Independent Groups
NY Times: Call Off the Dogs
By Maureen DowdBrock fits into the Clinton tradition of opportunistic knife-fighters like Dick Morris and Mark Penn.The silver-haired 52-year-old, who sports colorful designer suits and once wore a monocle, brawled his way into a Times article about the uneasy marriage between Hillary Clinton’s veteran attack dogs and the group of advisers who are moving over from Obamaland.Hillary hasn’t announced a 2016 campaign yet. She’s busy polling more than 200 policy experts on how to show that she really cares about the poor while courting the banks. Yet her shadow campaign is already in a déjà-vu-all-over-again shark fight over control of the candidate and her money. It’s the same old story: The killer organization that, even with all its ruthless hired guns, can’t quite shoot straight.Squabbling competing factions helped Hillary squander a quarter-of-a-billion dollars in 2008.
NY Times: Will Scott Walker’s Money Moves Backfire?
By John GuidaAn awkward “punt” on a question about evolution aside, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has come out of the groundwork phase of a potential presidential run in strong position. He’s in the lead or basically tied for the lead in recent polls from the leadoff primary states, Iowa and NewHampshire. Yet the governor of a blue Midwestern state made an unusual fund-raising choice: a 527 organization, Our American Revival, which is subject to different regulations than the more common choice, a political action committee (like the one Jeb Bush set up).This choice might allow him to operate independently of his party — but such an approach might also have costs.
Washington Post: Clinton foundation’s global network overlaps with family’s political base
By Rosalind S. Helderman, Tom Hamburger and Steven RichThe financial success of the foundation, which funds charitable work around the world, underscores the highly unusual nature of another Clinton candidacy. The organization has given contributors entree, outside the traditional political arena, to a possible president. Foreign donors and countries that are likely to have interests before a potential Clinton administration — and yet are ineligible to give to U.S. political campaigns — have affirmed their support for the family’s work through the charitable giving.
Disclosure
Washington Post: The most interesting political stat of the day
By Aaron BlakeBig donors are revolutionizing the campaign finance game, after a series of court rulings allowing for bigger donations to so-called super PACs and overturning aggregate limits on donations to candidates.This is not news.What came as a surprise to us, though, is this: Even as the door has swung open wider to big money, there are fewer and fewer people walking through the doorway. That is, while the amount of money flowing into elections is bigger than ever, the number of total donors is actually shrinking.
Candidates, Politicians, Campaigns, and Parties
Washington Post: Hillary Clinton rebrands Obama’s frat house as her own
By Dana MilbankHer campaign chairman: John Podesta. Her campaign manager: Robby Mook. Her chief strategist: Joel Benenson. Her pollsters: Benenson, John Anzalone and David Binder. Her top media guy: Jim Margolis. John, Robby, Joel, John, David and Jim join former Obama hands such as Jim, Jeremy and Mitch, who have already been boosting Clinton’s candidacy in the super PAC world.This is quite a departure from Clinton’s run eight years ago, when a Huffington Post study found that eight of her 14 senior staffers and 12 of her 20 highest-paid staffers were women (including campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle, who was later replaced by Maggie Williams, and chief media strategist Mandy Grunwald). By contrast, only three of Obama’s top 12 staffers were women, and in less important roles.This surely wasn’t Clinton’s intent, but her decision to re-brand Obama’s frat house as her own puts out a message quite at odds with her candidacy: that women can’t run a presidential campaign. “Will Hillary ’16 Be a ‘White Dude Fest’?” the Daily Beast asked last month.
Politico: Inside Jeb Bush’s ‘shock and awe’ launch
By Ben White and Marc CaputoNEW YORK — In November 2013, Jeb Bush took to the rostrum at New York’s Marriott Marquis for the annual meeting of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, alongside such industry stars as Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein and Blackrock’s Larry Fink. Bush’s remarks, and his chatting afterwards, left many attendees convinced he was preparing to run for president. Word of Bush’s interest ricocheted around the political world.But Bush, a private citizen for eight years since leaving the Florida governor’s mansion, had no real infrastructure to handle such an endeavor. And as the third member of a storied political family to seek the presidency, just five years after his brother left office with near record-low approval ratings, he had no clear message or answer to the inevitable questions about why he was the right man for 2016. “He just got way out there beyond his capacity to manage and he consciously decided to take his profile down while thinking through how to make a run,” one friend said.So while even close Bush watchers began to doubt whether he was really serious about running, he and a close-knit group of advisers were following a careful plan aimed at maximizing his chances of winning the nomination, if and when he gave the thumbs-up.
State and Local
Delaware –– AP: Fines not being collected for campaign finance violations
DOVER, Del. — State lawmakers are taking Delaware’s elections commissioner to task for repeatedly allowing violations of campaign finance reporting laws to go unpunished.During a presentation to the legislature’s budget-writing committee Wednesday, Commissioner Elaine Manlove was quizzed about fines for late or missing campaign finance reports often being waived or going uncollected.One lawmaker says figures she recently received from the elections commission show more than $800,000 in outstanding fines, and more than $70,000 in fines that have been waived. That’s compared to less than $10,000 in fines that have actually been paid. In one case, an elected official didn’t file reports for 2006 until last year.
Montana –– AP: Senators to hear campaign finance proposals
Both bills would prohibit unions from contributing to candidates either directly or through a third party and would prohibit candidates from taking such contributions.SB 289 would require political donations be publicized more frequently and require the commissioner of political practices to post certain information on a website.The bills are two of four campaign finance measures backed by Republican Sen. Duane Ankney and Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock.
New Mexico –– Santa Fe New Mexican: Campaign finance code rewrite to prohibit candidate, PAC coordination
By Daniel J. ChacónAs part of an ongoing effort to strengthen Santa Fe’s public campaign finance code, the City Attorney’s Office will draft an ordinance that attempts to define what actions amount to coordination between a candidate and an outside political group.The city’s Ethics and Campaign Review Board asked Assistant City Attorney Zachary Shandler on Wednesday to translate a subcommittee’s report on coordination between candidates or their campaigns and independent expenditure groups into legislative language for possible consideration by the City Council.“It’s really to let candidates know how to behave when money is spent on their behalf,” said board member Ruth Kovnat, who served on the three-person subcommittee.
