While some doubt Gov. Cuomo's intentions in the New York State Senate leadership fight between Democrats and a combination of Republicans and defecting "Independent Democrats," he says he's willing to work with whoever will move his legislative priorities. In an Albany Times-Union op-ed, Cuomo lays out a list of issues that will be a "litmus test" for his support of leadership, with "campaign finance reform" as number two on that list.

Meanwhile, a letter sent by 90 leaders of New York's business and civic communities urges Cuomo to be sure that the campaign finance reform he pushes includes a Fair Elections-style small donor matching component.

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
The Hill: McConnell pushes back against campaign finance reform efforts
Republican Sens. Murkowski, McCain, and Corker have signaled openness to legislation strengthening disclosure rules, and Big Money Mitch doesn’t like it: “Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) is working to build a firewall in the House against new campaign finance reforms in the face of possible defections within his own caucus. “
 
Sunlight Reporting Group: Money in politics drives up U.S. corruption perception index
The United States now ranks worse than many of its peers amongst developed nations, in large part because of the dismantling of the campaign finance system in the country. “Transparency International cited spending in the 2012 campaign as a factor in lowering the American rating. ‘Americans believe there are continued transparency and corruption issues in local, state and national government institutions and processes.”’
 
Roll Call: On Rudman and the Future of Campaign Finance
Norm Ornstein knows that true campaign finance reform has to include was of amplifying the voices of small donors. “I wish we could tighten disclosure rules, but even if we did, it would be only a small step toward health in the system. A bigger step would come from finding a way to empower small donors, who could under the right circumstances provide some balance against the overwhelming force of megadonors.”

Congress/2012
Huffington Post: Liz Fowler, Top Obama Health Care Aide, To Lobby For Johnson & Johnson
More about the Obamacare architect leaving to work for Johnson & Johnson. Here’s the quote from PCAF’s own David Donnelly: "As a broad matter, we should be concerned about the access that certain individuals have by working in the administration and in Congress because these policy questions are going to continue to come up, and voters will feel like the game is rigged against them."
 
Roll Call: And the Doors Go ‘Round
Meet the headhunters behind all the revolving door stories of members of Congress moving to K Street, using tactics as extreme as sneaking a potential hire in and out of a hotel in a freight elevator: “Enter the revolving-door facilitators, a select group of about a half-dozen professionals who quietly pursue or broker job deals for lawmakers and senior staffers who are headed for K Street.”
 
U.S. News: The Wacky Obama Campaign Emails That Didn’t Work
Turns out that not all of the Obama campaign’s offbeat email subject lines were effective. ‘The E-mail team's mantra by the end of the campaign: "Constantly be testing."’
 
Consider the Source: Three donors gave six figures to Republican Jewish Coalition last year
Their fundraising is down from 2010, but the Republican Jewish Coalition still brought in three donations of over $100,000, at least one of which was likely from Sheldon Adelson.
 
Sunlight Reporting Group: Who benefited most from dark money in the 2012 election?
Sunlight looks at the congressional candidates that have the most to be thankful for—or complain about—from outside spending in their races.
 
Roll Call: Crossroads Launches $500,000 Fiscal Cliff Ad Buy
The ad features sepia tones: “In the latest sign that outside groups that spent record sums on the recent election are shifting their unrestricted money to lobbying, Crossroads GPS has launched a $500,000 TV ad buy assailing President Barack Obama’s tax plan.”
 
Sunlight Reporting Group: Post-election campaign finance disclosures: What we are watching
“Federal Election Commission voyeurs rejoice! Last-minute super PAC donors are about to be revealed.” Sunlight tells us what it’s looking out for: $81.3 million in likely new contribution records, “October Surprise Club” PACs, and some of the biggest super PACs, like American Crossroads, which still have yet to disclose their final donors before the election.
 
WSJ: Adelson to Keep Betting on the GOP
($$$) ‘Mr. Adelson’s 2012 donations were double what he spent in 2008, and looking ahead, he said, he was ready to again “double” his donations. “I’ll spend that much and more,” he said in his first extensive postelection interview. “Let’s cut any ambiguity.”’
 
Sunlight Foundation: Did House Republicans pass over women for leadership roles because they were poor fundraisers?
Committee chairs are often selected from the most prolific fundraisers in the majority party. Lee Drutman wonders if this could help explain the remarkable initial decision by Republicans to name solely white men as committee chairs.

Other/States
Roll Call: Government Ethics Stories of the Year
Simon Davidson takes a look back through 2012, picking the passage of the anti-insider trading STOCK Act as his number one ethics story of the year.
 
WaPo: Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff seen dining together
Two men convicted of felonies around political corruption have lunch in Dupont Circle. To be a fly on that wall…
 
Forbes: Inside the Koch Empire: How The Brothers Plan To Reshape America
A deep dive behind the much-maligned, magnificently wealthy duo.
 
WaPo: FBI said to probe allegations that Gray campaign staff concealed donations
“Federal officials investigating Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s 2010 campaign have focused recently on allegations that campaign staff members encouraged some supporters to donate by promising that their contributions would not be reported, several people familiar with the investigation said.”