Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Slate: Let John Edwards go!
Rick Hasen on the Edwards campaign and "criminalization" of politics: "But criminal liability for campaign finance violations should be off the table except in the most concrete and egregious cases. Otherwise, we risk deterring not just the unscrupulous, but also those who want to exercise their First Amendment rights by running for public office or supporting the candidates whom they believe will advance the public good. Even if John Edwards doesn’t deserve our sympathy, his conviction won’t do us any good."

Newsmax: Money is corrupting our elections
Ed Koch op-ed on New York: "When the New York Leadership for Accountable Government committee meets, I will provide it with all my energy and experience to help bring to the state of New York what New York City has already adopted." Marc Weiss also had an op-ed yesterday in Newsday.

Congress/2012
Colorado Independent: Watchdog group rebukes Congressman Tipton over financial ties to oil, natural gas
On our research on Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.): "A campaign reform group skewered U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton on Thursday for continuing to rake in big bucks from special interest groups and voting for oil and gas projects that could financially benefit him."

Bloomberg: Common Cause files a challenge to organization's tax-exempt status
Nice work, Common Cause: "Common Cause, a Washington-based political-ethics watchdog group, on Monday filed a complaint accusing the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) of violating its tax-exempt status by lobbying state legislators." CBS, NPR, ThinkProgress, Politico.

Politico: ALEC's alienating political agenda
Ari Melber writes, "The group drove the sudden surge in state voter ID laws, which erect new barriers to voting and disproportionately hinder minority, elderly and indigent voters. ... ALEC also supported the Stand Your Ground bills. ... These are policies that, whatever their morality, are not exactly core priorities for most multinational corporations. When exposed on a national scale, it’s understandable that some corporate ALEC members wanted out."

HuffPost: Mitt Romney fundraising weak in states where he's campaigned
"In many of the states in which he waged a vigorous primary campaign, Mitt Romney has failed to convert that direct contact with voters into campaign gold."

AP: Romney backers tied to mysterious $400k donation
"A mysterious firm that gave $400,000 to help elect Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has direct ties to a married couple who already are among Romney's top Florida fundraisers."

AP: Romney super PAC gift among mysterious donations
Follow-up to the above story: "A once-mysterious $400,000 check written to a 'super' political action committee supporting Mitt Romney's presidential campaign rekindled a nagging question this election season: Just how much disclosure is enough to satisfy transparency?" Boston Globe.

AJC: Tyler Perry helps Obama top Romney in Georgia fundraising
"A lucrative Atlanta trip headlined by a Tyler Perry-hosted fundraiser helped President Barack Obama out-raise Republican rival Mitt Romney in Georgia last month by a nearly six-to-one margin."

Source 2012: Finance industry continues to fuel Mitt Romney
CRP and iWatch look at the top industries funding Obama and Romney.

Sunlight Foundation: Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Holden is a magnet for outside spending
"Tuesday's battle for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania's newly-redrawn 17th Congressional District has emerged as the biggest money magnet so far for outside groups spending on House primaries, data compiled by the Sunlight Foundation's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker shows. "

Politico: Romney: Two days, six fundraisers
"Mitt Romney is slated for a major fundraising swing in New York starting a day after the primary, with six events on the docket."

TPM: Romney stands up for voter ID laws
"At a town hall in Aston, Pa., on Monday, Mitt Romney expressed his support for voter ID laws being pushed in several states around the country." Maybe he read this Reuters story over the weekend too--about how the main consequence of voter ID laws will be to suppress Democratic votes.

Politico: Defense industry returns to GOP
"After holding its nose and going blue for two straight election cycles, the defense industry is returning to familiar territory, tacking hard right in its political giving in 2012."

NYT: Conservative groups spend heavily in Senate races
"The conservative groups that helped Republicans win the House in 2010 are pouring money this year into an aggressive campaign to capture the Senate, a goal that they consider just as vital as winning the White House."

Birmingham News: Rep. Spencer Bachus paid more for lawyers than TV ads during campaign
"U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus spent more of his campaign money paying lawyers than buying television advertising in the closing days of the March 13 Republican primary, according to new Federal Election Commission reports."

Lugar Campaign: Mourdock likely violated federal election law
Press release from the Dick Lugar campaign: "Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock likely violated federal election law by using state campaign funds for his federal U.S. Senate campaign, according to a legal analysis conducted for the Lugar campaign."

Roll Call: U.S. Chanber of Commerce faces changing times
Eliza Newlin Carney looks at the Chamber and its future. "The Republican Party’s shift to the right has put the group at odds with lawmakers and advocacy groups allied with the tea party, fueling intraparty rifts on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail. In addition, a new generation of super PACs that can raise and spend unlimited money is crowding the airwaves in key races across the country, threatening to drown out the chamber’s message."

WaPo: Wal-Mart faces federal criminal probe tied to allegations of bribery in Mexico
Important look at Wal-Mart and how it works with groups like the U.S. Chamber to try to weaken the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The Nation: Koch Brothers exposed
"With an unflinching investigative look at the Koch brothers’ money and power, Brave New Films has once again created a film full of rollicking and rigorous facts that informs and challenges corporate media with the truth. "

The Hill: Haley Barbour lobbying for the online sales tax he championed in office
"Back on K Street after nearly a decade-long absence, Haley Barbour is lobbying for an online sales tax he championed as Mississippi governor."

The Hill: Repatriation group reins in lobbying
Huh: "A coalition pushing for a corporate tax holiday has rolled back its lobbying efforts, according to one of the companies involved in the campaign."

Sunlight: Pennsylvania Rep. Tim Holden is a magnet for outside spending
"Tuesday's battle for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania's newly-redrawn 17th Congressional District has emerged as the biggest money magnet so far for outside groups spending on House primaries, data compiled by the Sunlight Foundation's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker shows. "

HuffPost: Super PAC donors, led by Sheldon Adelson, keep the money flowing
"Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino tycoon, and his family topped the all-time list of disclosed individual donors to independent spending groups in a single election cycle when they gave an additional $10 million to super PACs in March."

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Ann Wagner's already robust fundraising buyoed by lobbyists
"Wagner, who has a clear path to Congress running to replace Todd Akin in Missouri's Second Congressional district, collected more than $18,000 from lobbyists on Capitol Hill and in Jefferson City in the first fundraising quarter of 2012."

WaPo: A vote for universal registration
Katrina vanden Heuvel's latest Washington Post column on voter suppression efforts: "We must not only fight attempts to limit the franchise, we must fight to expand the franchise, as pro-democracy reformers have repeatedly done throughout our history."

HuffPost: Political donations from women fell in 2010 cycle
Not surprising, but interesting new report from She Should Run and CRP: "After the 2010 elections, the number of women in Congress dropped for the first time in more than 30 years. A new report shows that it was also was a weak cycle for political giving from women, which decreased when compared to the previous two election cycles."

Republic Report: Proctor & Gamble drops ALEC
"Our friends at Color of Change have just announced that drug giant Procter & Gamble (P&G) is the latest corporation to drop ALEC"

Roll Call: Working around earmark ban
"Though the Congressional earmark might be dead — or at least in a tea-party-induced coma — lawmaker boasting about funds secured for their states is alive and well as appropriations season kicks into full gear." Politico.

Other/States
Kennebec Journal: Fewer candidates using "clean election" funds
:( "Fewer candidates for the Maine Legislature are running publicly financed campaigns this year under the state's newly amended, and less generous, Clean Election Act. Unlike in past years, candidates who run with clean election funding this year won't be able to get additional public funding if their privately funded opponents outspend them."