CA APPROVES TEXT DONATIONS. Politico. “California became the first state Thursday to allow people to make political campaign contributions via text messages.” The FPPC staff memo is here. The proposed regulation is here.
GETTING SUPER PAC ADS ON THE AIR (AND KEEPING THEM THERE). Here’s an interesting legal memo from Michael Berg for interested parties working to get Super PAC ads on the air and prevent them from being pulled. “Stations have broad discretion to accept or turn down candidate-targeted (and issue) ads by super PACs and other ‘third party,’ non-candidate advertisers. Only legally qualified candidates for federal elected office have a right to ‘reasonable access’ to air time. The ‘no censorship’ rule applies only to ads by candidates, federal, state or local. Non-candidates are never entitled to lowest unit charge ad rates, which need to be provided only to legally qualified candidates or their authorized committees.”
CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP FUND LAUNCH. Politico. “The Congressional Leadership Fund, supported by House Republican leaders, launched Thursday. It’s the latest in a crop of new Congress-focused spending committees supported by party leaders that can raise unlimited cash and spend on political advertising in an individual race, though it may not coordinate directly with a candidate.”
NELSON ADS IN THE NEWS. Story here. “If Democratic U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson is uneasy about Republican complaints that he’s violating Senate ethics and federal election rules by appearing in several Democratic Party-sponsored ads, he’s not showing it.”
BOEHNER FUNDRAISING. Story here. “The speaker is using his financial muscle to bulk up the coffers of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is tasked with defending the House GOP’s 25-seat majority. Over the course of the year, Boehner has transferred more than $6 million to the NRCC.”
SUNCREEN LOBBYING SINCE 1978. The Hill. “A proposed regulation that would change how the sun protection factor (SPF) is listed on sunscreen labels has riled some in the cosmetics industry.”
SOLYNDRA DEVELOPMENTS. The Post. “The e-mails give a glimpse of both an investor’s welcome reception at the White House and the multiple roles [David] Prend had as he pushed for Solyndra. An administration official said [White House business liaison Greg] Nelson was properly interacting with a business investor seeking attention.” According to this report, Prend “was co-founder of Rockport Capital, an early investor in Solyndra, starting in 2007. He also chaired a renewable energy panel that advised Obama’s Energy Department on solar technologies and investments.”
OBAMA FUNDRAISING EDGE. The Post. “Despite his political troubles, President Obama has surged far ahead of his Republican rivals in raising money for the 2012 election, bringing in more than $150 million for his campaign and the Democratic Party from nearly 1 million donors, according to figures released Thursday.”
OBAMA FUNDRAISING EDGE II. The Post. “What’s clear — and has been since his 2008 race when he collected $750 million — is that Obama is the pre-eminent political fundraiser of his time.”
FRANK ON TREASURY TRAVEL. The Hill. “Frank had previously told members of the supercommittee on deficit reduction that Geithner was over-using military aircraft for travel, and requiring him to fly commercial for business could save ‘several million dollars a year.’”
LESSIG’S MESSAGE TO OWS. Here. He ties the Occupy Wall Street protests to campaign finance. “For there is a common ground between the anger of the Left and the anger of the Right: That common ground is a political system that does not work. A government that is not responsive, or — in the words of the Framers, the favorite source of insight for our brothers on the Right — a government that is not, as Federalist 52 puts it, “dependent upon the People alone. Because this government is not dependent upon ‘the People alone.’ This government is dependent upon the Funders of campaigns. 1% of America funds almost 99% of the cost of political campaigns in America. Is it therefore any surprise that the government is responsive first to the needs of that 1%, and not to the 99%?”
DURKEE DEVELOPMENTS. Story here. “Through Tuesday, the embattled political operative remained listed as the treasurer of record for 53 federal political committees, a POLITICO analysis of federal records indicates, despite facing a federal fraud charge and allegedly embezzling untold amounts of money from numerous clients, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).”
MA CASINO GAMBLING APPROVED. Story here.
LIU’S MYSTERIES. Story here. “The New York Times reported Wednesday that John Liu, who is considered a top-tier contender for mayor in 2013, has numerous inconsistencies in his campaign finance reports, including questions about whether some donors even exist.”
GETTING PAID IN DETROIT. Story here. “Detroit’s former Washington lobbyist is owed $348,700, and the city has unpaid invoices dating to 2009, Mayor Dave Bing’s staff told the City Council on Wednesday.”
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND.
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