Great op-ed in New York from Sierra Club and WE ACT for Environmental Justice: "As advocates for the environment and environmental justice, we see many causes for concern these days, from the quickening pace of global warming to the frenzied pursuit of fracking. But the greatest threat to our environment here in New York may be an unlikely suspect: big money." More from Capitol Tonight on green groups urging passage of Fair Elections in NY.

And big news on the ALEC front yesterday: Johnson & Johnson dropped the group.

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
The Nation: Resolve to overturn "Citizens United" spread through the states
Katrina vanden Heuvel on Citizens United II, SCOTUS, and the states and localities passing resolutions across the country. "It is clear from the Minneapolis resolution and others across the nation that there is renewed energy at the state and local levels to clean up our politics and reclaim our democracy. The fight will be a long one, but it’s a fight that this country needs."

The Hill: Text donations to campaign gets approval from FEC
More from the Hill on Monday's decision: "Candidates will be allowed to accept donations via text message after the Federal Election Commission (FEC) unanimously approved such a measure Monday night." Slate, Roll Call.

NYT: Justice Department sues Florida over voter purge
"The Department of Justice on Tuesday followed through on warnings that it would sue Florida over the state’s plan to remove noncitizens from its voter rolls. "

Election Law Blog: 4th Circuit upholds FEC's major purpose test for political committees
"Today the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld two disclosure-related FEC rules. This was the latest opinion in the long-running case, Real Truth About Obama, Inc. v. FEC."

Congress/2012
NYT: For Obama and Romney, nonstop fundraising
"With the primary season over, the presidential campaign has entered a new phase, one dictated by the competitive realities of the deregulated campaign finance system." This is like the campaign finance version of "I know you are but what am I." LAT.

WaPo: How many fundraisers is too many for President Obama?
"Republicans have seized on Obama’s rapid fundraising pace as evidence that he is far more dedicated to raising money and winning reelection than to performing the actual job for which he was elected in 2008." Ok, new rule: one cannot on one hand criticize a candidate spending too much time fundraising and on the other support an unlimited system that requires candidates to spend so much time fundraising.

Politico: Wall Street's vote: Romney by a landslide
"Now, thanks to campaign finance filings, it’s possible to put a price tag on just how much: Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and the super PAC supporting it are outraising Obama among financial-sector donors $37.1 million to $4.8 million."

Politico: Mitt Romney continues to court CEOs
"Mitt Romney is expected to get a warm welcome Wednesday when he holds a closed-door meeting in Washington with more than 100 of the nation’s top CEOs. After all, of the 211 Business Roundtable members, at least 50 of the member companies’ executives have contributed nearly $83,000 toward his 2012 presidential bid."

NPR: As GOP cashes in, Democrats search for billionaires
Why aren't wealthy democrats fueling super PACs? One reason--there are probably just more Republican billionaires. Paul Begala suggests: "Second, there's no self-interest here. Jeffrey Katzenberg is our largest donor. He gave us $2 million. He's not going to sell any more tickets to Kung Fu Panda 2 if Obama gets a second term. He's just doing it because he believes in his country."

ThinkProgress: Romney bashes stimulus, then fundraises in home of stimulus recipient
Oops: "Mitt Romney spent this morning in Florida trashing the stimulus, saying the Obama administration 'borrowed almost a trillion dollars but used it to protect government.' But just hours after the speech, Romney boarded a plane to Tennessee to fundraise with a beneficiary of Obama’s stimulus funds."

CRP: Dimon, JPMorgan Chase have history with Senate's banking panel
"JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is likely to face tough questions about his company's multi-billion dollar trading losses when he steps in front of the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday. Asking the questions will be a group of lawmakers who have histories with both Dimon and JPMorgan as a whole." NY Post.

Huffington Post: The House's latest health care vote puts campaign cash ahead of people
"Last week the House voted to increase health care costs on middle-class families in order to protect one of the most profitable industries in the country. And almost nobody noticed. More than three dozen Democrats, oiled by campaign contributions, joined all 233 voting Republicans in voting for a repeal of a 2.3 percent sales tax on the medical device industry included in the Affordable Care Act."

PCAF Tumblr: Joe Barton's Vegas Fundraiser
Sounds like a nice party: "We are staying at the Bellagio and have a number of fun activities planned, including a poker tournament with a celebrity poker player special guest!"

Republic Report: American Crossroads leader helped lead Wall Street lobbying for the bank bailouts, now falsely assails Democrats over vote
American Crossroads is running ads blasting Senators for supporting the Wall Street bailout. Crossroads President Steven Law...lobbied for the bailout as a lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber.

Politico: Democratic groups join forces to fight right
"Faced with overwhelming financial firepower on the right, Democratic-aligned super PACs and advocacy groups are increasingly joining forces in a collaborative effort to bolster President Barack Obama and a select number of House and Senate candidates for the 2012 general election."

Cincinnati Enquirer: Mandel and Brown cool to super PAC ban, as outside groups swamp Ohio airwaves
"If Ohio voters were hoping for a ban on super PAC ads in the U.S. Senate race, they can pretty much forget it, the rival campaigns tell Politics Extra."

NWI Times: Donnelly not intimidated by super PAC ad against him
Super PACs ain't no thang, says Indiana Senate candidate Rep. Joe Donnelly (D): "Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Donnelly said the Super PAC ad — by coming so early in the general election season — shows Republicans don't believe State Treasurer Richard Mourdock can hold on to Dick Lugar's U.S. Senate seat."

Mother Jones: How dark-money groups sneak by the taxman
"Here at Mother Jones we talk about 'dark money' to broadly describe the flood of unlimited spending behind this year's election. But the truly dark money in 2012 is being raised and spent by tax-exempt groups that aren't required to disclose their financial backers even as they funnel anonymous cash to super-PACs and run election ads."

AJC: Congress skirting rewritten '07 rules
"Now the number of trips funded by outside groups is soaring back to record levels, fueled by big-spending education and charity organizations that sometimes are just an arm of lobbying groups." Craig Holman: "That's just a huge, gaping loophole that the Ethics Committee is allowing."

CRP: New OpenSecrets feature: Top lobbyist donors
On CRP's new breakdown of top lobbyist donors: "If campaign donations facilitate access to power, a select group of Washington lobbyists will be scheduling many meetings on Capitol Hill after the 2012 elections."

Roll Call: Tea Party tries to sway GOP platform
"James Bopp Jr., a prominent conservative lawyer and high-ranking Republican national committeeman, is helping tea partyers influence the official GOP 2012 platform."

Politico: Crossroads bombards six Dem senate candidates, hits Berkley on ethics
"The GOP independent spending goliath American Crossroads and its affiliate group Crossroads GPS are launching a new barrage of attack ads in six competitive Senate races, assailing a range of Democratic candidates as big-spending, liberal, ethically challenged and overly close to President Barack Obama."

Roll Call: NRCC reserves airtime for fall
"House Republicans have reserved $18.2 million in post-Labor Day television airtime, spread across 27 competitive districts."

The Hill: Entrepreneurs, small lobby shops challenging K Street's old guard
"The small lobby shop — staffed with just a few people, or even one person — has become a profitable niche in the influence industry for lobbyists who have traded the comfy confines of established firms for the chance to be their own boss."

Other/States
Foster's Daily Democrat: Portsmouth developer drops cash on Maine Elections
"A hotel and resort company headquartered in Portsmouth is renewing its push to bring casino gambling to southern Maine. Ocean Properties LLC, the company hoping to build a racetrack and casino in Biddeford, Maine, has funnelled $25,000 into a new political action committee called Race for ME, according to campaign finance records."

The Hill: AFL-CIO to fight voter ID laws in six battleground states
"The nation’s largest labor federation plans to mount an aggressive campaign against voter identification laws in a half-dozen battleground states that will be key in the presidential election."