SUPER PAC SATURATION. NPR. “The super PACs have advantages over campaign organizations: Primarily they can accept unlimited donations, allowing a few wealthy backers to give large sums, something tailor-made for TV campaigns.”
REFORM AFTER STEVENS? Roll Call. “The release of a scathing report this week detailing widespread prosecutorial misconduct that botched the corruption trial of the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has reignited calls to revisit the rules requiring government prosecutors to hansd over evidence that could help exonerate criminal defendants.”
POST ON STEVENS CASE. Here. “What are the chances that a defendant, without the resources of a U.S. senator, would ever become aware of such improprieties?”
FCC OPPOSED ON AD BUY DISCLOSURE. The Post. “CBS and News Corp.’s Fox are among broadcasters fighting a plan to post names of campaign-ad buyers and purchase prices on the Web as record election spending raises concerns over anonymous political contributions.”
SUPER PAC DONORS. Story here. “Several contributors — including a Florida aerospace company that has contracts with the Defense Department, and a Boston-based construction company that is helping build a Navy base — are taking advantage of a legal gray area created by the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in the Citizens United case, which said that independent political expenditures could not be regulated based on who was making them.”
MORE DC CAMPAIGN OVERSIGHT? The Post. “A steady erosion of resources over the years — the staff of 16 is half the complement of the early ’90s — has handicapped the office and its ability to investigate. Which leads one to wonder: Is fiscal rectitude the only motivation for D.C. politicians who have cut the office’s budget?”
MONEY ORDERS IN DC. Story here. “Some D.C. Council members who are scrambling to explain how questionable contributions ended up in their campaign coffers deserve spots on Comedy Central.”
DOES FL NEED MORE SUNSHINE? Story here. “Florida has some of the nation’s most expansive open records policies, but its Sunshine Law does not adequately regulate the sometimes shadowy role of lobbyists, according to a national report released Monday.”
ETHICS REPORT RANKS STATES. Story here. “A new report measuring states on the strength of their laws on public corruption and government openness ranks Georgia last in the nation, a grade state officials dismissed as a biased hit job.”
UT LOBBYING RULES. Story here. “In fall 2009, the Governor’s Commission on Strengthening Utah’s Democracy recommended eliminating the lobbying loophole to ‘flatly prohibit state officials from engaging in all lobbying for compensation for one calendar year after the state official leaves office.’”
HAVE A GREAT DAY.
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