"Stephen Colbert is assuring the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that the dollar bills he collected in exchange for handshakes outside of their building last month went to him and not the 'super PAC' he's hoping to form."

"First Amendment group" the Center for Competitive Politics writes about the draft government executive order and how it blah blah blah blah.

Democratic committees are doing a good job of outraising their Republican friends so far this year.

Another example of why Congress is different than everyone else. Public Citizen's Craig Holman: “If you just take a look at the statistics, members of Congress are either geniuses when it comes to stock trading or they are in fact trading off of some of this insider information.”

"Advocacy groups are looking over possible changes to a patent reform bill, with some threatening to withdraw their support for the long-awaited legislation."

The end of second quarter is coming up so that means tons of fundraisers. "Republicans in particular are feeling the pressure to produce big numbers as they try to hold on to their newfound status in the majority and to ward off any potential challengers."

Lots of freshmen Republicans are forming leadership PACs, quickly becoming part of the Washington, D.C. game they campaigned on changing. 

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)  helped out the natural supplement industry in his state--and got campaign cash in return. 

- And related, Huntsman seems to be raising money off of his past support for civil unions: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57403.html. 

More on Buddy Roemer at this past weekend's event in NOLA. "Roemer drew only scattered, tepid applause as he railed against the outsized influence of corporate money in American politics and big business' power to make huge profits, ship jobs overseas and enjoy special breaks that fill a convoluted tax code 'written by the lobbyists.'"

While it is problematic that donors get the sort of special treatment alleged in this article, it takes a lot of chutzpah for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to hold a hearing on "the challenges of separating politics from policy," without talking about his own fundraisers: http://politicalpartytime.org/pol/N00007017/. 

While AT&T got more than just LGBT groups to endorse its merger, this is a really good write up of the situation and the increasing concern that corporations are having even in organizational policies, not just politics. 

From DC: "Tomorrow, Councilmember Tommy Wells will introduce 3 bills to reform some of the ethical problems DC has recently faced around inappropriate use of official vehicles and campaign finance, his staff announced today."