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Campaign Finance

A new way to influence elections without transparency

We are seeing the first detailed evidence of the tampering that went on during the 2016 campaign for U.S. President.  This is a whole new category of "nasty" that allows people without scruples to feed false information into the mix without any transparency.  In this article, the NY Times lays out a host of Facebook and Twitter advertising that was purchased (estimated at $100,000 in paid advertising) but sources were never  revealed - as you might expect.

DC's Mayoral Booster Club To Closes Its Clubhouse

I have all but called for prohibiting mayoral golf tournaments and similar pet nonprofit events, because they are an unnecessary form of pay to play that is legal primarily because they help good causes in the community. China, which tends to take things too far, has gone extremely far in the latest order of the Communist Party's Central Committee, according to an article in last week's Economist.

Attempt to Make Gift Bans Unconstitutional in KY

It was only a matter of time before the U.S. Supreme Court's campaign finance opinions (and decisions at the trial and appellate level that have applied them to other situations) would be used to argue that conduct prohibited or limited by government ethics provisions are also protected as free speech by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Prosecutorial Interference with a Local Government Ethics Investigation

Yesterday, two members of a New York City council member's election campaign were indicted on criminal charges brought by a special prosecutor, who was appointed in 2012. Read this December 2014 New York Law Journal op-ed piece by Brennan Center (NYU) Chief Counsel and longtime New York City Corporation Counsel Frederick A.O.