Political Science

AL.com reports: Following the money could soon become much easier in Alabama. Secretary of State Beth Chapman this morning demonstrated the state's new computerized campaign finance filing system designed to bring Alabama out of the disclosure dark ages. The electronic...

Some members of Congress are evidently concerned that corporate defendants are getting off the hook. Too many deferred- and non-prosecution agreements, and not enough criminal indictments.

SEN. MCCONNELL ON IRS AND CFR. Here. “The First Amendment was not written to protect popular speech. It was written to protect speech that was not popular. The moment we lose sight of that, we betray the principle of equal justice that lies at the heart of our system. We can hope the president and all who do the work of government have relearned that lesson in recent days, but we can’t count on that. The American people need to remain vigilant against any effort by the powerful to stifle speech — and do everything they can to prevent it.” POST RESPONDS. Here. “The road to passage for any legislation this year is going to be uphill, but the push for greater openness deserves support. In a political system saturated with cash, transparency is the last, best hope for accountability.” WHAT’S IN A (SUPER PAC) NAME? HuffPo. “Federal law, in most cases, only permits political committees authorized by a candidate to use that candidate’s name — which super PACs, by definition, are not.” LERNER AND THE FIFTH. The Post. “While Internal Revenue Service official Lois G. Lerner invoked the Fifth Amendment in her refusal to testify before Congress Wednesday, the fact that she gave a lengthy opening statement defending her innocence infuriated some lawmakers and prompted them to suggest she had inadvertently waived her right against self-incrimination.” LERNER AT THE FEC. BuzzFeed. “In 1998, while heading the Federal Election Commission’s enforcement office, she was accused by the House Committee On Oversight and Government Reform of failing to investigate a fundraiser who had connections to then-Vice President Al Gore.” AL: VOTE ON CAP. News here. “Alabama lawmakers have agreed to a litany of changes to state election law, including eliminating the cap on corporate political contributions and making it easier for regulated utilities to influence campaigns.” CO: SELF-AUDIT. Story here. “Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler appears to have had himself audited.” NJ: EASY ETHICS FIXES. Here. “In a state where the media is obsessed with the relationship between government officials and campaign contributions, so many more obvious ethics issues with much easier fixes are ignored.” SC: SENATOR FIGHTS CHARGES. Here. “Sen. Robert Ford’s attorney said Wednesday that ethics allegations against the Charleston Democrat should be thrown out because he didn’t realize he was under investigation.” VA: GIFT DISCLOSURE ISSUE. The Post. “A Richmond prosecutor is investigating whether Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell violated state gift and disclosure laws — a probe that was initiated by state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II.” HAVE A GREAT DAY. I’ll send around the next set of links on Tuesday. Have a nice weekend and I’ll see you then.

Job Title: Assistant Chief Auditor Company: Public Company Accounting Oversight Board Location: Washington, D.C.

Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)The re-appointment of Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan has received quite a lot of attention in the U.K. on account of his continued unified role as chairman and chief executive.

By Stefan Passantino & Ben Keane As readers of this blog know well, the avowed goal of the SEC's pay-to-play framework is to protect the integrity of the public procurement process by preventing registered investment advisors from improperly influencing the award of state and local contracts for the management of public investment funds. On its surface, Rule 206(4)-5, which bars investment advisors from managing public investment funds in jurisdictions where their political contributions or the contributions of their “covered associates” exceed $150 per election to elected officials who directly or indirectly oversee such funds, seems well suited to this task. The problem is that many covered by these provisions – and their helpful in-house compliance officers – erroneously believe that SEC restrictions apply to contributions to ALL candidates. This is incorrect. The language of Rule 206(4)-5 neither prohibits nor restricts investment advisors from contributing to federal candidates who presently hold no state or local office – only state "officials" from a "government entity" who have the power to directly or indirectly influence the outcome of the hiring of investment advisors (check out page 43 of the SEC's link above if you don’t believe me). As we, and others, have pointed out previously, this rule does not apply to contributions to sitting federal candidates or to private citizens running to replace those federal candidates. Likewise, the SEC's pay-to-play provisions place no restrictions on political donations from covered entities or individuals to state or municipal candidates who play no role in the direct or indirect oversight of public investment funds. Of course, state and local pay-to-play rules might still apply in certain circumstances – such as where a sitting state official is running for federal office, but there is no need (as a reaction to SEC pay-to-play regulations) to adopt caps that artificially restrict the ability of investment firm employees to engage in constitutionally-protected political speech. Much the same error of interpretation can be seen in the MSRB pay-to-play context. Like their brethren in the investment advisory world, many municipal finance professionals covered by Rule G-37 erroneously believe that its provisions restrict political contributions to ALL candidates. This is simply not the case. Rule G-37's candidate contribution provisions only restrict donations to "official(s) of any issuer" who can directly or indirectly influence the hiring of a municipal securities professional, or donations to state officials or candidates who have the authority to appoint persons with such influence. The MSRB's regulatory framework does not prohibit contributions to federal candidates who hold no state or local office, nor does it bar contributions to private citizens turned federal candidates. Keeping these points mind, we hope that our readers working in the investment advisory and municipal finance arenas take a moment to examine their current political contribution policies, and ensure that they successfully protect their business development interests without unnecessarily curbing otherwise legitimate and beneficial political activities. On the other hand, it could be that the SEC and MSRB pay-to-play rules are simply an inoffensive way to say "thanks, but no thanks" to your friendly neighborhood federal candidate. Can’t do anything about that…

We've reported allegations of bribery by companies that make and run the dreaded red-light cameras (here and here).

You can now pre-order the second edition of the China Anti-Corruption Handbook, which is set for an early June release.

An investigation by Canada's The Globe and Mail and CBC News has uncovered more dirt on troubled engineering giant, SNC-Lavalin. The investigation uncovered secret accounting codes that had been used for years to indicate bribes for contracts in Asia and Africa.

BOLO-GATE DAY 12. Tax Prof Blog has the latest. CA: TRACFONE COMPLAINT. Press Release. “We have hereby requested that the FPPC investigate our claims in accordance with California’s ethics laws in order to determine the true sponsors of TCOV and whether the political process in California has been unduly subverted by corporate and/or political interests.” More here. CT: AIDE CONVICTED. Story here. “Robert Braddock Jr., the campaign finance director for former House Speaker Christopher Donovan, was convicted Tuesday of scheming to hide the sources of contributions to Donovan’s failed campaign for Congress.” NY: SOFT MONEY UPDATE. Here. “Contributions to New York’s limitless campaign accounts soared 24 percent over six years, jumping to a total of $87 million, a report Tuesday found.” NY: CAMPAIGN FINANCE AND REALITY TV. News here. “The CBS ‘reality’ series ‘Brooklyn D.A.’ is an illegal campaign contribution to incumbent District Attorney Charles Hynes, his Democratic primary challenger claims in court.” SC: OPPOSITION TO REFORM.News here. “South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is facing a bumpy political ride as she continues her push for a sweeping overhaul of the Palmetto State’s ethics laws.” HAVE A GREAT DAY.