in 2003 to promote efforts in other states to push vouchers and tax credits for businesses that create scholarships for children to attend private schools. ...

The bipartisan Ohio Elections Commission voted 5-0 Thursday to fine each of the two PACs $2.6 million, or three times the amount of the contribution.

It's easily the largest fine the Ohio commission has levied.

All Children Matter attorney Bill Todd said Ohio law allows PACs affiliated with each other to make unlimited money transfers. The group will appeal the ruling in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. -- DeVos PAC fined record $5.2 million by Ohio elections board - Latest News - The Grand Rapids Press - MLive.com

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The St. Petersburg Times reports: Staff members of Tampa Bay s largest church were directed two years ago to make $500 contributions to the campaign of Gov. Charlie Crist, a television network has charged.

The church denies the allegation.

MSNBC, in a report posted on its Web site this week, said it obtained an e-mail in which a staff member of Without Walls International Church wrote to others: I need each of your checks for $500 made payable to: Charlie Crist for Governor. I need to send these our sic tonight.

Tax-exempt churches are banned by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service from supporting candidates for public office.

A roster of Crist contributors includes a $500 contribution on Feb. 2, 2006, from Marisol Mendoza, assistant to Pastor Randy White of Without Walls. Crist received simultaneous $500 contributions, the maximum allowed in Florida, from three Tampa Bay area residents whose terse descriptions of their occupations appeared to link them to Randy or Paula White, who was his wife and co-pastor then. -- Religion: Were Crist campaign donations coerced?

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AP reports: Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila indignantly denied wrongdoing Thursday and gave no sign he would abandon his re-election effort after being charged with campaign finance violations that carry a penalty of 20 years in prison.

Acevedo, a superdelegate to this summer's Democratic convention, accused U.S. prosecutors of pursuing a politically motivated indictment alleging that the governor and a dozen other people conspired to illegally pay off his campaign debts. ...

Acevedo served in Washington as the island's nonvoting delegate to Congress then was elected governor in 2004 after campaigning on an anti-corruption platform. ...

In a brief address on Puerto Rican television Thursday evening, he repeated his denials and accused U.S. authorities of distracting him from trying to revive the island's struggling economy. "They want blood not your well being," he said of federal prosecutors. The governor did not take questions.

His indictment on 19 charges, including conspiracy to violate federal campaign laws, conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and giving false testimony to the FBI, made him the latest U.S. governor to run into legal trouble. -- Feds charge P.Rico governor, 12 others - Yahoo! News

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Left In Alabama reports: Now it's easier to keep your elected representatives honest -- or at least keep an eye on them. Follow the Money has a nifty new tool that lets you look at contributions to entire legislative committees. This is especially handy because the information at the Alabama Secretary of State's website is in the form of .pdfs of scanned disclosure forms and is neither sortable nor searchable. These folks have put that information into a database for us.

Here's the Alabama page where you can get to fund raising information on office holders, parties and contributors. Here's the Legislative Committee Analysis Tool where you can select either a House or Senate committee and see the money raised by each member of that committee as well as the top contributors to that committee and the industries contributing. -- Left In Alabama:: Follow the Money, Even to Legislative Committees

Note: this website covers nearly all the states, not just Alabama.

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The New York Times reports: The former treasurer of a Republican Congressional fund-raising committee may have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars by submitting elaborately forged audit reports for five years using the letterhead of a legitimate auditing firm, a lawyer for the committee said Thursday.

Robert K. Kelner, a lawyer with Covington & Burling, who was brought in by the National Republican Congressional Committee to investigate accounting irregularities, said a new audit showed that the committee had $740,000 less on hand than it believed. Mr. Kelner said it was unclear whether that amount represented money siphoned off by the former treasurer, Christopher J. Ward.

Mr. Ward, who is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had the authority to make transfers of committee money on his own, Mr. Kelner said.

He said an investigation with the help of PricewaterhouseCoopers had “found a pattern in which Mr. Ward would transfer funds by wire out of the N.R.C.C. to outside committees.” From those outside committees, Mr. Kelner said, money was then transferred to “personal and business accounts of Mr. Ward.” -- Sham Audits May Have Hid Theft by G.O.P. Committee Treasurer, Lawyer Says - New York Times

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The New York Times reports: After ending his exploration of a presidential bid early last year and all but disappearing from politics, former Gov. George E. Pataki spent more than $1 million from his political action committees for Broadway theater tickets, gatherings at the Yale Club and payments to political loyalists and advisers.

The money came from PACs used to raise Mr. Pataki’s profile nationally and to lay the foundations for a possible presidential run. They were organized in Virginia, where candidates are given broad discretion in spending.

In all, the committees spent about $2.1 million in 2007; about $1.4 million of that was paid out after Mr. Pataki quietly suspended his efforts to seek national office last March, according to a review of campaign finance disclosure reports and other records. Some of the spending appears to have had little connection to a political cause or candidacy. ...

PACs organized under state laws in Virginia have long been attractive to politicians because there are no limits on contributions and, while it is illegal to use PAC money for personal use, the state has a light regulatory touch in terms of spending. -- Pataki Spent PAC Money After Opting Not to Run - New York Times

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Alabama Senate approves bill to regulate PAC donations | TimesDaily.com | Times Daily | Florence, AL
AP reports: The Democrat-controlled Alabama Senate split largely along party lines Tuesday to approve a bill that would stop some financial transfers used to hide the source of campaign contributions while allowing others.

Democrats said the bill would end the movement of money from one political action committee to another to disguise the original source of campaign contributions. ...

Republicans said the bill opens up new methods for hiding campaign donations because it exempts political parties and legislative caucuses from the definition of a PAC. ...

The Senate voted 20-14 for the rewritten PAC bill after killing similar bills the six prior years. --

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The New York Times reports: Did Senator John McCain of Arizona benefit unfairly from rules that automatically placed him on the ballot in Ohio once he qualified for public campaign financing?

The legal question, which also has political significance given Mr. McCain’s reputation for crusading against the influence of money on elections, is being raised by Democratic Party officials ahead of the Ohio Republican primary next Tuesday now that the McCain campaign has decided to pull out of public financing.

The issue emerged Monday in a complaint that the Democratic National Committee filed with the Federal Election Commission questioning Mr. McCain’s right to withdraw from the system and bypass the spending limits that come with it. ...

Second, the [Democratic] officials object to the way Mr. McCain used his certification for federal matching money to get on the ballot in states like Ohio and Delaware. That certification allowed him to bypass the signature collection usually required to get on the ballot, and saved the campaign money — which should bar him from withdrawing from the system, the Democrats say. -- Democrats Raise Legal Point Over McCain and Ohio as He Opts Out of Public Money - New York Times

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The New York Times reports: The rumors wash up against the gray walls of La Fortaleza, the governor’s palace in this city’s colonial quarter, with the regularity of the ocean’s waves. Every few weeks they seem to gather momentum, like a tidal surge, and threaten to overwhelm the place and its occupant, Gov. Aníbal S. Acevedo Vilá.

At one moment, the word on the street is that the governor will be arrested before the weekend. At the next, he will be spared, though several of his close associates will fall.

And so it has gone for more than two years while federal investigators have looked into accusations of campaign finance violations relating to Mr. Acevedo, a Democrat, who is up for re-election this year. ...

The federal authorities have refused to make any statements about the case; what is known publicly about the investigation has been gleaned through leaks and the scant information provided by witnesses who have testified before the grand jury. According to those witnesses, investigators have asked about the finances of Mr. Acevedo’s 2004 race for governor and about his successful campaign in 2000 to become the resident commissioner, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting delegate to Congress. (Mr. Acevedo has said that if there were improprieties in his campaigns, he was not aware of them.) -- Puerto Rico’s Political Melodrama Plays On, With Its Governor in the Lead Role

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AP reports: The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Montgomery judge s decision to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the election of four powerful Democrats in the Alabama Senate.

The court s 8-1 decision ends a lawsuit that became part of the battle between Democrats and Republicans for control of the new Senate elected in 2006. Democrats won that battle and organized the Senate. ...
Former Republican judge Mark Montiel filed the suit about three weeks before the 2006 general election on behalf of an Autauga County voter. It sought to revoke the state certificates of election for the four senators from the Democratic primary election in June 2006. The suit claimed the four Democrats did not file the proper campaign finance reports for the primary even though they spent money to help other legislative candidates.

The four senators said they didn't have primary opposition and the practice in Alabama up to that point was not to file campaign finance reports when there was no opposition. -- Alabama Supreme Court tosses lawsuit challenging senators wins | TimesDaily.com | Times Daily | Florence, AL

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ABC News reports: A federal grand jury in Arizona has indicted three-term Republican Congressman Rick Renzi and two of his business associates on charges that include wire fraud, money laundering, insurance fraud and extortion.

The 35-count indictment alleges that between December 2001 and March 2002, Renzi embezzled $400,000 in insurance premiums from a company that he owned and transferred the money to his congressional campaign.

Renzi transferred ownership of the company, called Patriot Insurance Agency Inc., to his wife in 2004.

The lawmaker is also accused of enriching himself by compelling a copper mining interest, referred to as "Company A" in the indictment, to buy a parcel of land from his associate James Sandlin in exchange for his sponsorship of legislation sought by Company A.

When negotiations for the sale were stalled, Renzi allegedly told Company A "no Sandlin Property, no bill." -- ABC News: Congressman Indicted for Fraud, Extortion

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The New York Times reports: A bank loan that Senator John McCain took out late in 2007 to keep his presidential campaign afloat is complicating his desire to withdraw from public financing for his primary effort.

The Federal Election Commission, in a letter it released on Thursday, said Mr. McCain could not withdraw from public financing until he had answered questions about a $4 million line of credit for borrowing that was secured, in part, in December by the promise of federal matching money.

Mr. McCain sent a letter to the commission on Feb. 7 saying he had decided to decline the matching money for his primary campaign. His request for public money, in which the government matches campaign contributions, was made last year as the campaign was running out of cash.

After his fortunes began to rise from his victory New Hampshire and campaign gifts increased, however, Mr. McCain decided against taking the public money. Taking it would have limited his spending between now and the Republican convention in September to $40 million. -- McCain Loan Complicates Financing of Campaign - New York Times

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The Birmingham News reports: The state Senate locked down again Thursday over a proposed ban on transfers between political action committees that make it difficult to know who is funding political campaigns.

Unlike a stricter version approved by the House of Representatives, the Senate was debating a version of the bill that would exempt political parties and legislative caucuses. Some senators said that would create a larger mechanism for hiding money. ...

Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, proposed an amendment Thursday that would ban the governor and other state constitutional officers from raising money for other candidates.

Some Republican senators filibustered Bedford s amendment, saying it infringed on the rights of elected office holders. -- Alabama Senate locks down on PAC transfer ban- al.com

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Mooncat writes on Left in Alabama (and quotes the Montgomery Advertiser): Alabama's campaign finance laws are set up to hide the money trail. There are few limitations on contributions and those contributions are often laundered by unlimited money transfers from one PAC to another so you can't tell who is giving what to whom. I knew all that and was properly outraged, but I didn't realize SoS Beth Chapman's office is just a glorified stenography service for campaigns and PACs with no ability or responsibility to check the accracy of reports.

An Alabama agency that oversees political action committees failed to see a $460,000 reporting error in a PAC formed for presidential candidate Mitt Romney. ...

The Secretary of State's office only posts the information online and doesn't review them for errors, said Robert Johnston, an attorney for the agency.

"The secretary of state does not audit these," he said. "We don't have any enforcement authority on that. We just make it available to the public."

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The Washington Post's The Trail blog reports: The FBI has been notified and asked to investigate allegations of financial fraud at a fund-raising arm of the House Republicans, capping a week of bad news for the beleaguered minority party.

In a statement today, Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said he contacted law enforcement after an internal audit revealed that a former employee of the committee had been involved in the "irregularities."

"Since these irregularities may include fraud, we have notified appropriate law enforcement authorities. We are aggressively and thoroughly investigating the matter," Cole said.

Sources confirmed that the FBI was the agency contacted to investigate the allegations. Aides at the Federal Election Commission said they were not aware of any complaint or request for an investigation by the NRCC. -- House Republicans Contact FBI Over Financial Irregularities | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

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AP reports: Money helped winnow the presidential field. It hasn't determined who each party's nominee will be.

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have proven to be mega-fundraisers, operating at near parity in their own stratosphere. Each raised $100 million last year and spent at least $80 million. On Wednesday, they each spent $1.3 million in one day for television ads in Super Tuesday states, setting the trend for the days ahead.

Whoever loses has not yet been seriously outspent.

Among Republicans, money has been less of a factor. John McCain was forced to live off the land for six months only to rise to the front of the pack. Low-budget Mike Huckabee is looking for a break, and Mitt Romney, the multimillionaire who spent $35 million of his own cash, is gasping for oxygen after two straight losses.

Rudy Giuliani, who garnered the most contributions among Republican candidates, bowed out this week after his Florida-centric strategy collapsed. And dark horse Ron Paul remains in single digits in the polls despite raising more than any of his Republican rivals in the last three months of 2007.

Money matters, but it doesn't decide. -- Analysis: Political Money Not the Be - All - New York Times

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The Birmingham News reports: The leader of the state House of Representatives said Thursday that he will ask House members next week to quickly pass five bills dealing with ethics and campaign finance, to kick off what he hopes will be a productive legislative session. ...

The first bill Hammett wants the House to pass would ban or limit any political action committee formed by a corporation, lobby or other group from contributing money to another PAC. Such PAC-to-PAC transfers can hide the true source of contributions received by a candidate for governor or other political office.

Last year's bill, by Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville, would have banned all PAC-to-PAC contributions.

But it died in the Senate, where some senators insisted that PACs retain the right to give money to political parties, legislative party caucuses and get-out-the-vote organizations such as the Alabama Democratic Conference. ...

The other four bills Hammett wants the House to pass early would: ...

Require people and groups to disclose the givers of money spent on any broadcast or published message aired or distributed within 90 days of an election that contains the name or image of one or more of the candidates and is clearly intended to influence the election. -- Hammett has five bills he wants House to pass quickly- al.com

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The Detroit News reports: A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Justice Department to tell indicted Southfield attorney Geoffrey Fieger why U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy and two of his top officials disqualified themselves from overseeing Fieger s criminal investigation.

It s a partial victory for Fieger -- charged with making $127,000 in illegal donations to the 2004 presidential campaign of Democrat John Edwards -- as he attempts to show he was unfairly singled out for prosecution because of his politics.

The information is quite relevant and essential to that claim, U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman said in a 30-page order.

Borman said he has not decided whether Fieger was unfairly singled out, but said he finds it significant that contributions related to a re-election campaign for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman have been part of the federal investigation of Fieger since the probe began in April 2005. -- Judge s ruling favors Fieger

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The Herald reports: The Electoral Commission has admitted fundamental weaknesses in its ability to probe allegations of illegal donations to political parties.

An official document seen by The Herald shows that detailed procedures and guidance on how investigations should be carried out remain "in development", despite the fact that high-profile probes into allegations against senior Labour figures, including Scottish leader Wendy Alexander, are currently under way.

The 12-page paper, entitled Handling Allegations, also reveals that the commission does not have "any prescribed method for making decisions" and that it is "unclear" when discussions with the UK Ministry of Justice on increasing the range of sanctions it can hand down will be concluded.

The commission also admits many cases will go unpunished even if they find the law has been broken. -- Watchdog Admits Probe Weakness (from The Herald )

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The Montgomery Independent reports: It appears that Gov. Bob Riley's gubernatorial campaigns in 2002 and 2006 may have violated the state's Fair Campaign Practices Act by improperly reporting the use of corporate airplanes, and improperly reporting advertising and printing donations to the campaign.

In the 2006 campaign, Gov. Riley apparently failed to properly report the in-kind contributions of at least two corporate airplanes. In both cases, the aircraft used by Gov. Riley are listed as in-kind contributions from individuals and not from the corporations which actually own the airplanes.

Riley's campaign finance reports for the 2006 campaign list in-kind contributions for transportation totaling $7,929.47 from John Saint of Mobile. Saint is listed on the Secretary of State Web site as president of a number of Alabama corporations. When asked about the in-kind contributions Saint said he did not recall when Riley may have used his company's plane. He said: "Our plane gets used every day. A lot of charities use our plane for Angel Flights."

When asked if he had reimbursed his company for the Riley campaign's use of the plane, he said: "I don't recall." He said he would have to go back and look, but it would be after the first of the year. When asked who owned the plane he said JDC Support Services, Inc. and added: "I own the company." ...

Also, under Alabama law, there is no limit on campaign contributions from individuals, but corporate contributions, whether cash or in-kind, are limited to $500 per election cycle. Riley's name was on the ballot in only two election cycles in 2006, the Republican primary and the General Election. That means any corporate contribution more than $1,000 would appear to be unlawful. -- al.com's Printer-Friendly Page

Hat-tip to Doc's Political Parlor.

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AP reports: John Edwards cannot get federal matching funds for some $4.2 million raised through a Democratic Web site.

The Federal Election Commission decided Friday on a 4-1 vote that the money was not matchable because federal rules do not include those contributions.

About 53,000 Edwards supporters donated through the ActBlue site. The Web site gets dollars designated to any Democratic federal candidate. It then passes the money to the authorized committees of the candidates.

The Edwards campaign has said it always knew there could be a legal problem with the ActBlue money, so it never counted the funds toward the match it expects to get. -- Today on the Presidential Campaign Trail - Examiner.com

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The Economist reports: FOR Gordon Brown, the party-funding scandal which has already claimed the job of the Labour Party's general secretary, Peter Watt, and threatens senior figures in the government shows no sign of going away. It has instead spread north to his native Scotland, where Wendy Alexander, Labour's leader in the devolved Parliament, is fighting to save her career.

The sum involved in Ms Alexander's case (£950, or $1,960) is comically small next to the more than £660,000 given to the Labour Party by David Abrahams, a Newcastle businessman, through intermediaries. Yet Ms Alexander, seen but recently as the Scottish Labour Party's shining hope, boobed tremendously. To finance her leadership campaign (which, since she was the only candidate, was not a costly affair) she raised £16,000, including £950 from Paul Green. A property developer who lives in the Channel Islands, Mr Green cannot vote in British elections, so accepting his cash was against the law.

Ms Alexander maintains that she was led to believe the money came from a Glasgow company controlled by Mr Green. But the company denies any knowledge of the donation. Mr Green insists it was a personal contribution, even brandishing a letter of thanks from Ms Alexander sent to his Jersey home. One head has already rolled: Charlie Gordon, a Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) from Glasgow, who solicited Mr Green's donation, has resigned as the party's transport spokesman. But this has failed to pacify those such as Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of Westminster's Committee on Standards in Public Life, who believe that Ms Alexander should consider her position, too. -- Political donations | Not so darling Wendy | Economist.com

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NPR reports:
U.S. prosecutors say participants in Argentina's election broke American law. Prosecutors say the new president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, won with the help of $800,000 secretly sent from Venezuela. This comes under U.S. law because people on American soil allegedly took part in the transaction. Four people are accused. The president of the country that allegedly supplied the money, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, calls the case a "fabricated scandal." The president who allegedly received it is not so happy either. -- NPR : U.S. Criticizes Argentina's Presidential Election

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The Scotsman reports: WENDY Alexander was facing a police investigation into her campaign finances last night after it emerged that she had written a personal thank-you letter to a businessman for an illegal donation.

The Scottish Labour leader disclosed this week that members of her campaign team had broken the law when they accepted a cheque for £950 from Paul Green, a Channel Isles-based businessman, for her leadership campaign. He is not a registered UK voter, so is not allowed to donate to British political parties.

Ms Alexander's aides have consistently argued that the donation was handled only by Charlie Gordon, a Labour MSP, and that she did not know the details of Mr Green's donation. Mr Gordon at first told the campaign team the money had been donated legitimately through a Glasgow company, Combined Property Services, but it later emerged that Mr Green's name had been on the cheque.

And it was revealed yesterday that Ms Alexander had written to Mr Green personally in October this year, from her home in Glasgow, thanking him for his cheque. -- The Scotsman - Bombshell for Labour on illegal donations

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The Washington Post reports: When Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) launched his presidential campaign in January, he stopped raising money for his Hopefund, the political action committee he used to raise millions for fellow Democrats in previous campaigns. But in recent months, Obama has handed out more than $180,000 from the nearly dormant PAC to local Democratic groups and candidates in the key early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, campaign reports show.

Some of the recipients of Hopefund's largess are state and local politicians who have recently endorsed Obama's presidential bid. Obama's PAC reported giving a $1,000 contribution, for instance, to New Hampshire state Sen. Jacalyn Cilley on July 25, six days before she announced she was endorsing Obama for president. ...

Cilley, who has traveled with Obama around New Hampshire and serves on the campaign's steering committee, said that she decided to endorse him before getting the donation but that the announcement was delayed. She said she even considered sending the check back at one point to eliminate any concerns about appearances. ...

Scott Thomas, a Democrat and a former FEC chairman, said "there's probably no doubt" the PAC donations were aimed at increasing support for Obama's presidential race. "But in my experience, the commission has not had the stomach to reach out and characterize those kinds of contributions as impermissible," Thomas said. -- Obama PAC Is Active In Key Election States - washingtonpost.com

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The New York Times reports: Confronting an enormous fund-raising gap with Democrats, Republican Party officials are aggressively recruiting wealthy candidates who can spend large sums of their own money to finance their Congressional races, party officials say.

At this point, strategists for the National Republican Congressional Committee have enlisted wealthy candidates to run in at least a dozen competitive Congressional districts nationwide, particularly those where Democrats are finishing their first term and are thus considered most vulnerable. They say more are on the way.

These wealthy Republicans have each already invested $100,000 to $1 million of their own money to finance their campaigns, according to campaign finance disclosure reports and interviews with party strategists. Experts say that is a large amount for this early in the cycle. ...

Party strategists note that a 2002 rule known as the millionaires’ amendment has tended to discourage wealthy candidates from pouring large sums into their own campaigns early on. The rule raises campaign contribution ceilings to candidates whose opponents spend large amounts of their own money. -- Short of Funds, G.O.P. Recruits the Rich to Run - New York Times

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The New York Times reports: The so-called Wounded Warriors Act, legislation intended to improve health care for veterans, has attracted nearly unanimous, bipartisan support in Congress. So why would the newly formed Foundation for a Secure and Prosperous America begin running a television commercial urging the citizens of South Carolina to tell Congress to pass it?

The answer lies in the commercial’s glowing images of Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican banking on a South Carolina victory to jump-start his cash-poor Republican primary campaign. The group that paid for the advertisement operates independently of Mr. McCain’s campaign, but was set up and financed by his supporters seeking to help him as much as possible up to the limits of the law.

The initial spending on the commercial, according to the group, is modest — commercials on the Fox News Channel in South Carolina only — but it represents the first trickle in a flood of hundreds of millions of dollars that are expected to pour from all sides into groups reminiscent of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth of 2004, built to influence voting outside of campaign law limitations. The amount could swamp the record-breaking tens of millions that the top candidates are raising for their own, closely regulated campaign accounts. ...

The group running the commercial in South Carolina is registered as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation. As such, it is allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts from individuals without any disclosure, as long as it can argue that it is more concerned with the promotion of an issue — like the final passage of the Wounded Warriors bill — than the election of a candidate.

The lack of disclosure makes it hard to tell how the group spends its money, and impossible to say where it gets its money, and whether its donors have already donated directly to candidates. -- A New Channel for Soft Money Starts Flowing - New York Times

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The Birmingham News reports: Next year's race to replace retiring state Supreme Court Justice Harold See is one of five judicial elections nationwide that merit close scrutiny, the watchdog group Justice at Stake said.

Expect the kind of no-holds-barred battle between business and plaintiff trial lawyer interests that have helped Alabama set the standard for expensive and nasty elections, said the Washington-based group that monitors judicial elections. ...

Justice at Stake officials also expect a big battle for the seat being vacated by See, whose court race in 1996 gained national notoriety for an opponent's campaign ad that compared See to a skunk.

"The state's partisan system of judicial elections, combined with an absence of both campaign contribution limits and disclosure rules for special interests, suggest a raucous campaign for Justice See's seat," said a Justice at Stake news release.

In 2006, when five seats were contested, Alabama's Supreme Court elections attracted $12.4 million, more than in any other state. The $7.7 million race that year for chief justice was the second-most expensive judicial election in the nation's history. -- Watchdog group eyes Alabama- al.com

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The Congressional Research Service has a new report on campaign finance proposals: Recent events suggest continued congressional interest in campaign finance policy. This report provides an overview and analysis of 110th Congress legislation addressed in hearings or that has passed at least one chamber. The report also discusses two policy developments: Federal Election Commission (FEC) nominations and a recent Supreme Court ruling that could affect future political advertising (Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc.) As of this writing, approximately 50 bills devoted largely to campaign finance have been introduced in the 110th Congress, but none have become law. The House has passed two bills containing campaign finance provisions. H.R. 2630 would restrict campaign and leadership political action committee (PAC) payments to candidate spouses. A provision in H.R. 3093 would prohibit spending Justice Department funds on criminal enforcement of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) “electioneering communication” provision. In the Senate, an electronic disclosure bill (S. 223) was reported from the Rules and Administration Committee but has not received floor consideration. The committee also held hearings on coordinated party expenditures (S. 1091) and congressional public financing (S. 1285) legislation. Most significantly, lobbying and ethics bill S. 1, which became law in September 2007 (P.L. 110-81), contains some campaign finance provisions. This report will be updated as events warrant throughout the 110th Congress. -- Campaign Finance: Developments in the 110th Congress

Hat tip to the invaluable beSpacific.com.

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The Detroit News reports: Geoffrey Fieger, the Southfield lawyer known for winning multimillion-dollar civil judgments and antagonizing judges, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on criminal charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, making illegal campaign contributions and causing false statements.

A 30-page, 10-count indictment was unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit. A grand jury, which works in secret, returned it under seal on Tuesday, officials said.

The indictment charges Fieger and a law partner, Vernon (Ven) Johnson, of conspiring to make about $127,000 in illegal contributions to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' 2004 campaign. Johnson, 45, of Birmingham is also charged with making illegal contributions and causing false statements. ...

The indictment alleges Fieger illegally circumvented limits on individual campaign contributions by recruiting "straw donors" -- including employees, contractors and their family members -- to purport to make the then-maximum contributions of $2,000 each to Edwards. In fact, the more than $125,000 in donations were paid for by Fieger and Johnson and the Fieger firm, the indictment alleges. -- Fieger indicted: Illegal donations to Edwards alleged

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The Talladega Daily Home reports: Former St. Clair County Schools Superintendent Tom Sanders was arrested Tuesday for allegedly using campaign contributions for personal use. ...

District Attorney Richard Minor said Sanders was indicted on two felony charges and one misdemeanor charge involving a campaign contribution.

According to the indictment, a campaign contribution check was given to Sanders by Trussville businessman and developer Jack Harris. Minor said Tuesday Sanders was indicted on one ethics violation, involving the conversion of those contributions to personal use, a Class B felony. -- Former superintendent of St. Clair schools indicted

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The Detroit News reports: Lawyer Geoffrey Fieger recently hosted a champagne and rock music gala, celebrating a 14,000-square-foot expansion to his law offices at a time when many in his position would lie low or even retrench.

Fieger faces a possible federal indictment over alleged campaign finance violations -- he has said he expects to be indicted -- and is in a protracted and acrimonious battle with four of the seven justices on the Michigan Supreme Court, where many of his cases end up.

As he expands his offices with extravagances such as outdoor fountains, bronze lions from the French Embassy in Morocco and the original bar from Southfield's Golden Mushroom restaurant, Fieger is ratcheting up his offensives against both the federal government and the Michigan justices he alleges are too biased against him to fairly hear his cases.

On the federal side, he is airing television ads critical of the investigation and alleges the FBI improperly used U.S. Patriot Act national security letters to obtain financial information about his employees. ...

The federal grand jury investigation of Fieger -- which is active, based on interviews and the fact five sealed documents have been filed in the case since June 7 -- centers on whether he illegally circumvented caps on political giving by reimbursing employees and associates for more than $50,000 in donations made to the 2004 John Edwards presidential campaign. Most of the donations were made on the same day.

Fieger has acknowledged paying bonuses to employees but denied doing anything illegal. -- Fieger fights back at legal woes

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AP reports: Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's criminal case now appears to hinge on two remaining money laundering charges after Texas' highest criminal court refused Wednesday to reinstate a dropped conspiracy charge.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected arguments from Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle that it had grounds to indict DeLay and two co-defendants on a charge of conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws in 2002 state legislative elections.

A state district judge threw out that charge after defense lawyers argued that the law DeLay is accused of violating in 2002 wasn't written until 2003.

A regional appeals court upheld the judge's decision. Prosecutors appealed to the state's highest criminal appeals court, a Republican-controlled panel that ruled 5-4 in favor of DeLay and co-defendants John Colyandro and Jim Ellis.

Two charges — money laundering and conspiring to launder money — remain against the former Republican congressman and the two consultants. Lawyers are arguing about those charges in an appeals court, and no trial date has been set. -- State high court refuses to reinstate DeLay conspiracy charge

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Timothy A. Canova emails: Please see my article, “Campaign Finance, Iron Triangles & the Decline of American Political Discourse,” which was recently published in the Nexus Journal, in a symposium issue on campaign finance reform. As you will see, my article places the debate about campaign finance in a wider context about the privatization of the TV airwaves (the “vast wasteland”) and the closing of our public space by a largely captured Federal Communications Commission.

Perhaps your readers would be interested. Please consider plugging my article on your blog, and including the SSRN link: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=993502

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Walter Shapiro writes on Salon.com:
With a record-shattering $150 million already raised by the presidential candidates, the 2008 election cycle is shaping up to be a Gilded Age for the political class. Whoever wins the White House, an elite group of ad-makers, strategists, pollsters, direct-mail mavens and fundraising arrangers will share the spoils of victory and the just as lucrative swag of defeat.

All this brings us to a dirty little secret of politics -- the murky financial arrangements between the top consultants and the campaigns they serve. The Federal Election Commission does not require detailed breakdowns of consultant expenses from the candidates. And the campaigns refuse to voluntarily release this information. The result is that political givers end up knowing far less about how wisely their money was spent than if they had donated the cash to a charity.

Back in February, Mitt Romney was the first member of the Class of '08 to hit TV sets in the early primary and caucus states, with a 60-second biographical spot in which the former Massachusetts governor solemnly declared, "This is not a time for more talk and dithering in Washington. It's a time for action." When it came time to file its first-quarter reports with the FEC, which were due last week, the campaign dutifully chronicled more than $1.8 million in payments to National Media -- the Alexandria, Va., firm in which Romney media advisor Alex Castellanos is a partner.

But there is no way of knowing from the FEC report what portion of this money was used to purchase TV time, how much paid for production costs or how much went directly to Castellanos as a fee. To raise that $1.8 million required a minimum of 782 donors, since the maximum individual contribution for the primaries is $2,300. But what these political givers got for their money is considered confidential information by the Romney campaign. -- Are political consultants getting rich off your money? | Salon.com

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The Times Union reports: Gov. Eliot Spitzer vowed Monday to mount a new political campaign against the state Senate's Republican majority after its leader rejected the Democratic governor's plans for overhauling New York's notoriously lax campaign finance laws as "elitist."

"The Republican members of the state Senate were unwilling to break their addiction to the free flow of money," said Spitzer. "It is a narcotic to which they are beholden."

With that, Spitzer announced plans to visit Senate districts represented by "members of the temporary majority of the Senate" to berate them for their position and seek their eventual ouster if they didn't back an overhaul.

The developments came just a few hours after Spitzer drew a standing ovation from several hundred government reform activists when he said he was closing in on a possible agreement with the state Legislature to overhaul New York's campaign finance laws. -- Albany, N.Y.: Timesunion.com - Print Story

Thanks to Jeff Wice for the link.

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AP reports: Former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley is racking up huge legal bills defending himself against potential criminal charges in the Internet teen sex scandal that led to his resignation and is paying them with leftover campaign contributions.

Foley spent $206,000 in campaign cash on lawyers from November to January, according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission. The FEC has ruled in other cases that such expenditures are generally lawful.

That left about $1.7 million in the Florida Republican's campaign account on March 31, even after he returned more than $110,000 from donors. -- Foley Pays Legal Bills With Leftover Campaign Cash | theledger.com

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Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute has posted a summary of the arguments being made in Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life; McCain v. Wisconsin Right to Life.

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The Birmingham News reports: A Senate panel on Tuesday voted 10-0 to put several exceptions into a proposed ban on transfers of money between political action committees. ..

McLaughlin's bill, as passed by the House of Representatives last month on a vote of 103-0, would ban any political action committee formed by a lobby group, company or other organization from contributing money to another PAC. Such PAC-to-PAC transfers can hide a candidate's true source of political contributions.

Under the Senate committee's rewrite, PAC-to-PAC transfers would be banned except that any PAC still could give to:

Political parties and the parties' PACs.

Party caucuses and their PACs.

Legislative party caucuses and their PACs.

Organizations, which could have their own PACs, that use PAC money to get out the vote for candidates endorsed by those organizations. Mitchell mentioned the Alabama Democratic Conference as one group that would be covered by that exception.

The PAC of any organization "whose charter or bylaws mandate that the organization support candidates of only one political party so designated by the organization." -- Senate panel rewrites PAC bill

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KOTV.com reports: A proposed ethics rule would bring more openness to the political process by stopping a practice that allows money to be transferred among political action committees, supporters say.

The rule is designed to accomplish two purposes: ensuring the public knows the source of campaign cash doled out by PACs and preventing the possibility of someone eluding the $5,000 limit on campaign donations.

Although it is acknowledged as a significant rule that would shake up the state's campaign financing structure, legislative leaders are shying away from taking a position on the proposal. -- KOTV.com - The News On 6

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Mary Ann Akers writes on the Wash. Post blog The Sleuth: John Edwards's presidential campaign has modified its online fundraising approach to give visitors an "opt-out" option if they are just trying to send a sympathy note to Elizabeth Edwards about her cancer recurrence.

The change reflects an apparent attempt to separate the handling of Mrs. Edwards's illness from the incessant need for money to fund her husband's campaign for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. The adjustment comes after The Sleuth reported last week that the Edwards campaign was soliciting contributions from people who sent sympathy notes to Elizabeth Edwards through the Edwards campaign Web site. -- Edwards Campaign Modifies Online Fundraising Practice - The Sleuth

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The Birmingham News reports: Bessemer Circuit Judge Dan King spent $4,700 on food during the years 2003 and 2005, campaign finance records show. The question is whether those and other expenditures qualify as legitimate campaign expenses.

King's lawyer, Ralph "Buddy" Armstrong, said Wednesday that he thinks that they do, given his understanding of the state's campaign finance laws. ...

A review of King's campaign finance forms show that the judge - who has not faced opposition in two elections - spent thousands of dollars on items that do not appear, on their face, to be campaign-related.

For example, records show that King spend almost $4,700 on meals in 2003 and 2005.

The Bright Star in Bessemer and San Antonio Grille in McCalla were the most frequent entries. King spent $230 on a meal at The Bright Star, the most expensive outing, in November 2003. -- Campaign spending propriety disputed

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The Birmingham News reports: Bessemer Circuit Judge Dan King was booked into the Jefferson County jail Tuesday after he was indicted on 56 counts related to misuse of campaign funds.

The judge, who will be suspended from the bench with pay, was indicted by a Bessemer Cutoff grand jury Monday for tax, ethics and election law violations, Alabama Attorney General Troy King said in announcing the indictment. ...

Ralph "Buddy" Armstrong, Dan King's attorney, said the judge will argue that he deposited campaign funds in his personal account only to repay loans he had made to his campaign.

"A candidate loans himself money all the time. How does he get that money back?" Armstrong said. "He was paying himself back for money he had spent out of his personal account." -- Judge indicted on campaign fund uses

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AP reports: State Attorney General Troy King said there was no conflict of interest when his staff represented then-Secretary of State Nancy Worley in lawsuits at the same time it was conducting an investigation that led to criminal charges against her.

Worley, a Democrat, has repeatedly complained that the Republican attorney general did a poor job of representing her in civil matters and pursued the criminal case simultaneously to help her Republican opponent, Beth Chapman, and make himself look better.

While Worley was secretary of state, King’s office represented her in a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department that accused her office of missing the deadline for implementing a statewide voter registration database. Worley repeatedly complained that King wasn’t following her wishes when King asked a federal judge to transfer the database responsibilities to Republican Gov. Bob Riley, who had appointed King attorney general. -- King: No conflict of interest

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AP Wire | 03/28/2007 | Liberal group challenges backers of 2004 gay marriage amendment

A liberal advocacy group asked the state's elections chief Wednesday to investigate whether backers of a 2004 gay marriage ban properly reported all the money they received and spent during the campaign.

Citizens for Community Values, the Cincinnati-based group behind the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage, immediately dismissed the claims by ProgressOhio.org as unfounded.

The constitutional amendment the group backed, which passed overwhelmingly, was credited with turning out Christian conservative voters who tipped the state's presidential results to President Bush.

In a letter to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, ProgressOhio executive director Brian Rothenberg said the numbers didn't add up in a review the group conducted of campaign finance reports for various entities linked to the 2004 marriage campaign.

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CQPolitics.com reports: The Senate Rules Committee voted to expedite the Senate campaign finance disclosure process Wednesday after Republicans aired their growing frustrations with the limited opportunities for minority legislation.

The measure (S 223), approved by voice vote, would force members of the Senate to file with the Federal Election Commission electronically, which would shorten the process of making the filings available to the public by about a month.

Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein of California and other supporters of the legislation have argued that the bill’s only chance for enactment is to pass it as a stand-alone mueasure under unanimous consent. Identical bills failed to win Senate passage in the both the 108th and 109th Congresses.

When ranking Republican member Robert F. Bennett of Utah floated an amendment to eliminate the caps on party coordinated spending — a proposal that has some Democratic opposition — the bill’s large group of supporters accused him of trying to sink the measure. -- CQPolitics.com - From CQ Today: Senate Committee Approves Bill to Speed Up Campaign Finance Disclosures

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The Washington Times reports: The office manager for a D.C.-based political committee has been indicted on charges of embezzling more than $80,000 and covering up the theft by destroying financial records.

Monica J. Cash, when office manager of the Women's Campaign Fund, wrote 58 checks to herself, then forged signatures before funneling the money into her bank account or cashing the checks, according to a recent indictment in federal court in the District. Miss Cash was arrested Wednesday and has been released on bond. ...

The group was not accused of wrongdoing. However, the purported theft resulted in the group apparently misstating expenditures in mandatory disclosure statements on file with the FEC, according to the indictment. -- Fund's ex-staffer indicted in fraud - Metropolitan - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

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AP reports: The Alabama House continued its efforts Thursday to reform the way election campaigns are financed.

The House voted 105-0 for a bill that requires disclosure of those paying for advertisements about a candidate, including material sent by mail and calls from a phone bank. The sponsor, Rep. Randy Hinshaw, D-Meridianville, said the bill is aimed at anonymous ads, phone calls and flyers that say disparaging things about a candidate, but include no disclosure of who paid for the material.

Current Alabama law requires financial disclosure only for ads that specifically ask people to vote for a certain candidate, Hinshaw said. ...

Hinshaw received a warmer reception than he has in past years for similar legislation that would have forced nonprofit organizations to disclose the source of funding to influence votes on issues such as creating a lottery or tax increases. That bill elicited a negative response from some lawmakers, who said the bill was aimed at forcing the Alabama Christian Coalition to disclose the sources of its money.

Several lawmakers questioned Hinshaw at length Thursday about whether this bill would force churches to disclose the names of contributors.

"I want to make sure we are not restricting any religious freedom," said Rep. DuWayne Bridges, R-Valley. "I just want to make sure the Bible is not being trampled on by this bill or any other bill." -- House passes bill requiring disclosure of money for campaign ads

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AP reports: A House-passed bill to ban PAC-to-PAC transfers of campaign funds got assigned to a fresh committee in the state Senate Tuesday by two leaders pushing for its passage.

Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr., the Senate's presiding officer, and Senate President Pro Tem Hinton Mitchem, D-Union Grove, teamed up to assign the bill to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, where they said it will have the best chance of winning approval.

In recent years, the House has passed the bill and watched it die in the Senate Constitution, Campaign Finance, Ethics and Elections Committee or get approved so late in the legislative session that it never came up for a vote in the Senate. -- AP Wire | 03/20/2007 | Senate leaders send PAC transfer bill to friendlier committee

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AP reports: A Montgomery judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the election of four powerful Democrats in the Alabama Senate.

Circuit Judge Charles Price ruled he lacked jurisdiction to hear the suit filed against election officials by former Republican appeals court judge Mark Montiel.

Montiel's suit asked the judge to revoke the state certificates of election for the four senators on grounds they did not file the proper campaign finance reports with the Secretary of State for the Democratic primary last June.

In an order received by the attorneys during the weekend, Price sided with arguments raised by attorneys for the Democratic party and attorney general's staff that the four senators are already in office and only the state Senate has jurisdiction over their service. -- Judge dismisses election suit over four Alabama senators | TimesDaily.com | Times Daily | Florence, AL

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The Politico reports: PACs are back.

Political action committees shifted their giving slightly last year but remained among the most generous and fastest-growing sources of campaign cash, a byproduct of sweeping finance reforms that banned unlimited donations from unions and corporations.

An analysis of PAC contributions provides a window into the dynamics of the Republican-controlled 109th Congress: PACs linked to hot issues such as health care and Social Security gave more money. Nearly all contributions went to incumbents. And Republicans received more than Democrats, a tilt likely to change since Democrats seized the congressional majority in November.

Setting aside the details, the growth of PAC giving – $385 million to federal candidates in the 2006 elections, 17 percent more than in the 2004 cycle, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics – highlights a fundamental change in campaign finance. The growth stems from an effort to more tightly regulate money in politics and, barring substantial legislative or regulatory reforms, the trend seems likely to continue. -- Last Year Saw Huge Rise in PAC Donations - Politico.com

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The Detroit News reports: Attorney Geoffrey Fieger fired fresh accusations Thursday at embattled U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, accusing Gonzales of personally approving a 2005 raid on his law office that Fieger says was part of a political witch hunt.

Gonzales faces congressional calls for his resignation over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys since December. Critics say the firings were political and reasons included aggressive prosecution of Republicans -- charges Gonzales and the White House deny.

Fieger said legislators need to focus on prosecutors who were not fired but rewarded, such as U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy in Detroit, nominated by President Bush for the federal appeals court. Murphy is awaiting confirmation.

"The Detroit federal prosecutor's office has agreed to take the lead for the Bush White House by engaging in numerous political prosecutions of Democrats," Fieger said. -- Fieger says Gonzales targeted him

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The Mobile Press-Registers says in an editorial: STATE GOVERNMENT reformers should hold the applause for the House-passed ban on hiding the source of campaign donations by routing them through a thicket of political action committees.

The 103-0 vote on banning PAC-to-PAC transfers is a step toward more open and honest politics in Alabama, but lawmakers need to leap out of the unsavory past with legislation that makes campaign cash totally transparent. The bill approved by the House is fine as far as it goes; it just doesn't go far enough to ensure that big-dog political contributors can't cover their tracks. ...

If the House bill becomes law, you can bet that reformers will soon be casting a critical eye on "candidate-to-candidate transfers."

As part of his agenda for ethics reform, Gov. Riley proposed banning both PAC-to-PAC transfers and the practice of transferring donations from one candidate to another. In candidate-to-candidate transfers, a donor may give to Candidate A's campaign committee with the expectation that he or she will pass it on to Candidate B. The net effect is the same as a PAC-to-PAC transfer: It conceals the real source of campaign donations. -- Campaign reform bill has major loophole

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AP reports: A former campaign aide to gubernatorial candidate Steve Henry filed an election finance complaint Friday alleging Henry improperly raised money for his state race through a federal campaign committee.

Leslie Holland, who served as Henry's campaign manager and spokeswoman last fall, made the allegations in a complaint filed with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance, according to Oliver Barber Jr., an attorney representing Holland.

Henry is one of seven Democrats seeking the nomination in the May 22 primary. ...

Holland's complaint said the lists contain donors who gave to Henry before he filed to run for governor in January and selected Renee True, the Fayette County Property Valuation Administrator, as his running mate.

Kentucky law has no provision for exploratory committees for gubernatorial candidates - they must file to run in order to raise campaign funds. -- The Cincinnati Post - Henry's former manager files finance complaint

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AP reports: The Alabama House voted 103-0 Tuesday to ban the practice of transferring campaign donations from one political action committee to another.

It's the sixth year in a row the House has passed by near unanimous votes bills to ban the practice known as "PAC to PAC transfers." The sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville, said the transfers create a "shell game" that makes it impossible for voters to figure out the source of a candidate's money.

McLaughlin has watched for the past five years as his bill passed the House and then died in the Senate without coming up for a vote. House Speaker Seth Hammett said he has been assured by Senate leaders the bill would be considered in the upper chamber this session. -- 103-0 vote in House to ban PAC transfers

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The Montgomery Advertiser reports: Former Secretary of State Nancy Worley blamed her indictment Wednesday on a Republican conspiracy, a theory dismissed by a fellow Democrat whose complaint is believed to have sparked it.

Worley, indicted on five felony counts and five misdemeanor counts accusing her of soliciting campaign funds from employees in the secretary of state's office, said she has no plans to resign her vice chairmanship with the state Democratic Party because of a "mean-spirited" legal attack based on a campaign letter that didn't ask for contributions.

"It's another Republican political witch hunt," Worley said.

Ed Packard, her former employee who ran against her in the Democratic primary, filed the complaint believed to be the basis of the indictment. He doesn't see how Republican Attorney General Troy King could get a Montgomery County grand jury to join a vendetta. -- montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Worley alleges GOP 'witch hunt'

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The New Orleans Times-Picayne reports: It's no secret that many of the same contractors who appear on agenda after agenda before the Jefferson Parish Council also appear in campaign finance reports filed by the politicians who routinely give public business to the firms.

Familiar names also cropped up when Parish President Aaron Broussard had emergency powers to issue contracts without following public bidding laws immediately after Hurricane Katrina.

Now a campaign finance reform that was designed to stamp out the appearance of partiality to contractors who give generously to campaigns is expected to have limited reach among Jefferson's eight top politicians, all of whom face election this fall.

State lawmakers passed Act 849 last year to send a message to Washington, D.C., that the "Louisiana way" of contractor favoritism had gone out of favor, leaving no tolerance for even the appearance of rewarding firms whose dollars helped win elections.

It prohibits politicians from accepting donations for three years from anyone who received no-bid emergency work after the hurricane, including contractors and their first-tier subcontractors. Violations cost both the banned firms and the elected officials a penalty twice the amount of the donation. -- Despite new law, campaign cash flows

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The Charlotte Observer reports: Rep. Thomas Wright, a top ally of former House Speaker Jim Black, resigned his chairmanships of two House committees Monday amid a criminal investigation by the State Board of Elections.

"In order not to cast disfavor upon the Democratic Party, and more importantly, this House of Representatives, I hereby wish to step aside," Wright, a Wilmington Democrat, wrote to House Speaker Joe Hackney and fellow House members in an e-mail Monday. ...

Wright, 51, is under investigation by the elections board over whether he properly disclosed campaign contributions and whether $8,000 in contributions from nurse anesthetists were tied to his blocking a bill they opposed in 2005. The board can judge and pass sentence in a criminal case or forward to the District Attorney.

In an interview with reporters Monday evening, Wright denied trading legislative favors. -- Charlotte Observer | 03/13/2007 | Wright resigns 2 House positions

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The Politico reports: Born Fighting. Brave. Giving Willingly, Empowering Nationally. Follow the North Star.

Sound like qualifications for righteousness?

Actually, they’re just a few of the names of fundraising slush funds Democratic members of Congress have established since Election Day to raise big contributions from lobbyists, corporations and interest groups seeking to capitalize on the party’s newfound majority.

At least eight Democratic members – including three freshmen – for the first time registered so-called leadership PACs after their party won the House and Senate Nov. 7, according to non-partisan research group Political Money Line. The Politico also confirmed one PAC created by a Republican in that same span, though many PACs’ ambiguously lofty names and occasionally cloudy stewardship make it tough to tell who’s actually running them.

Still, the apparent imbalance in the creation of new leadership PACs reflects the rise of Democrats on Capitol Hill. It may take them some time to catch up with Republicans, who opened a string of them in the past ten years when they were in power. -- Emboldened by Control, Junior Democrats Launch Leadership PACs - Politico.com

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A cert petition was filed yesterday in Kidwell v. City of Union, Ohio. The question presented is: "Whether the Sixth Circuit erred by holding that the government speech doctrine allows the government to spend public funds directly to influence the outcome of an election." Here are the opening paragraphs of the Statement of the Case:

This case arises from a series of disputed ballot initiatives relating to the creation and funding of a fire department by respondent City of Union, Ohio. Before 1997, Union’s fire and emergency services were provided by neighboring Randolph Township. In that year, in response to a potential merger between Randolph Township and the nearby Village of Clayton, the Union City Council passed an emergency resolution establishing its own city fire department. App. 2a Petitioners Ronald Kidwell, Julie Johnson, and Charles Arnett, Union taxpayers, challenged the resolution via a ballot initiative. App. 2-3a.

The election was preceded by a lively campaign in which the Union City Council used public funds to oppose the initiative. App. 3a. It is undisputed that the Union City Council used city workers and city equipment to hang a “Vote No” campaign banner across Main Street, mailed campaign leaflets to residents, advertised in local newspapers, and used the town newsletter to exhort city residents to vote against the initiative. Id. The city manager also worked closely with members of a local Political Action Committee (PAC) that opposed the initiative to coordinate the campaign expenditures of the city and the PAC. 6th Cir. App. 188-89, 216.

Thanks to Christopher Landau, one of the counsel for the petitioners for sending the Petition to me. You may download it here.

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Associated Press reports: Ethics and election campaign reform were a priority Wednesday as Alabama House committees began work on proposed legislation for the 2007 regular session.

A bill endorsed by Republicans, Democrats and Gov. Bob Riley to ban the practice of transferring campaign contributions from one political action committee to another was approved unanimously by the House Constitution and Elections Committee.

The panel also approved another election reform measure that requires disclosure of those paying for advertisements about a candidate, including mailouts and calls from a phone bank. -- al.com: NewsFlash - House committees approve PAC to PAC ban, other ethics bills

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AP reports: Speaker Seth Hammett says he expects legislation to ban the transfer of campaign contributions from one political action committee to another to be among the first bills considered by the House after the regular session begins Tuesday.

A ban became a hot issue in the 2006 elections, drawing support from Gov. Bob Riley and both the Democratic and Republican caucuses in the Legislature.

In an Associated Press survey of legislators, 82 percent of House members responding and 78 percent of senators said they favor banning the transfer of campaign contributions between PACs. Ban proponents say the PAC transfers make it difficult for voters to figure out who is giving money to a candidate. ...

The sponsor of the measure since he was first elected to the Legislature seven years ago has been Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville. McLaughlin is an outspoken advocate for election and constitutional revisions and has refused to take contributions in his election campaigns. -- montgomeryadvertiser.com :: Lawmakers back ban on PAC-to-PAC transfers

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The Washington Post reports: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former president Bill Clinton have operated a family charity since 2001, but she failed to list it on annual Senate financial disclosure reports on five occasions.

The Ethics in Government Act requires members of Congress to disclose positions they hold with any outside entity, including nonprofit foundations. Hillary Clinton has served her family foundation as treasurer and secretary since it was established in December 2001, but none of her ethics reports since then have disclosed that fact.

The foundation has enabled the Clintons to write off more than $5 million from their taxable personal income since 2001, while dispensing $1.25 million in charitable contributions over that period.

Clinton's spokesman said her failure to report the existence of the family foundation and the senator's position as an officer was an oversight. Her office immediately amended her Senate ethics reports to add that information late yesterday after receiving inquiries from The Washington Post. -- Clintons' Charity Not Listed On Senate Disclosure Forms - washingtonpost.com

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The New York Times reports: When Michael J. Bragman, a onetime Assembly majority leader, retired from the New York State Legislature in 2001, his campaign committee had about $1 million in the bank. Six years later, Mr. Bragman is still retired, and $400,000 of that money is gone.

Mr. Bragman did not run for office again. But he did pay his wife $24,000 a year to work for a campaign committee that did no campaigning. And he spent thousands more on bottles of wine, meals at a yacht club, Christmas gifts and office rental payments to a company that he appears to control.

Mr. Bragman, a Democrat who represented a district in the Syracuse area for 21 years, offers an unusually vivid example of how New York’s campaign finance laws allow former candidates to keep spending contributions long after their campaigns end. And he is not alone.

A review of campaign expenditures at the State Board of Elections found other former officeholders whose unused campaign cash has been put to uses that their contributors probably never envisioned — and with little or no scrutiny from state regulators. While the officeholders are required to report all expenditures from their committees to the board, purchases can be listed only by general category and, when described, often without much detail. -- Retired Politicians Spend Unused Campaign Funds - New York Times

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