Posts Tagged ‘pay to play laws’

New Pay to Play Laws Take Effect Today

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011 by Vbhotla

Under new pay to play laws that go into effect today, the SEC will restrict investment advisers from directly or indirectly providing any advisory services to a state or local government entity for two years following a campaign contribution.  The ban extends to “covered associates” who consist of any general partner, managing partner, or “executive officer,” or other individuals with a similar status or function; any employee who solicits government business or supervises someone who does; any PAC “controlled by” the investment adviser or one of its covered associates; all employees who solicit a government entity for the investment; and, in some cases, employees of a parent company, which could, in some cases, include employees of a parent company.

The title “executive officer” was clarified to exclude those with titles that may indicate significance, but who, in reality, do not impact policy.   For the purposes of this exclusion, “executive officer” has been defined as the president and vice presidents fast bad credit payday loans in charge of principal business units.
De minimis contributions (those of $350 or less per election per candidate if the contributor is eligible to vote for the candidate, $150 or less if outside of the contributor’s district) are exempt from the restriction.
Also included in the new law is a bundling prohibition.  Investment advisers may not solicit or coordinate contributions for candidates or political parties in the states or localities in which they practice and may be looking to provide advisory services to the government.  There is no outright ban on third party solicitors, but an investment adviser may not pay non-regulated persons to provide the services.  Any third party solicitor must be subject to similarly stringent pay to play regulations.
The rules apply not only to registered investment advisers, but anyone who employs the private adviser exemption, and covers even indirect acts which, if done directly, would be in violation of the rule.

Weekly Lobbying News Round-Up

Friday, October 8th, 2010 by Vbhotla

Opponents say Nancy Pelosi’s “swamp-draining” ethics pledge of 2007 seems to be a low priority for theWeekly news embattled speaker.

The State Department has rolled out new per diem rules after a series of lawmakers admitted to keeping excess funds from overseas travel.

More on the mid-term problem for some candidates of having to “overcome” lobbyist ties. (From Open Secrets)

Following up on reports that lobby shops are beefing up their Republican practices in anticipation of a heavily-favored GOP mid-term season, The Hill reports on K St. firms making advances towards Democratic lawmakers in danger of losing their seats.

The House has passed a bill to resolve conflicts between states’ pay to play laws, according to LobbyComply blog. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), sponsored the bill; Rep. Quigley is a legislator who is noted for his work toward continuing ethical best practices (his Transparency in Government Act included new disclosure requirements for lobbyists).

Congressional cage match! It’s the Rahalls v. the lobbying firm that used to employ Tanya Rahall (sister of Congressman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.). The firm (which hasn’t done much lobbying in recent years, according to their Senate LDA filings) claims that Ms. Rahall improperly used client data.

I’m a little foggy on the details of public pensions placement agents, but if that phrase makes any sense to you, you may want to read this report from Pay to Play Law Blog on California’s new lobbyist registration law.

Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center has an interesting look at the OCE’s recent cases, and what the outcome “should have been.” Worth a read!

The Onion riffs off those press releases you see all the time about such and such organization hiring so and so to advance their lobbying goals. (And their fictional lobbyist “Jack Weldon” works for Patton Boggs.)   “American People Hire High-Powered Lobbyist to Push Interests in Congress.”

Quote of the Week

“[CDFPAC] policy dinners are ‘one of the best things that happen in Washington… [they’re] a little bastion of enlightenment and intellectual discourse… If I’m gonna give money, I’d rather have it go to this than to some inane TV commercial,’” Former Rep. Toby Moffett, a Democratic consultant, Politico, 10/5/2010