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No challenge to veto of election bills
The Legislature adjourned sine die on May 17, 2013, without an attempt to override Governor Mike Beebe’s vetoes on three election bills.
Senate Bill 719 would have transferred power of election oversight to the Secretary of State from the Board of Election Commissioners. Senate Bill 720 would have created mandatory referrals of ethics complaints from the board to the Ethics Commission when the compliant was without basis in law or fact. Senate Bill 721 would have removed all of the board’s current commissioners and established a new appointment process.
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April 18-19, 2013 at the Washington Marriott
Every year in Washington, D.C., Campaigns and Elections holds a conference called Campaign Tech. I had the opportunity to go to it this year and I enjoyed it.
Here is a description of Campaign Tech 2013 from their site: “How did the 2012 election season change the craft of digital politics and advocacy? What are digital public affairs professionals doing to evolve outreach and engagement? How can technologists and digital communications professionals create cohesive, effective campaigns? Join CampaignTech’s hands-on trainings, workshops, round-table conversations, and panel discussions that will enhance your knowledge of digital advocacy, refine your communications skills, and inspire you to exceed your goals in politics, advocacy, and public affairs.”
One of the panels on the first day talked about how memes are used to promote political messages. Candidates in the last election used memes in their campaigns – using catch phrases, pictures – which went viral on the internet through social media, search, and other channels.
For those who don’t know, memes are internet sensations that become popular for a short amount of time. They mentioned a meme one of the panelists had created, where they compared members of Congress to characters from the Muppets. It was entertaining to see the members of Congress being equated with Muppets characters.
Another panel talked about convincing leaders in your organization of the importance of using social media. It was an interesting panel because they talked about how social media are powerful tools for getting news out there and engaging with people.
This was a great trip. The event seemed to go by fast.
I encourage you to go to this conference next year. I had a fantastic time and I know you will too!
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Here are highlights from the latest edition of News You Can Use:
National:
Lax State Rules Provide Cover for Sponsors of Attack Ads
Federal:
IG Report: ‘Inappropriate criteria’ stalled IRS approvals of conservative groups
SEC Pressed to Abandon Corporate Political Spending Disclosures Petition
From the States and Municipalities:
Alabama – GOP Considers Campaign Changes While Raising Money
Alabama – The Alabama Democratic Party: “We’re broke, broke, broke”
California – Cap on Political Party Contributions Moves Forward
Hawaii – Campaign Spending and Ethics Get Tech Upgrades
Missouri – Missouri Ethics Panel Fines Ex-Sen. Wright-Jones $270,000
New Jersey – Pay-to-Play Rollback Will Get One More Volley in Bergen, Pitting County Executive vs. Freeholders
New York – Ethics Panel Criticizes Assembly’s Response to Allegations against Lopez
Tennessee – Ethics Commission to Hold Hearing on Ingram Group ‘Oversight’
Tennessee – Lobbying Still Thriving Business in Nashville
Texas – House Sends Donor Disclosure Bill to Gov. Perry
Vermont – Campaign Finance Reform Failure Means Caps on Donations Unlikely to Occur until 2016 Campaign Cycle
State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.
News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.
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Freeholder Ordinance 13-06
On May 15, the Bergen County, New Jersey Board of Chosen Freeholders voted to override County Executive Kathleen A. Donovan’s veto of the new pay-to-play ordinance that passed on May 1.
This is the second pay-to-play ordinance vetoed by the county executive in the last eight months. On October 5, 2012, Donovan had vetoed a prior pay-to-play measure passed by the Board.
Freeholder Ordinance 13-06 changes the code to include lowering the debarment period for future county contracts from four years to one year. Under the new ordinance, contractors will also be able to make political contributions up to $5,200 to county political parties.
According to NorthJersey.com, another vote on the ordinance is required because the public notice for the legislation was not properly published. The board next meets on Wednesday, May 22.
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Here are some great articles for today’s government relations news summary:
Lobbying
“Washington Female CEOs Earn $600,000 Less Than Male Lobby Peers” by Danielle Ivory in Bloomberg Law.
Maine: “Business leaders lobby legislators at the State House” by Dan Carrigan in WCSH News Portland.
South Carolina: “SC Senate version of ethics-reform bill fails to regulate local government lobbying” by Curt Olson in Watchdog.org.
Campaign Finance
“Pelosi: IRS scandal illustrates need to reverse Citizens United” by Mike Lillis in The Hill.
Hawaii: “Hawaii Monitor: Campaign Spending And Ethics Get Tech Upgrades” by Ian Lind in the Honolulu Civil Beat.
Indiana: “Indiana is a zero in study of states’ campaign finance disclosure law for outside groups” by Mary Beth Schneider in the Desert Sun.
Minnesota: “Legislature moves to raise campaign limits” by Rachel E. Stassen-Berger in the Star Tribune.
New Mexico: “New Mexico gets failing grade in campaign finance disclosure study” by Matthew Reichbach in the New Mexico Telegram.
New York: “N.Y. ethics disclosures due” by Joseph Spector in the Journal News.
New York: “Cuomo Threatens Subpoenas in Bid for Public Campaign Financing” by Freeman Klopott in Bloomberg.
Vermont: “Campaign finance reform failure means caps on donations unlikely to occur until 2016 campaign cycle” by Nat Rudarakanchana in Vermont Business Magazine.
Ethics
“House Ethics Committee Approves Waiver for Gifts From Member’s Partner” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call’s MoneyLine.
“Edwards to Speak at Retreat a Year After His Trial” by The Associated Press on ABC News.
Connecticut: “A fixer’s tale of attempted bribes” by Mark Pazniokas in the Connecticut Mirror.
Missouri: “Mo. ethics panel fines ex-Sen. Wright-Jones $270K” by The Associated Press in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Missouri: “KC Council committee endorses more stringent ethics rules” by Lynn Horsley in the Kansas City Star.
Nebraska: “Email Trips Up Nebraska Attorney General, Agrees to $19,000 Penalty” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call.
Nevada: “Whittemore trial for illegal campaign contributions questions if strings attached to money” by Scott Sonner (Associated Press) in The Republic.
New Jersey: “N.J. accuses ex-candidate from Paterson of failing to report $700,000 in campaign spending” by Anthony Campisi in the Bergen Record.
New York: “John Liu Refunds Tainted Campaign Contributions” by Jill Colvin in Politicker.
New York: “Report Finds Lawmaker Was Shielded by Leaders” by Danny Hakim in The New York Times.
Texas: “Questions of Contradiction in Ethics Bills” by Emily Ramshaw and Aman Batheja in the Texas Tribune.
State Governments
Texas: “Texas House defeats term limits referendum” by Will Weissert (Associated Press) in the Houston Chronicle.
Washington: “Wash. lawmakers look to make recall process easier” by Mike Baker (Associated Press) in the Olympian.
Government Tech and Social Media
“State App Collection Published by NASCIO” in Government Technology.
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Election for 49th House District set for November 5
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced the dates for a special election Wednesday, and Genesee County Clerk John Gleason is pleased with his choice. The special election for the 49th District House seat will take place on Election Day, November 5, with the primary, if needed, to be conducted on August 6.
Gleason had said he was hoping Snyder would save the county money and schedule the special election on the normal election days, but he was not sure it would actually happen. “I’m tickled about that. I’m so glad. [He] never contacted us, but it worked out all right. The most important thing is that they got it right. It’s good for the taxpayers.”
Gleason started the run of special elections for Genesee County when he left the 27th District Senate seat after winning the November election for county clerk. Jim Ananich won the special election for the vacant Senate seat in May, leaving his House seat open.
Two people have already announced their intentions to run for the seat. Kyle McCree, manager of Community Outreach for the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce, announced earlier this week he plans to run and Phil Phelps, former special advisor for Richard Hammel and former chief of staff for Pam Farris, has been campaigning since April.
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Campaign finance reform will wait until next session
The Legislature adjourned late Tuesday, May 14, 2013, after passing a $1.4 billion budget bill.
Other hallmark legislation of the session included decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana, assisted suicide, and driver’s licenses for migrant workers, but the legislature failed to pass a major campaign finance reform bill.
Supporters of campaign finance reform vowed to revisit the issue in January 2014.
Photo of Vermont State ouse by Decumanus on Wikipedia.
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Keep up with the latest government relations news with these articles:
Lobbying
“Lobbying and Contributions by High Frequency Traders” by Kent Cooper in Roll Call.
“K Street worries over spread of IRS scandal amid push for tax reform” by Erik Wasson and Peter Schroeder in The Hill.
New York: “When Campaign Aides Are Lobbyists, Questions Mount” by Ross Barkan in City Limits.
Tennessee: “Tennessee Ethics Commission to meet on Ingram lobbying case” by Andy Sher in the Times Free Press.
Campaign Finance
“SEC nears decision on requiring businesses to disclose donations” by Ben Goad in The Hill.
“States’ Seek to Limit Undisclosed Political Donations” by Matea Gold, Chris Megerian and Mark Z. Barabak in Governing.
“IRS mess adds to campaign finance free-for-all” by Byron Tau, Tarini Parti and Kelsey Snell in Politico.
“Pelosi Injects Campaign Finance Debate Into IRS Scandal” by Emma Dumain in Roll Call.
Nebraska: “Nebraska Attorney General fined $19,000 by FEC” by The Associated Press in the Beatrice Daily Sun.
Texas: “House set to send disclosure bill to Gov. Perry” by Will Weissert (Associated Press) in the Houston Chronicle.
Vermont: “Vt. lawmakers drop campaign finance reform” by The Associated Press in New England Cable News.
From the State Legislatures
Arizona: “Lawmakers to see cut in daily pay this week” by The Associated Press in the Arizona Capitol Times.
Utah: “Utah Lawmakers Back to Capitol to Prep for Next Year” by The Associated Press in KUTV News.
Washington: “Washington lawmakers return to Capitol for special session” by The Associated Press in The Oregonian.
Washington: “Washington Gov. Inslee narrows priorities for legislative special session” by The Associated in The Oregonian.
Elections
“Which States Saw Voter Turnout Jump, Decline Most Last Year?” by Mike Maciag in Governing.
Social Media
“Social Advocacy & Politics: A Virtual Political Debate Via Twitter” by Alan Rosenblatt in Social Media Today.
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August 13 and September 10
A special election for the Massachusetts Sixth Bristol Representative District has been called to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative David B. Sullivan.
The office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin announced the special primary election will be held on August 13. The special general election will follow on September 10.
Sullivan resigned his position two weeks ago to become the executive director of the Fall River Housing Authority, according to The Herald News.
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“New Heights for Women Leaders”
State and Federal Communications is proud to be a speaker sponsor for the Women in Government Relations Spring Reception, which will be held at Union Station’s Columbus Club in Washington, D.C. The theme of the reception will be “New Heights for Women Leaders” and will be happening on Thursday, May 16, 2013 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
According to the WGR website: The Spring Reception brings together Members of Congress, Hill staff and the government relations and public affairs community to honor Congressional leaders who embody the vision of WGR – to advance and empower women in our field. This year we will be honoring two outstanding Members of Congress, Senator Mary Landrieu and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, as well as our very own Distinguished Member, Angel Riley.
Elizabeth Bartz, president and CEO of State and Federal Communications, Federal Compliance Associate Rebecca South, and Marketing Manager Melissa Coultas will be attending the event.
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