In the News
USA Today: Politicians move to rake in more campaign cash
By Fredreka Shouten
“It enables more speech by more people,” David Keating, president of the Center for Competitive Politics, said of the increased limits. “We think that part of the spirit of the First Amendment is people being able to speak about what they believe in.” Keating, a plaintiff in the federal case that made super PACs possible, would like states to discard limits entirely.
CCP
IRS Targeting Scandal: Part II
By Joe Trotter
The IRS needs to take steps to move itself out of the minefield of governing political activity, and, much like the recent decision by the SEC to stay out of political speech regulation, focus on it’s core competency as a neutral, nonpartisan collector of revenue. These proposed rules do just the opposite.
For more information, check out CCP’s new page on the proposed IRS rules
Independent Groups
Wall Street Journal: IRS Targeting: Round Two
By Kim Strassel
What makes this targeting more obvious is that the Obama Treasury rule only applies to 501(c)(4) groups. The ultra-liberal League of Women Voters Education Fund is registered as a 501(c)(3)—one of those “charities” supposedly held to the strictest IRS standards on politicking. Yet it brags on its website that it holds “candidate debates and forums,” and that its “educational activities” include “understanding candidate views and ballot initiatives.”
The League will continue to be able to do its voter guides and registrations and candidate forums. Yet under this new rule, any conservative social-welfare organization that attempts to do the same will likely lose its tax-exempt status. Nor does the new rule apply the biggest spenders of all in politics—unions, which are registered as 501(c)(5)s. The only category muzzled is the one recently flooded by conservative groups that Democrats fear in the 2014 election.
Consider the timing. This “proposed guidance”—while technically pending public comment—puts conservative groups on immediate notice that it could be enforced at any moment. It is clearly designed to have a chilling effect on any group gearing up for next year’s midterms, just as the first round of targeting was designed to dampen conservative participation in the 2010 and 2012 elections.
The Hill: Finance Committee clears IRS nominee
By Bernie Backer
On Friday the Senate Finance Committee cleared President Obama’s choice to lead the IRS, despite GOP objections that the panel was rushing the nomination.
The panel cleared John Koskinen via voice vote, with Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) as the lone audible “no” vote.
Washington Post: Boehner: Tea party groups have ‘lost all credibility’
By PAUL KANE AND MATEA GOLD
On Thursday, he relished having a longer, more expansive critique of the groups. “I don’t care what they do,” Boehner said at one point, suggesting that after years of helping sabotage pacts that he and his lieutenants were trying to craft, the conservative activists had finally begun to “step over the line” by opposing Ryan’s deal.
None of the speaker’s comments is new, but the public airing of his grievances demonstrated a belief that he is in a stronger internal position within his own GOP caucus – and more importantly, that his rank-and-file has grown exhausted from the steady drumbeat of threats from the groups that they would back a primary challenger against the lawmakers unless they vote a certain way.
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Chicago Sun Times: Rent, spending questions on Rep. Bobby Rush’s campaign
By CHUCK NEUBAUER AND SANDY BERGO
For the past dozen years, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., hasn’t reported paying any rent for his campaign office, records show, in what experts say could be a violation of federal election law or House ethics rules.
Politico: GOP and conservative groups: The breakup begins
By Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman
House Republicans and big money conservative groups are going through a breakup.
Groups like FreedomWorks and Heritage Action demanded Republicans reject Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget deal — or else.
Lobbying and Ethics
Roll Call: Obama Replaces His Hill Lobbyist With a Senate Veteran
By David Hawkings
President Barack Obama replaced his chief lobbyist on Capitol Hill today, concluding that his legislative affairs director for the past year had lost the confidence of too many congressional Democrats and made minimal inroads with the Republicans.
Katie Beirne Fallon will be the fourth person Obama has had in the job. She’s been working in the West Wing as the president’s deputy communications director only since the summer. Before that, she was a top aide to Sen. Charles. E. Schumer of New York, serving as staff director of the Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Center.
The Hill: Dem: Ethics should probe Radel’s cocaine conviction
By Alexandra Jaffe
Democrat April Freeman is confident she can take down Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.), who pled guilty to cocaine possession last month.
The businesswoman and Democratic activist argues Radel should resign form office and that his decision to take a leave of absence to attend rehab is troubling because it leaves the residents of Florida’s 19th District without representation.
State and Local
Maryland –– Washington Post: Attorney General Gansler’s office won’t advise on fundraising issue in Md. governor’s race
By John Wagner
The State Board of Elections is preparing to issue guidance that is likely to determine whether the running mate of Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown (D) continues raising money during the 90-day legislative session that starts next month. This has become an issue because the Democratic primary is being held in June, several months earlier than in past election cycles.
Maryland law prohibits statewide officeholders, including Brown and Gansler, from raising money during the session. Members of the state legislature are also forbidden to raise money during the session, which means that Gansler’s running mate, Del. Jolene Ivey (Prince George’s), is subject to the ban as well.
Michigan –– Detroit Free Press: Campaign finance bill a defining moment for Gov. Snyder
By Rich Robinson
The nut of the issue is the definition of a campaign expenditure. The legislators who wrote the Michigan Campaign Finance Act knew that campaign ads don’t always explicitly tell viewers how to vote. The statute they adopted calls for disclosure whenever there is clear inference of support for (or opposition to) a candidate. But Secretary of State Johnson’s predecessor, Terri Lynn Land, confounded the Legislature’s intent when she ruled in 2003 that disclosure was required only if a campaign ad used express advocacy. All other ads, Land decreed, were “issue ads” exempt from any requirement to reveal who paid for them.
