Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
NYT: Attacks on disclosure
"The lawyers deserve to be rebuked, but the Supreme Court deserves blame as well. Inveighing against government 'censorship' through regulation of money in politics, the conservative majority in Citizens United practically invited more court challenges to campaign finance laws. As a result, states are having to spend time and money defending sensible laws that inform voters and prevent political corruption."

iWatch: CPAC panel: 'Celebrate' Citizens United ruling
Michael Beckel went to a forum at CPAC about the awesomeness of unlimited and unregulated campaign spending. My fave quote from Brad Smith: "I’m not that alarmed if foreigners [want to be involved in U.S. elections]. It doesn’t worry me."

National Journal: Fighting back against super PACs
"Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., says that super PACs could influence Congressional races in the same way they have the presidential race—and he may have a way for candidates to fight back." Here's the clip on this from Up with Chris Hayes, also featuring PCAF board member Zephyr Teachout.

Miami Herald: Obama's hypocrisy on super PACs out of necessity
From Herald columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. on the Obama super PAC decision: "It is past time we the people demanded corporate cash be banned from politics, and that all candidates be required to accept public financing. Until then, we are doomed to keep seeing this movie. Politico casts Obama’s decision as an act of either hypocrisy or necessity. But see, that’s just the problem: It was both." Other opinions on this in the Sacramento Bee, St. Louis Post Dispatch, San Angelo Standard-Times, Detroit Free-Press, from Norman Lear, and another Miami Herald piece.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Motive of Congress suspect after passing insider trading bills
Nice lead on this article about the STOCK Act: "Overwhelming passage of two versions of legislation targeting those who would convert political capital into the real thing demonstrates there's no time like an election year for lawgivers to find religion."

Congress/2012
NYT: Romney Runs as an Outsider but Makes Room for Lobbyists
"For a candidate running against the entrenched interests of Washington, Mitt Romney keeps an awful lot of lobbyists around." And Public Campaign Action Fund's David Donnelly says, "These are the people who have made a career at the intersection of policy and presidential campaigns. To the extent that Mitt Romney depends on these people, and he gets elected, it’s four more years of business as usual in Washington." And Sunlight Foundation went behind the scenes at a recent lobbyist fundraiser.

AP: Romney aides to speak at super PAC events
"Senior campaign aides to Republican Mitt Romney will begin appearing at fundraising events for an independent political group supporting his White House run, officials said Friday. The decision comes days after President Barack Obama gave his campaign the OK to do the same."

USA Today: Super PAC targets congressional incumbents
"Leaders of a new $1.8 million non-partisan super PAC say they're out to level the playing field against entrenched incumbents in Congress through a novel strategy: targeting them in primary elections."

Politico: Ethics issues tarnish congressional image
Ouch: "The 112th Congress is the most unpopular ever, but is it the most corrupt?"

USA Today: Dems keeping a close eye on GOP ethics cases
And related to the story above: "A recent string of media reports on potentially unethical or criminal acts by Republicans in the U.S. House has the House Democratic campaign operation eyeing a revival of the "culture of corruption" theme that helped propel the party to victories in 2006."

NYT: The big money behind state laws
The New York Times editorial page takes on ALEC: "It is no coincidence that so many state legislatures have spent the last year taking the same destructive actions...All of these efforts are being backed — in some cases, orchestrated — by a little-known conservative organization financed by millions of corporate dollar."

NYT: Sunlight on secret donations
Another editorial, on the DISCLOSE Act: "Polls show the public supports disclosure as a way to fight political corruption. Any candidate who resists this common-sense bill deserves to be defeated."

Politico: Wall Street turns wrath--and cash--on Obama
Profits and bonuses maybe down on Wall Street, but "The beleaguered sector is pumping tens of millions of dollars into campaigns and newly dominant super PACS as one of Wall Street’s own seeks the White House and the industry looks to roll back key parts of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms. The goal is to oust a president and some members of Congress whom many bankers view as openly hostile toward them."

Roll Call: American Bridge 21st Century super PAC is hub of left
"American Bridge 21st Century, the super PAC that grew out of David Brock’s media watchdog of the left, has become the opposition research hub of the Democratic fundraising apparatus, following Republican candidates on the trail, rooting around their closets for skeletons and furiously pumping out snarky Web videos."

The Hill: Boehner faces ethics dilemma over probe of Rep. Bachus
"An ethics investigation of Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) has put Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a politically tricky spot." A few years ago, he quickly called on Charlie Rangel to step down from his committee during that investigation.

San Diego Reader: Issa staffers hit the road courtesy of special interests
On some recent travel by Rep. Darrell Issa staffers: "January was a busy month for travel by two staffers for GOP congressman Darrell Issa."

Roll Call: Unlobbyists give real lobbyists a bad name
On "historians," "consultants" and other non-lobbyists. "Ironically, the unlobbyists represent what the public imagines real lobbyists to be: operating in the shadows outside public disclosure laws for a collection of murky or completely unknown interests. Yet it’s the real lobbyists, the ones who file their quarterly reports disclosing the names of their clients and roughly how much they got paid, who get the bad rap."

Bloomberg: Gingrich group looks for new money as big donor checks stop
Gingrich is running out of money and the Adelson bucks may be drying up.

NYT: In need of cash, Gingrich is forced to focus on donors rather than voters
Newt's having to decide whether he spends time on the trail or courting big donors.

Politico: Koch fights back: Obama 'trying to intimidate'
Yes, I'm sure the Koch brothers are very easily intimidated. "Responding more aggressively than in the past, Koch Industries’ political arm on Friday accused President Barack Obama and his allies of 'trying to intimidate into silence those who may disagree with them.'” And Republic Report reports that David Koch is now a U.S. Chamber donor.

Politico: Dodd-Frank a confidence killer
Rep. Jeb Hensarling really hates Dodd-Frank.Wall Street is the top giving industry to him so far this cycle.

LA Times: Conservatives bankrolling Rick Santorum
"Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's brand of conservative Catholicism is not only helping rally a key part of the Republican base, but has proved an asset in drawing deep-pocketed Christian donors to an independent campaign supporting his presidential bid."

Fox News: Battle of the billionaires--super PACs offer chance for high rollers to sway 2012 race
"If the American presidential system were boiled down into a Las Vegas casino game, 'Super PAC' betting would be placed exclusively in the high-stakes room."

CNN: Soros undecided on pro-Obama super PAC
"Billionaire financier George Soros said Sunday he has not decided on whether he will create a super PAC to help President Barack Obama win re-election."

The Hill: Local TV stations stand to profit from boom in super PAC spending
"Well-financed super-PACs are expected to spend heavily in battleground states this year, and while viewers may get tired of the onslaught of negative ads, the spending could be a boon for local television stations."

Sacramento Bee: Hear the one about Senate donor reports?
Dan Morain looks the Senate and its outdated filing process for fundraising reports. "Not to bore you with the details, but senators use the postal service, or maybe horse-drawn carriages, to deliver campaign reports to the inaptly named Senate Office of Public Records."

Roll Call: Mike Lee's PAC goes after the GOP establishment
On Sen. Lee's super PAC: "For Sen. Mike Lee, cutting checks to support conservative Senate candidates wasn’t enough."

Dallas Morning News: With super PAC, Karl Rove takes his Texas donor list national
"The flood of private donations in the presidential race reflects a model set in motion 25 years ago by Karl Rove, George W. Bush’s political guru and architect of a Texas money machine that remains at the heart of his national drive to elect Republicans."

Daily Tidings: Candidate won't take outside money
"Democratic candidate Joyce Segers says she will not take any campaign contributions from special interest groups in her uphill race against incumbent U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore."

Ricketts-backed super PAC targets three Illinois incumbents in Congress
"A Super PAC opposed to incumbents from either party plans to spend several hundred thousand dollars in Illinois before the March 20 primary to unseat three long-serving members of Congress from the Chicago area."

Other
Star-Tribune: Two fears drive fight on photo ID
"A high-stakes political struggle over requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls is erupting in Minnesota, conjuring up emotional precedents from the notorious Jim Crow poll taxes to the old Chicago admonition to "vote early and often."

NewsWorks: Bucks County lawmaker wants constitutional amendment on campaign finance
"Bucks county State Representative Steve Santarsiero is so troubled by the influence of money in American elections that he's asking the state legislature to start a movement to amend the U.S. Constitution."

Florida NAACP coming out against prison privatization
The Florida NAACP, in opposing a prison privatization plan, said, "Fasano has also argued that prison operation is a proper function of the government, not private business. He has also said the privatization bill is a reward to the big corporations that operate prisons in many states -- and which make huge campaign contributions to state legislators and the political parties, particularly Republicans."

Baltimore Sun: Bill would require online disclosure
"A special committee on ethics reform set up by Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller will propose legislation that would put the financial disclosure forms of legislators and top state officials online next year and eliminate a requirement that filers be told the names of people who examine those statements."