Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
The Hill: Activists press SEC to expose political giving of US companies
“Reformers were buoyed by the news this week that Mary Schapiro will step down as chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and are hopeful the next leader of the agency will be more receptive to a petition that calls for forced disclosure of political activities by publicly traded companies."
 
Other Words: Democracy Outbreak in Ohio
Jim Hightower recounts how one small Ohio town “fought City Hall and won,” getting an anti-Citizens United initiative on the ballot and passing it with 52 percent of the vote despite attempts by the mayor to remove the question from the ballot.
 
NYT: Press Clips
Linda Greenhouse on Citizens United, Scotusblog, and the problem of defining what constitutes a media company.

Congress/2012
WaPo: ‘Romney is Wall Street’s worst bet since the bet on subprime’
Ezra Klein interviews Chrystia Freeland, author of “The Plutocrats”: “But I found the hostility towards Obama astonishing. I found the commitment to getting him out astonishing. I found the absolute confidence that it would work astonishing.”
 
ThinkProgress: Since Election Day, Big Oil Lobby Dropped $3 Million On Ads To Protect Its Tax Loopholes
“A bulk of the spending, $600,000, targets specific senators over Big Oil’s $4 billion annual tax breaks, all of whom are up for reelection in 2014. All but two voted in March to end oil subsidies, a vote blocked by 47 senators who have taken more than $23.5 million from the oil and gas industry.”
 
Roll Call: McConnell’s Unseen Hand at the NRSC
Fearing that Sen. Jerry Moran didn’t have the firepower at the group responsible for much of the campaign spending supporting Republican Senate candidates, Sen. Mitch McConnell forced through a restructuring of NRSC leadership, with Sens. Cruz and Portman joining a triumvirate now leading the group.
 
Bloomberg: Perry Gave $1 Million Before Election to Senate-Focused Super-PAC
Hard to find a major conservative super PAC that didn’t take money from Texan homebuilder Bob Perry.
 
PCAF: Signing Bonus? Outgoing Rep. Altmire to Lobby For Company That Gave Him Most Campaign Cash
After Blue Cross/Blue Shield was Rep. Jason Altmire’s biggest source of campaign funds in his unsuccessful 2012 re-election bid, he announced yesterday that he will go to work for them as, you guessed it, a lobbyist.
 
Roll Call: Ex-Rep. Davis, Bates Team Up
It’s that revolving door time of year, folks. Former Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.), who left the House this summer because of family health issues, is joining up with Hunter Bates to form a consulting and lobbying outfit named Republic Consulting.
 
USA Today: Democracy 21’s Fred Wertheimer explains
Wertheimer explains the changing role of money in politics in the 2012 election in a short video.

Other/States
Durango Herald: Gessler: Campaign finance laws fail
“Colorado’s efforts at campaign-finance reform have been a failure, Secretary of State Scott Gessler told an academic panel on money in politics Wednesday.”
 
Tampa Bay Times: Florida leaders call for sanity in campaign finance
“Gaetz and Weatherford want to raise the $500 contribution cap and ban legislator-controlled funds, called CCEs or committees of continuous existence, which collectively raised $22 million in the last cycle, according to contributionlink.com.”
 
Politico: Bill Clinton asks for help with Hillary’s campaign debt
Even as speculation grows for 2016, Hillary Clinton has $73,000 in campaign debt left over from 2008. “In an email to supporters Wednesday, Bill Clinton offered a chance to spend a day with him if donors chipped in to drive down his wife’s campaign debt before Dec. 6.”