FEC

Politico: FEC increases scrutiny of Zinke’s former PAC

By Ben Lefebvre

The Federal Election Commission is asking a leadership PAC previously affiliated with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to account for more than $600,000 of previously unreported contributions from the first six months of 2017.

For most of the period in question, the committee, SEAL PAC, was overseen by Vincent DeVito, who is now a top aide to Zinke at the Interior Department, and this is the second time federal regulators have looked into discrepancies during his tenure. Zinke launched SEAL PAC when he was elected to Congress in 2014…

SEAL PAC in January filed an amended FEC report that showed it raised just over $1 million over the first six months of the prior year – an increase of $607,776 compared with its original report on the first half of 2017. About 90 percent of that increase came from donors who gave less than $200 apiece and did not have to disclose their names.

In a letter Sunday, the FEC asked SEAL PAC to “provide clarifying information as to why this activity was not disclosed on your original report.” The FEC asked for a reply by May 7…

In a separate letter Sunday, the FEC asked for more information on 20 donors whose employment information it deemed inadequate on SEAL PAC’s campaign finance report covering the second half of 2017, after DeVito had left the group.

Internet Speech Regulation

Reason: Don’t Look to the State to Keep Social Media Companies From Imposing Ideological Conformity

By J.D. Tuccille

Many giant tech companies that were among the biggest supporters of so-called net neutrality have increasingly turned out to be enthusiastic suppressors of content when left to their own devices. But don’t look for help to government agencies for help-not unless you want to empower authorities in a long and well-documented effort to muzzle officially disapproved speech. Instead, people who want to speak freely should actively seek out alternatives that let them do just that…

Governments may not target speech for the same reasons as tech-industry smugsters, but they do so vigorously, and with nastier tools.

Social media users who seek unhampered discussion need to support alternatives to the current complacent giants, and to encourage the creation of alternatives…

These giants grew to their current size by offering what people wanted. If the politically charged speech suppression they now peddle is not what the public is looking for, people should vote with their patronage by shifting to the competition.

The Media

New York Times: To Trump, It’s the ‘Amazon Washington Post.’ To Its Editor, That’s Baloney.

By Sydney Ember

On more than one occasion, the president has called the newspaper the “Amazon Washington Post.” He has also accused it of being used as a “scam” to keep Amazon’s taxes low. And on Twitter over the weekend, he escalated his attack, declaring the “Fake Washington Post” a “lobbyist” for Amazon and demanding that it “REGISTER.”…

“I don’t even know how to describe what goes through my mind,” Martin Baron, the paper’s executive editor, said in a telephone interview on Monday. “It’s completely made up.” …

Mr. Baron also rebuffed any suggestion that The Post was a lobbyist for Amazon, as Mr. Trump has proclaimed at times.

“There isn’t anybody here who is paid by Amazon,” he said. “Not one penny.” …

“I can’t say more emphatically he’s never suggested a story to anybody here, he’s never critiqued a story, he’s never suppressed a story,” the editor said.

“Frankly, in a newsroom of 800 journalists, if that had occurred, I guarantee you, you would have heard about it,” he added.

USA Today: Sinclair defends itself over uproar after local news anchors read anti-‘false news’ screed

By Mike Snider

After a video showing overlapping clips of anchors reciting the same script went viral, Democratic lawmakers and media critics condemned the company for thinly veiled editorializing that, they said, promoted President Trump’s attacks on the news media.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, tweeted Monday: “Local news stations now required by Sinclair Broadcasting to parrot the talking points of the President, moving America one step closer to its own version of state run media. And another freedom is assailed under this Administration.” …

“It is ironic that we would be attacked for messages promoting our journalistic initiative for fair and objective reporting, and for specifically asking the public to hold our newsrooms accountable,” [Scott Livingston, Sinclair’s senior vice president of news] said. “Our local stations keep our audiences’ trust by staying focused on fact-based reporting and clearly identifying commentary.”

Trump defended Sinclair on Twitter on Monday, adding to critics’ complaints that the TV company was acting as his proxy. “So funny to watch Fake News Networks … criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased,” he tweeted. “Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.”

Trump Administration

Wall Street Journal: White House Probes EPA Chief Pruitt Over His Links to Lobbyist

By Peter Nicholas

The White House is conducting a review of Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt’s activities after reports that he had rented accommodations in Washington at below-market rates from the family of an energy lobbyist, a White House official said Monday…

The purpose of the inquiry is to “dig a little deeper,” the first official said, indicating that the White House isn’t satisfied with a statement from the EPA last week that the $50-a-night lease agreement didn’t violate federal ethics rules…

Last week, the EPA defended Mr. Pruitt’s living arrangement, releasing a statement that he had not run afoul of ethics rules. “As EPA career ethics officials stated in a memo, Administrator Pruitt’s housing arrangement for both himself and family was not a gift and the lease was consistent with federal ethics regulations,” said EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox.

Johnson Amendment 

The Hill: No place for Washington to punish churches over politics

By John Pudner

Most campaign finance reformers agree that big political money being run through churches – or worse yet invented churches set up for that purpose is a problem. The Johnson Amendment goes too far. It focuses on silencing religious leaders from saying anything about their faith that could have political implications. This restriction is a direct hit on the First Amendment protection of the free enterprise of religion…

We now have a ridiculous system under which huge sums of secret money can be funneled into U.S. elections from anywhere in the world through unverified credit card contributions, LLCs or other means – while a young pastor or rabbi could cost their place of worship their tax status by talking about the relevance of a tenant of their faith to a modern political situation or campaign…

However, if any church money is spent on political activity (such as ads, phone banks, organizing to influence) this activity must be made public in the same way direct donations and in-kind contributions are publicized. These disclosures will also prevent large donors from circumventing the campaign contribution limits. 

An even easier way to prevent fallout from Johnson Amendment repeal is to encourage donations directly to candidates or to political parties over the super PACs or secret 527 groups that have a tendency to disappear the day after an election.

Candidates and Campaigns

Washington Post: Don’t let big and dark money ‘drown out the truth and drown out your voice’

By Katrina vanden Heuvel

While this deluge of spending poses a serious challenge, some Democrats have found a way to use it to their advantage by actively campaigning against it. In Pennsylvania, for example, Democrat Conor Lamb, the unlikely winner last month of a special election in a congressional district that President Trump carried by nearly 20 points, turned the money spent against him into a central part of his pitch. He bolstered his argument that the Republican tax-cut bill was “written for corporate donors” by refusing to accept money from corporate PACs. And he railed against dark money, which he told voters was being used “to drown out the truth and drown out your voice.”

There are similar stories of other candidates who are not just talking about the corrosive influence of money in politics, but actually walking the walk. In all, more than 100 federal candidates have committed to rejecting donations from corporate PACs. Hundreds are also refusing to accept NRA money in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. Like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) did in 2016, Lamb, Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Tex.) – who is refusing all PAC contributions for his Senate run – and others are proving that Democrats don’t need to cater to big donors to compete.

The States

U.S. News & World Report: Judge Approves Settlement Over New Mexico Campaign Cash

By Associated Press

A settlement agreement has been approved that allows Congressman Steve Pearce and other federal politicians to bring stockpiles of campaign cash home to run for New Mexico state offices.

U.S. District Court Judge Judith Herrera on Monday signed a settlement between Pearce and the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office that allows federal campaign contributions to be transferred to a state campaign if state contributions limits were not exceeded.

Pearce sued last year for access to more than $900,000 in a federal campaign account to use in his run for New Mexico governor as the lone Republican candidate, and won a preliminary injunction in November allowing transfers.

The office of Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver says the settlement aims to prevent loopholes around New Mexico campaign finance law.

Honolulu Civil Beat: Super PAC’s Attack Reveals Gaps In Hawaii Campaign Finance Law

By Nathan Eagle

Two weeks ago, Honolulu attorney Megan Kau launched a super PAC and website attacking former state Sen. Clayton Hee, who is running for governor this fall.

But voters won’t know the source of the money behind the political action committee or how much she is spending trying to smear the candidate over 30-year-old domestic violence allegations before absentee ballots go out for the Democratic primary.

The next campaign finance filing deadline is not until Aug. 1 for super PACs…

That leaves the public in the dark for the duration of that reporting period, which covers Jan. 1 to July 27 – two weeks before the Aug. 11 election.

Kau, a former Honolulu city prosecutor, formed the super PAC on March 14 after learning from friends that Hee’s divorce included a series of allegations related to domestic violence.

She created a website, Women Against Domestic Violence Hawaii, with money from the super PAC by the same name…

Three years ago the Legislature added a reporting deadline for non-candidate committees, such as super PACs, to help improve transparency between the primary and general elections. But lawmakers did not address filing deadlines for reports before the primary.