Fair Elections/Campaign Finance How campaigns should be financed Americans for Campaign Reform President Dan Weeks has this letter to the editor in the New York Times talking about the need for Fair Elections. We need disclosure on campaign finance Newsday calls for disclosure: “But now that the nation's top court has given corporations and unions the same free speech rights as individuals - including the right to independently spend as much as they want in elections - disclosure is a must.” What happened to public integrity? Campaign Legal Center’s Gerry Hebert questions why DOJ keeps dropping cases against elected officials. The Pirating Senate Common Cause President Bob Edgar’s latest on Huffington Post about the need to reform the filibuster. Congress Study: Congress sought 39,294 earmarks In the current fiscal year, lawmakers requested $131 billion in earmarks. Not all of those were secured, of course, but that’s still a big number. Angry member groups shun U.S. chamber Some local Chambers are pretty unhappy with the national’s efforts this cycle and some are dropping their national membership. Carnahan camp to Fox News: why single us out? Fox News has been going after Carnahan for copyright violation for using video of Senator-elect Roy Blunt in one of their ads. The problem? They aren’t going after anyone else, and plenty of Republicans used Fox footage this past cycle. Tea Partiers shred fundraising playbook “An incomplete batch of campaign finance records released in recent days tells a similar story in Senate contests across the nation, where a handful of little-known conservative darlings in Colorado, Nevada and Alaska destroyed fundraising expectations and — whether they won or lost ­— likely cemented the tea party’s political power for at least the next two years.” Waters to demand probe into suspended ethics aides “Rep. Maxine Waters is demanding an investigation into the suspension of two House ethics committee aides, and plans to introduce a privileged resolution Tuesday that would create a bipartisan task force to conduct the probe, her office confirmed Tuesday.” Despite critics, Hill ethics office likely to survive It’s likely the OCE will stay in place, according to Republican sources with knowledge of the matter. In the States New Jersey lawmaker seeks to close pay-to-play loopholes through legislation State Sen. Loretta Weinberg wants to lessen the influence of government contractors in the political process.