Compliance Notes - Vol. 5, Issue 34
RECENT LOBBYING, ETHICS & CAMPAIGN FINANCE UPDATES
We read the news, cut through the noise and provide you the notes.
Welcome to Compliance Notes from Nossaman’s Government Relations & Regulation Group – a periodic digest of the headlines, statutory and regulatory changes and court cases involving campaign finance, lobbying compliance, election law and government ethics issues at the federal, state and local level.
Our attorneys, policy advisors and compliance consultants are available to discuss any questions or how specific issues may impact your business.
If there is a particular subject or jurisdiction you’d like to see covered, please let us know.
Until then, please enjoy this installment of Compliance Notes. If you would like to have these updates delivered directly to your in-box, please click below to subscribe to our Government Relations & Regulation mailing list.
Campaign Finance & Lobbying Compliance
New Hampshire: A new campaign finance law is allowing record-breaking spending in New Hampshire’s governor’s race. As of October 30, 2024, the Republican nominee and former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte has raised $21 million into her personal campaign fund, which is unusual because a majority of it comes from a single political action committee. The little-noticed law – added to last year’s state budget – allows New Hampshire candidates to accept unlimited contributions from “political advocacy organizations” without those organizations needing to disclose their donors. While individuals and businesses are still prevented from donating more than $30,000 in one election cycle to a “political committee” or “political party,” individuals are not capped in how much they may donate to a “political advocacy organization.” After the 2023 change, a political advocacy organization can now pass on unlimited funds directly to a candidate. That change means individuals or large party organizations like the Republican Governor’s Association (RGA) can pass major donations on to candidates – as long as they send those donations through a political advocacy organization. The Attorney General’s Office recently validated the Ayotte campaign’s fundraising practice, writing that accepting millions of dollars from a political action committee supplied by the RGA is legal, rebuffing a complaint by Democrats. (Ethan DeWitt, New Hampshire Bulletin)
Pennsylvania: A state judge on Monday, November 4, 2924, allowed Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day giveaway to swing state voters to proceed in Pennsylvania with one day to go before the tightly contested U.S. presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, Musk’s favored candidate. At a hearing in Philadelphia on Monday, Judge Angelo Foglietta rejected Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner’s bid to block the giveaways. Krasner alleged the payouts amounted to an illegal lottery with hazily defined rules. Musk has already given away $16 million to registered swing state voters who qualified for the giveaway by signing his political petition and said the final winner will be announced on Election Day on Tuesday. (Jack Queen, Reuters)
Government Ethics & Transparency
The Committee on House Administration issued a subpoena to ActBlue, a popular Democratic fundraising platform that has collected record donations for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, concerning the platform’s potential use to influence U.S. elections through illicit money laundering, according to a press release. Committee Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) asked the platform to comply by November 6, 2024. According to the subpoena, which follows an investigation by the committee into the platform’s donor verification policies, Steil and ActBlue sent a series of letters dating back to October 2023 regarding the platform’s verification practices and the committee’s attempts to regulate them. An ActBlue spokesperson told The Hill in an emailed statement that it received Steil’s inquiry and will “respond to address the continued inaccuracies and misrepresentations about our platform.” (Juliann Ventura, The Hill)
California: The San Francisco Ethics Commission has finalized an agreement to fine mayoral candidate Mark Farrell some $108,000 for commingling funds between his campaign committees, a practice his rivals had long criticized as an end-run around the city’s campaign finance limits. Farrell and Ethics Commission staff signed a settlement agreement on October 25, 2024, and Farrell acknowledged responsibility for the violations and agreed to pay the fine. While ethics penalties are often leveled years after the infractions, this case was turned around rapidly — with the news going public just one day before the election. (Joe Rivano Barros and Kelly Waldron, Mission Local)
Virginia: The campaign for a Richmond City Council candidate has reported thousands of dollars in donations from people who said they have never contributed any money, but no government official or agency contacted by CBS 6said they were investigating the situation. The responses from local and state officials are raising questions about the role of finances in politics and the mechanisms for accountability, and some advocates and experts believe Virginia’s campaign reporting laws need to be stronger. A political analyst stated that there really are not any current laws in Virginia that specifically govern how to report inaccurate finance campaign reporting, but instead, the laws simply address reporting violations about incomplete or untimely reports. The issues surrounding Floyd’s campaign raise questions for state legislators to address when they meet for the next General Assembly in just a couple of months. (Tyler Layne, CBS 6)
