Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Feds Appeal Judge’s Ruling on Campaign Finance Law
“Federal prosecutors on Thursday appealed a judge’s ruling that prompted howls of protest from campaign-finance reform advocates when he declared the law that bans corporate contributions to federal candidates is unconstitutional.”
 
At Netroots, Feingold Slams Democratic Super PACs
Former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) attacks his colleagues in a speech at Netroots on Thursday for accepting unlimited and undisclosed outside money.
-More from ABC News here: http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/06/fear-loathing-in-minneapolis-progressives-vent-frustration-with-obama-at-netroots-nation.html
-Also - Feingold and Bopp Opposing Views on the Money Race:
 
Some Super PACs Reveal Barest of Details about Funders
Speaking of Super PACs…the Center for Responsive Politics has released a new report highlighting the lack of disclosure with Super PACs.
 
The People’s Business: Disclosure of Political Spending By Government Contractors
The Brennan Center has a new report out about the voters’ right to know who is spending money to influence our elections.
 
Persons: Corporate Political Cash
West Virginia’s Charleston Gazette editorializes on the problematic nature of the Citizens United and Judge Cacheris court cases.

• “If his ruling survives, industries will be allowed to buy elections -- mostly for the GOP -- using millions of company money. This travesty ensues from the fiction that corporations are "persons," just like people.”

 
Court Selective on Corruption
From the Palm Beach Post Editorial Board: “Shorthand for the U.S. Supreme Court's conflicted rulings on money in politics is: You can buy an elected office, but you can't sell it for personal profit.”
 
FEC Asks Crossroads to Reveal Donors
“The FEC this week sent a letter demanding Crossroads GPS, the Karl Rove-backed nonprofit that pumped millions of dollars in anonymous donations into last year's Congressional campaigns, disclose its contributors. The request appears unlikely to be honored but it could signal an effort to tighten regulations on controversial third-party groups.”
 
John Edwards Sought Millions from Heiress as Feds Closed In
And things seem to be getting even weirder in the John Edwards case.
 
Congress
White House Donor Order Becomes Flashpoint in Congress
More on President Obama’s proposed executive order on government contractor donation disclosure. Public Citizen’s Craig Holman is quoted.

JPMorgan Chase Fills Senator Mark Warner’s Campaign Chest
“During the first three months of 2011 employees of JPMorgan Chase piled in campaign contributions to the campaign committee of Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who has wound up at the center of the deficit debate over taxes and spending.”
 
Weiner Resignation Leavers War Chest Intact
“Anthony Weiner may be giving up his seat in Congress, but he will still retain a substantial war chest of campaign contributions, which experts say he is not required to return.”
 
No Regulators, No Regulation
Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) laments the lack of regulation.

• “Bear Stearns alone spent a half-million successfully lobbying against two or three sentences on “assignee liability” in predatory mortgage legislation — language that might well have saved the firm from ruin. That doesn’t count the money the industry openly hands out in campaign contributions or secretly funnels to independent expenditure campaigns.”

Other
TV Stations More Concerned About Money Than Truth in Advertising
Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center writes on how campaign ads that distort the truth make it onto TV.
 
New General Counsel for the FEC
The Federal Election Commission has announced that a new General Counsel will start in September