Fair Elections/Campaign Finance/Ethics Under the U.S. Supreme Court, the incredible shrinking McCain-Feingold Act Is the soft money ban the next part of McCain-Feingold to go? If the RNC and deformers have their way, then yes. GOP fundraising avoids campaign limits through PACs ahead of 2012 Six Republicans considering running for president in 2012 are skirting federal campaign finance laws by running state based PACs. It’s not illegal, but as Paul Ryan with the Campaign Legal Center says, “Contribution limits exist to reduce the threat of corruption. These slush funds that potential presidential candidates are setting up violate at the very least the spirit of those … limits." Ethics committee ends “per diem” investigation into six members House Ethics has ended its investigation into whether six members of Congress kept the remainder of their per diem pay when they traveled overseas. OpenSecrets.org’s top 10 money-in-politics stories of 2010 And here’s the Center for Responsive Politics’ top 10 list – Citizens United, outside spending, BP, Goldman Sachs, and more. And in case you missed it before the holidays, Public Campaign Action Fund’s top 10 list of money and politics stories for 2010 is here: http://campaignmoney.org/blog/2010s-top-10-money-and-politics-stories Congress Reform and the filibuster The New York Time this morning calls for fixing the filibuster. Tea Party activists angry at GOP leaders Tea Party activists are already mad at the Republicans they helped put into office – saying they capitulated in the lame duck and are worried what’ll happen now. Issa says Obama administration is “one of most corrupt.” Darrell issa gets the award for “one of the most histrionic” in saying that the Obama administration is “one of the most corrupt.” 

• Related, he’s going to investigate the FCIC and its failure to find a cause for the economic collapse. Will they call their big Wall Street donors to testify? http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/46952.html

New Sen. Mike Lee defends hiring energy lobbyist as chief of staff Sen. Mike Lee went on Fox News this weekend and defended his decision to hire an energy lobbyist to be his chief of staff. John Hall warns Citizens United could lead to “fascism” Outgoing New York Rep. John Hall blasts the Citizens United decision, saying, “The country was bought," Hall told The New York Observer in an exit interview. "I learned when I was in social studies class in school that corporate ownership or corporate control of government is called Fascism. So that's really the question -- is that the destination if this court decision goes unchecked?" Other Small donors make big impact Michael Malbin and Peter Brusoe with the Campaign Finance Institute had this op-ed in Albany last week on the need for New York to create a small donor public financing system similar to New York City’s. Ethics staff suggesting changes The Maine Ethics panel has suggested some law changes for this year, including a limit on Clean Elections candidates from buying personal technology (iPad, computers, etc) with the CE funds. Georgia’s new ethics law not as strong as Alabama’s law It looks like Georgia also passed an ethics law, though it’s not quite as strong as the one passed in Alabama, according to this editorial. Campaign-finance reforms in effect starting Saturday Illinois’ new campaign finance laws went into effect over the weekend, including new contribution limits and disclosure requirements.