Oh look, supercommittee member Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) filed his 3rd quarter fundraising reports yesterday. Is that a Las Vegas fundraiser I see in September? http://campaignmoney.org/blog/2011/10/14/supercommittee-member-dave-camps-3rd-quarter-fundraising. Seems like he might have something more important to do.

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Still another hole in our campaign finance laws
Common Cause President Bob Edgar writes about the news yesterday that groups are looking to use videos of candidates they support in super PAC ads. "We're headed into a campaign that will be largely financed by deep-pocketed companies and trade groups whose identities and agendas will be largely hidden from the voting public. But when the winners of those campaigns take office, you can be sure they'll know who paid for every ad and exactly what their benefactors expect in return."

Institute for Justice files amicus brief urging Supreme Court to strike down foreign money ban
The Institute for Justice, one of the leading opponents of Arizona's Clean Elections system, also thinks the Court should throw out the foreign money ban. So, then, small donors=bad. Foreign money=good. Ok.

On "moneyball" and super PACs
Adam Skaggs at the Brennan Center writes on the impact of super PACs and other outside spending in the 2010 election. "The new campaign finance numbers that are changing the political playing field are coming from independent groups — not the campaigns. You can’t accurately predict which candidates will succeed in 2012 if you don’t account for these stats."

Not so super
Editorial in Raleigh on super PACs: "Policy-making too often follows the special interest groups that pay to influence it. When specific industries target a certain candidate who speaks their language, they're not kicking in to groups that will advocate for that candidate or against an opponent out of a sense of altruism. They're investing. And betting on dividends."

Congress/2012
House Republican Super PAC ready to raise unlimited funds to retain GOP majority
House Republicans are launching a super PAC. Interestingly, it's being chaired by Norm Coleman. He's a busy guy. He's also the chair of the anonymous spenders American Action Network and an unregistered "government advisor" for a lobby firm. Nothing to see here, though.

Influence game: Romney advisers' interests emerge
"Some foreign policy experts who joined Mitt Romney's campaign have lobbying and business backgrounds that could shape the advice they give to the Republican presidential candidate."

Lawmakers unsure super PAC cash will trickle down
But, "Though leaders are eager to sign onto the new fundraising, lawmakers and fundraisers by and large say the new landscape won’t change how individual members of Congress engage in day-to-day fundraising efforts. They simply can’t count on super PAC money to come their way."

House Dems recommend new taxes to "super committee"
The ranking Democratic members on House committees released their supercommittee suggestions yesterday. This is sort of infuriating: "A spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said Republicans would not be sending the committee a formal packet of suggestions. He said GOP lawmakers are in regular contact with super-committee members."

Super secret committee needs to open up
The Billings Gazette is not pleased with the supercommittee secrecy. "The secret meetings are particularly offensive in light of a report on Politico.com  that said aides to supercommittee member Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., briefed Republican lobbyists on topics of the closed-door discussions."
- Sunlight's Ellen Miller has this op-ed on the subject: http://www.easttexasreview.com/2011/10/how-to-achieve-transparency-for-the-supercommittee/

Baucus to hit up NYC
Supercommittee member Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), along with his fellow home state senator Jon Tester (D), will head to NYC Sunday to raise money.

John Boehner's committees hit $18M mark
"John Boehner has proved once again it pays to be speaker of the House. Boehner’s political committees raised more than $6 million during the third quarter, POLITICO has learned. Since the Ohio Republican took the speaker’s gavel in January, his outfits have raised more than $18.5 million."

Staffer charity picks benefit from Issa's wealth
"A charitable group founded by California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, one of the richest members of Congress, has given tens of thousands of dollars to other organizations on behalf of his congressional staff and his own House committee, according to public records. These donations do not appear to violate ethics or tax rules, several legal experts said, but they are the clearest example to date of Issa intermingling his vast personal riches with his congressional duties, a practice that has caused public relations and ethics problems for the controversial California Republican."

K Street is a smarter place to protest
An op-ed: "As Occupy Wall Street sweeps up attention, a smaller group is running something called Occupy K Street. If the goal is to loosen the financiers’ grip over the American economy, the folks protesting on K Street are getting closer to bingo. K Street is Washington’s famous boulevard of lobbyist influence, the place where money buys politicians to do money’s bidding."

Planned sunscreen rules leave some red
"A proposed regulation that would change how the sun protection factor (SPF) is listed on sunscreen labels has riled some in the cosmetics industry."

Solyndra CEO resigns
The CEO of embattled Solyndra has resigned.

Other
California's Center for Governmental Studies to close
It looks like our friends at CGS will be closing their doors.

California OKs donations via text
The California Fair Political Practices Commission approved political donations via text message yesterday. Public Campaign submitted a letter in support of the measure.

Test run of new state voter ID law in Madison led to lines and voter confusion
"After a test run in Madison of the new state voter ID law led to lines so long some voters abandoned the effort, the city's clerk is encouraging other municipalities to do tests of their own." Mission accomplished!