Politico: NRSC replacing finance director 

By James Hohmann

The NRSC and other right-leaning groups have struggled with donor fatigue after the GOP thumping in 2012. The party went into last year with hopes of winning the majority but wound up losing two seats.  

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which controls the majority, has raised $30.7 million so far this year, through the end of July. The NRSC has raised $20.3 million.  

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By EDMUND H. MAHONY

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Tirado and Paul Rogers co-owned Smoke House Tobacco, a roll-your-own smoke shop with two locations in Waterbury, and conspired to direct contributions into Donovan’s campaign. The conspirators recruited multiple individuals to serve as conduit contributors, which means they allowed checks to be written in their names to the campaign and were reimbursed with cash, concealing the participation of roll-your-own shop owners.  

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By Kevin Bogardus

Michael Soliman, most recently the state director for Menendez, will begin work as managing director on Sept. 17.  

Soliman managed Menendez’s 2012 reelection campaign, and has worked for several other New Jersey Democrats, including the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Rep. Bill Pascrell and Rep. Steve Rothman. 

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By Jennifer Koons

Arlen “Benny” Cenac, a Louisiana businessman who pleaded guilty in June to criminal campaign finance charges, had filed a motion on Aug. 26 requesting the sentencing be delayed for 90 days after he became aware of comments that FEC Vice Chairman Donald McGahn II made to The Washington Post questioning the handling of Cenac’s case by the commission’s office of general counsel and the Justice Department. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier denied the motion.  

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By Christine Ferretti

Union activist Robert Davis is asking state regulators to revoke the gaming license of Quicken Loans Inc. Chairman and Founder Dan Gilbert on claims his company made illegal contributions to Mike Duggan’s Detroit mayoral campaign.  

In the complaint filed Thursday with the Michigan Gaming Control Board, Davis claims the Detroit-based mortgage lender’s political action committee — Quicken Loans Inc. Independent Political Action Committee — contributed $34,000 to the Mike Duggan for Mayor Committee. State records confirm the donation was made in July.

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By DAVID M. HALBFINGER

But interviews and a review of thousands of pages of records — schedules, e-mails, pension statements and campaign finance reports — suggest frequent overlap of Mr. Thompson’s political ambitions and the comptroller’s operation, and that like many pension overseers at the time, he raised campaign money aggressively from those seeking business from his office.  

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By Harold McNeil

Mazurek is treasurer of the newly registered PAC, Western New York Progressive Caucus, and co-host of the political affairs talk show “2 Sides” that airs at noon every Sunday on WGRZ-TV, Channel 2.  

To her detractors, it’s an unseemly marriage of journalism and partisan politics, for which she was taken to task Tuesday at a news conference outside the WGRZ studios on Delaware Avenue by Legislature Chairwoman Betty Jean Grant and Legislator Timothy R. Hogues. The two Buffalo Democrats, who aligned with Mazurek’s rivals at Democratic headquarters, have complained that they are being unfairly maligned in anonymous mass mailings being put out by Mazurek’s PAC.  

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By Ben Pershing

An environmentalist billionaire is putting another half-million dollars into the effort to beat Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II, the latest sign that outside groups plan to pour cash into the Virginia governor’s contest.  

Tom Steyer — a San Francisco-based financier who previously put $400,000 behind an ad attacking Cuccinelli for his legal efforts against then-University of Virginia climate researcher Michael Mann — is upping the stakes. NextGen Climate Action Committee, a super PAC bankrolled by Steyer, is putting roughly $500,000 into a new ad that makes a broad attack on the ethics of Cuccinelli, who is squaring off against businessman Terry McAuliffe (D).

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