Clips Round-Up 3/31
Citizens United/Fair Elections Van Hollen warns of ‘dangerous waters’ Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) predicts that “campaign finance reform” will be signed into law this year in response to the Citizens United decision. “If you look at polling, whether you’re a Republican, Independent or Democrat, there is strong support for vetting this kind of big corporate money dumped into these elections,” he said. And, “If you believe that having a major corporation or foreign-controlled corporation pump a lot of money into U.S. elections — if you think that is a good thing — then I guess you won’t like the bill. But otherwise, you will.” Congress President Obama’s new push meets Capitol Hill resistance, by Jonathan Allen While everyone agrees Wall Street reform is likely, members and Congressional staff aren’t so sure about everything else. However, a senior Democratic aide said: “Financial regulatory reform, a ban on corporate campaign spending and a series of jobs bills would be the meat of the party’s agenda for the rest of the year.” Buyer says ethics office ends probe of nonprofit, by Jennifer Yachnin Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) announced that the Office of Congressional Ethics has ended its probe into a nonprofit foundation with ties to the lawmaker, without recommending further investigation. Other Fraud convict was big RNC donor, by Michael O’Brien A man convicted last Friday on nine counts of security fraud was a major RNC donor – having given $75,000 between 2003 and 2006.