Compliance Notes - Vol. 2, 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.
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Campaign Finance & Lobbying Compliance
Igor Fruman, a former associate of Mayor Rudy Guiliani, is expected to change his plea to guilty in a federal criminal case charging him with making a concealed contribution to benefit the Trump campaign and causing a false statement to that effect to be filed with the FEC. (Politics, CNBC)
Michigan: Former Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser will not face criminal prosecution for paying a Secretary of State candidate to drop out of the 2018 primary. (Samuel Robinson, MLive)
New Mexico: Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber filed a complaint with the city’s ethics commission alleging that fraternal organizations coordinated with his rivals for office on attack ads against him. (Morgan Lee, AP via US News & World Report)
Virginia: Former Norfolk County Sherriff Bob McCabe testified at his own criminal trial that although he violated campaign finance laws by receiving gifts and loans from businesses that had city jail contracts, he did not commit bribery. (Associated Press)
Government Ethics & Transparency
U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert is facing questions over the newly reported consulting contract that her husband had with Terra Energy, which was previously undisclosed on House financial disclosure forms. (Roger Sollenberger, The Daily Beast)
Hawaii: A local business owner has filed an ethics complaint against Hilo Councilwoman Sue Lee Loy, alleging that she had a conflict of interest when voting on a recent change to the city’s construction code because the Councilwoman’s daughter works for the island’s only home builder company and would benefit from the change. (Nancy Cook Lauer, West Hawaii Today)
Massachusetts: Joshua Garcia, a Blandford Town administrator and candidate for mayor of Holyoke, is facing an ethics complaint for misuse of public resources for filming a campaign video in which he was seated at his official town desk. (Dusty Christensen, Daily Hampshire Gazette)
Ballots
California: In responding to a report of a man passed out in his car, police in Torrance found 300 ballots for the upcoming gubernatorial recall election, along with illicit drugs and a gun. Police are not sure how he obtained the ballots or whether there were any plans for them. (Gregory Yee, Los Angeles Times)
Nonprofits
North Carolina: The state legislature has passed a bill that would require nonprofits to obtain donors’ permission before disclosing their names to anyone. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk. (AP via WRAL)
