The dominoes are tumbling. Last week the Federal Election Commission issued two advisory opinions, AO 2010-9 and AO 2010-11, exempting the funding of PACs making independent expenditures (i.e., not making direct contributions) from federal contribution limits. In an editorial criticizing these FEC opinions, the New York Times noted, “the sluice gates are open on both [...]

Gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has issued The New NY Agenda: A Plan for Action.  Among the report’s recommendations to “clean up Albany” and restore trust and accountability are to:

Set severely reduced contribution limits for public contractors and lobbyists.  These limits would apply to candidates [...]

The “other holding” in Citizens United, the one in which eight justices concurred, upheld federal disclaimer and public disclosure requirements as applied to the film Hillary and televised advertisements for the film.  Looking perhaps to the future, the majority reflected that “[a] campaign finance system that pairs corporate independent expenditures with effective disclosure has not [...]

The holidays are upon us and so are the various gifts that companies send out annually during this time.   Whether it’s a small calendar or an expensive bottle of wine, it is important to be aware of the various gift restrictions that apply when the gifts are made to public officials.  The restrictions change depending [...]

Pay-to-play reforms take many different forms. For example, in New Jersey, the current restrictions are embodied in state statutes, gubernatorial executive orders, municipal ordinances, and State Investment Council regulations. Now, almost five years to the day after the first gubernatorial executive order limiting political contributions in relation to New Jersey State contracting opportunities, New York [...]

Since April 2007, the New Jersey State Investment Council has subjected firms seeking investment of state pension funds, and associated persons, to a ban on political contributions. The New Jersey regulation makes compliance with the ban a condition of eligibility for State investments. A proposal floated by New York Attorney General Andrew [...]

We’re continuing our look at restrictions applicable to lobbyists paying for receptions at the national party conventions. We’ve covered federally registered lobbyists and officials; this week we take a look at New York.

When is it improper for an attorney representing a private client to communicate with a municipal official? This topic was explored at a recent panel discussion presented by the Municipal Law Section of the New York State Bar Association in which I participated.
Lawyers representing private clients often make lobbying communications at the municipal level, [...]

The New York City Clerk’s office recently issued a special report commemorating the first year of enforcing the City’s new lobbying laws. Among other developments, the City penalized lobbyists and their clients over $326,000, more than $301,000 of which was for missing reporting deadlines. The report also details the commencement of a Random [...]

It is essential that political committees take steps to protect their assets from misappropriation and errors that lead to misreporting. Earlier this year the Federal Election Commission issued a policy statement creating a Safe Harbor for Misreporting Due to Embezzlement and also more general guidance on internal controls.