Independent Groups
Journal Sentinel: Walker campaign, conservative groups subpoenaed, newspaper reports
By Patrick Marley
Eric O’Keefe, the director of the Wisconsin Club for Growth, told the nation’s most widely known conservative editorial page he received a subpoena in early October. O’Keefe said at least three targets had their homes raided, according to the newspaper.
The opinion piece said about 30 groups had received subpoenas, including heavy hitters nationally. It named eight of them: Walker’s campaign; the Wisconsin Club for Growth; American Crossroads, a group co-founded by Karl Rove, the former adviser to President George W. Bush; the Republican Governors Association; the Republican Party of Wisconsin; Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin; Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s largest business lobbying group; Wisconsin Family Action; and the League of American Voters.
AP: GOP Group Money Down, Hints at Donor Uncertainty
By Thomas Beaumont and Steve Peoples
The biggest Republican-leaning money machines are spending dramatically less this year to help the party ahead of the 2014 Senate elections, two years after millions of dollars in early advertising by outside groups against Democrats backfired in embarrassing losses in otherwise winnable races.
Groups such as American Crossroads and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce no longer are willing to risk major investments on hard-line conservatives who embarrassed GOP leaders last fall and rattled the confidence of party donors. Many remain concerned after last month’s government shutdown highlighted Republican divisions.
CPI: Anti-Obama nonprofit tells IRS it’s not ‘political’
By Michael Becker
In a new tax return filed Friday and first obtained by the Center for Responsive Politics, the American Energy Alliance, led by former Koch Industries lobbyist Thomas Pyle, told the Internal Revenue Service that it did not “engage in direct or indirect political campaign activities on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for public office” last year.
The group made an even more explicit pledge to be nonpartisan when it applied for tax-exempt status in 2008, telling the IRS that it had “no interest in supporting the agenda or any particular political party or political candidate.”
Disclosure
Politico: GOP candidate’s Democratic giving past
By Byron Tau
But his long donation history — as well as his time as a registered lobbyist for Three Bridges Advisors and Van Scoyoc Associates — underscores the challenges that any K Streeter faces in running for office
While a bipartisan schedule of fundraisers is simply the cost of doing business for most lobbyists looking to have influence on Capitol Hill and in the White House, they’re a potential liability in any partisan primary, where voters are more likely to want aggressive confrontation — not bipartisan influence peddling and access seeking — from their nominees.
Lobbying and Ethics
CPI: American League of Lobbyists changes name
By Dave Levinthal
The American League of Lobbyists — known as such since its founding in 1979 — will now call itself the Association of Government Relations Professionals, organization officials confirm to the Center for Public Integrity. A formal announcement is expected Tuesday morning.
The change comes after 83 percent of the group’s voting membership backed the new moniker during a vote conducted from Oct. 15 through Friday. It also considered calling itself the National Association of Government Relations Professionals and the Government Relations Professionals Association.
Washington Post: Capital gains: Spending on contracts and lobbying propels a wave of new wealth in D .C.
By Greg Jaffe and Jim Tankersley
The winners in the new Washington are not just the former senators, party consiglieri and four-star generals who have always profited from their connections. Now they are also the former bureaucrats, accountants and staff officers for whom unimagined riches are suddenly possible. They are the entrepreneurs attracted to the capital by its aura of prosperity and its super-educated workforce. They are the lawyers, lobbyists and executives who work for companies that barely had a presence in Washington before the boom.
The Hill: Ethics panel: Dem took improper travel gift
By Molly K. Hooper
The House ethics panel has determined that a House Democrat accepted an “impermissible gift” from a private sponsor of a trip to Taiwan in 2011.
The House Committee on Ethics did not punish Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) for the violation because he has already reimbursed the Chinese Cultural University (CCU) for the cost of the 2011 visit, which he made with his wife.
State and Local
California –– Sacramento Bee: What a day for political ethics in California
By Laurel Rosenhall
Even for a political town where claims of wrongdoing are woven into the competitive fabric, Sacramento has seen an unusual burst of activity alleging ethical breaches by the powerful.
On a single day this week, the Democratic leader of the state Senate stood before the Capitol to address the latest allegations in an FBI corruption probe, a Republican state senator took the witness stand to testify he had not engaged in money laundering, the state’s political watchdog handed down fines to two past lawmakers who admitted campaign finance violations, and three former government officials who were recently fined for not registering as lobbyists sat through a required ethics class.
Virginia –– Washington Post: New invoices bring taxpayer-paid legal bills for McDonnell gifts scandal to $575,000
By Rosalind S. Helderman
Private attorneys representing the office of Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell and other government officials grappling with federal and state investigations of McDonnell’s interactions with a wealthy political benefactor have now charged taxpayers more than $575,000.
According to invoices released by McDonnell’s office Friday, two private firms representing McDonnell and his staff racked up more than $331,000 in fees in July, August and September.
