A coalition of 60 investors, led by the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan and Walden Asset Management, recently announced that they have submitted shareholder proposals seeking additional disclosures regarding political spending and lobbying activities. This announcement reflects a continuing desire among these groups to obtain additional disclosures from public companies regarding lobbying and political spending, and
February 2014
Conflicting Signals on Finalizing the Proposed Treasury Regulations for 501(c)(4)s
Earlier today, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, in his first appearance before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government Oversight, stated that final regulations governing political activity by 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations are unlikely to be completed before the November elections.
His statement seems to differ from the White House Statement of Administration…
Connecticut Pay-to-Play Law Does Not Bar Giving to a State Party’s Federal Account
Connecticut’s campaign finance regulator, the State Elections Enforcement Commission (“SEEC”) recently released an important advisory opinion that made clear that a state contractor that is otherwise barred from giving to a state political party under Connecticut’s pay-to-play law can give to the party’s federal account, a point SEEC staff had previously addressed. However, the…
UK Adopts Mandatory Lobbyist Registry
On January 30, 2014, the UK Parliament adopted the “Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014.” Covington today issued a client advisory explaining the new law, which imposes mandatory registration and disclosure requirements on certain organizations that lobby in the UK. Significantly, however, unlike in the United States, the new UK…
State Action, Federal Inaction on Coordination Enforcement Cases
At the federal level, it is generally illegal for an outside group like a Super PAC or a 501(c)(4) organization to coordinate its independent expenditures with the candidate it supports. The same is true in many states. As we recently reported in our 2013 FEC Year in Review, however, the FEC did not act…
Record-Setting Enforcement by California’s Campaign Finance Regulator
California’s Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) is more aggressive than ever and is employing new tactics. The FPPC’s recently-released end-of-year report detailing enforcement activities in 2013 highlights some interesting statistics that should be on the radar of every company doing business in California.
Prosecutions of both “serious campaign cases” and lobbying violations were both “at…
Covington Releases New Data on FARA Audits Conducted by the Department of Justice
Covington & Burling LLP today released new data showing that the Department of Justice has maintained an increased level of Foreign Agents Registration Act audits,and settled into a consistent pattern of conducting 15 audits of FARA registrants each fiscal year.
In each of the last four years, the Department of Justice’s FARA office has conducted…
Covington Releases 2013 FEC Year in Review at its Corporate Political Activity Conference
In conjunction with the Corporate Political Activity and Government Affairs Compliance Conference, which Covington is hosting today in Washington, D.C., the firm’s Election and Political Law Practice Group has issued its 2013 FEC Year in Review. This is the second year in a row that we have undertaken a systematic study of the major…
The D’Souza Case and Big Data
The recent indictment of conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza is, in many ways, an unremarkable example of a garden variety “straw donor” prosecution. The Department of Justice cranks out a steady stream of them. Even the relatively small dollar amount at issue ($20,000) is not especially unusual. DOJ is aggressive in prosecuting even small reimbursement cases.…