CT State Senator Gives $12K in Unused Contributions to Charity

Norwich Bulletin: “”Libraries, firehouses, and food banks in Eastern Connecticut are among the beneficiaries of State Sen. Andrew Maynard’s generosity.”

“The charitable contributions were outlined in Maynard’s latest campaign finance disclosure report, dated Jan. 10 and covering the period from Oct. 29 through Dec. 31.

“The 20-page report shows Maynard giving to groups throughout his 18th State Senate District, which includes Griswold, Groton, North Stonington, Plainfield, Preston, Sterling, Stonington and Voluntown. He had $16,400 in cash on hand from individual contributors at the beginning of the reporting period, according to the report filed by Maynard for State Senate treasurer David Popp.
They include the libraries in Preston and Voluntown, which each received $200, as well as the Voluntown Volunteer Fire Company, getting $100.”

Guide to Raising Money for Local Office

Times Gazette: “If you do decide you need to raise money from other people to support your campaign, most people running for city or county offices do not typically conduct elaborate fundraising mailings like candidates for state or national office. Instead, they usually hold fundraising get-togethers, where they ask friends and supporters to come to their home, a friend’s home or a rented hall and pay anywhere from $10 to $100 to eat a hot dog on a stick with potato chips.

“In fact, if you serve anything more elaborate or costly than a hot dog on a stick with potato chips you have held a bad fundraiser. Some candidates believe that since they are asking people to pay $10 to $100 to attend their event, they should serve an elaborate meal. Sometimes they even have the meal professionally catered. The official political term for this is ‘dumb.’ The point is to raise money for your campaign, not to raise money for an elaborate meal.”

Republican Legislator Praises Benefits of ME Public Financing

Bill Moyers: “I’ve had more people over the years say “Ed, you don’t need to do this. We’ll help you raise the money.” I know that I could get money, having worked for the largest savings bank in the state of Maine, well connected to the broker community, well connected to the bankers associations. Raising money would not have been a difficulty.

“People think, ‘well, the $375 that I get from the Maine bankers, that isn’t gonna sway me.’ But back in the back of your mind, every time a vote comes up for the Maine bankers, a vote that they’re endorsing, you can’t help but be subconsciously thinking ‘they gave me money last year, and I’m gonna need to get some money from them next year when I run again.’ It may or may not have influenced you, but it’s there playing somewhere in the back of your mind, it has to be. And I think, absolutely, to some degree, it does make a difference.

“The Clean Election program does two things. Well, it does more than that, but it does two major, major things. It stops you from being committed to special interest groups, and it forces you to go out and knock on doors and meet the public.”

5 Impacts of Citizen’s United

Businessweek: “1. Super PACs and other outside groups doubled their spending.

“2. Outside groups spent more than the candidates themselves in 2014’s closest races.

“3. It’s a rich person’s game.

“4. It’s getting darker out there.

“5. Democrats have checkbooks, too.”

Concord Councilor Calls for Citizen Movement Against Citizens United

Concord Monitor (1/10); The era of ‘MoneyPolitics’ has taken hold, and like the trusts of old, this corrosive system needs to be busted.

“While some await the arrival of a present-day Teddy Roosevelt to provide the needed leadership to remove us from this morass, it has become increasingly clear that a true citizen-driven movement that demands action from our political leaders is the more effective path to restoring the political health of our republic. Political leaders need to that they will be held accountable for their actions by the voters.

“This month, hundreds of citizens from both here in the Granite State and from across the nation will converge on Concord to draw attention to a central truth facing our democracy – the erosion of public confidence that our political system works for the general benefit of the nation.”

NJ Gov Allowed to Continue Fundraising for Legal Debts

Philly.com: “Typically, a campaign winds down after the election.

“Last February, the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission voted to authorize the [Chris] Christie campaign to continue to raise money so it could cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and a state legislative committee investigating the lane closures.

“The federal investigation into the lane closures – which jammed traffic at the bridge from Sept. 9 to 13, 2013 – is ongoing. The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that the campaign had received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office seeking records in regard to allegations that the Christie administration had canceled meetings with Jersey City’s Democratic mayor after he declined to endorse the governor’s reelection campaign.”

OH Rep Reimbursed Himself, Paid Wife from Campaign Funds

Colorado Springs Independent: US Rep Doug “Lamborn raised $590,021 for this 2014 campaign, 55 percent of which came from political action committees. He spent $463,059. A payment of $2,772, made to himself, is the one in question.”

“Other payments from Lamborn’s campaign account include $3,545 for mileage reimbursement, which translates to nearly 6,330 miles using the federal reimbursement rate of 56 cents per mile. Most of that expense, $2,698, was claimed during 2014. That equates to about 4,817 miles, which would be the equivalent of about 51 trips from Colorado Springs to Buena Vista — roughly the east-to-west span of the Fifth Congressional District.”

“Another $13,946 went to Lamborn’s wife, Jean Lamborn, for accounting services, bookkeeping, administrative consulting and campaign management. (His campaign paid her $33,297 in the 2012 campaign cycle for “salary” and administrative accounting, plus expenses.)”

CA Politicians Retain Campaign Cash by Creating Future Campaigns They Don’t Plan to Run For

SFGate (12/25): “But state election law requires candidates to close their campaign accounts and disburse the money within two years after losing an election or being termed out of office. Unless they’re planning to run for another office.
With another campaign on the horizon, however hazy it might be, the cash stays with the candidate — and this rule has forced some veteran officeholders into some unusual political contortions.

“For example, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer announced last year that he is retiring from politics, but he has $1.7 million in a campaign account for a purported 2018 run for lieutenant governor.”

Chicago Effectively Has No Campaign Finance Oversight

NBC Chicago (12/23): “That’s not to say that there aren’t government agencies who are, at least on paper, charged with the responsibility of overseeing potential campaign finance violations. Or reform-minded city officials and administrators who believe strongly that watching over political donations are a requirement for open and transparent government.

“Because there are.

“But the reality is that each of the three main municipal agencies best positioned or charged with campaign finance oversight—the Office of Legislative Inspector General, the Chicago Board of Ethics and the City of Chicago Office of Inspector General—are either prohibited by law from doing the job, have publicly said they don’t want the responsibility or have consistently run into political and administrative roadblocks that keep them from being effective.”

Citizens United Decision, Loophole Eviscerate IL Attempt at Limits

Chicago Sun Times (12/19): “Once upon a time, Illinois was known as the “Wild West” of campaign finance because the state lacked any substantive limits on what candidates could raise and spend on their runs for political office.

“That was supposed to change five years ago, when lawmakers in Springfield established the state’s first-ever contribution limits.

“But the deluge of dollars resumed a year later, following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in the Citizens United case, which struck down spending limits on corporations, labor unions and outside political funds.

“That, along with a major loophole in Illinois’ campaign finance law, produced an unparalleled fundraising orgy of nearly $100 million in this year’s governor’s race, nearly twice the $55 million raised in 2010.”