Sen. Cecilia Tkaczyk was sworn in to the New York Senate yesterday and Capital Tonight reports that she "is showing no intention of demobilizing her army of supporters who are pushing for a public financing of political campaigns."

Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Nation: Election reform should be a top priority for the new Congress
Ari Berman looks at new proposals to "fix the shameful way US elections are run."

BNA: Experts Agree Campaign System Hurting Parties, Candidates, but Prescriptions Differ (PDF)
BNA wrap up of yesterday's CATO event: "Campaign finance experts from across the political spectrum were in wide agreement at a Jan. 23 conference that a steep rise in spending by outside groups in recent election cycles has weakened the relative ability of political parties and even candidates to shape election outcomes. But the experts were divided about whether this trend should be addressed by imposing new transparency requirements on outside spending or by beefing up parties and candidates through relaxed restrictions on campaign contributions."

NYT: Bipartisan filibuster deal taking shape in Senate
"Senate Democratic and Republican leaders are nearing an agreement on new limits to the filibuster, an effort to speed action in the often-clogged chamber by prohibiting senators from using a common tactic to slow the legislative process."

Portland Daily Sun: Clean Elections advocates, Pingree take on Citizens United
"On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, announced legislation to publicly fund congressional campaigns, while proponents of "clean elections" gathered at the Maine Capitol to unveil a resolution seeking support for a U.S. constitutional amendment limiting corporate funding of elections."

Roll Call: Ethics panel requires added disclosure of funds, accounts
"The House Ethics Committee on Wednesday said members and senior staffers must disclose the underlying assets in certain investment funds and accounts, regardless of whether the person has any role in selecting the investments."

Motley Fool: An outgrageous form of corporate waste
Alyce Lomax on corporate spending on politics and the need for shareholder transparency: "Did any of us really invest in public companies hoping for them to waste billions in Washington?"

Reuters: GOP vs. Voting Rights Act
William Yeomans writes that if SCOTUS strikes down Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, "the backlash will likely ensure that Republican presidential candidates will struggle for a generation to win more than a handful of minority votes."

Congress/2012
The Hill: Ben Nelson gets $1M payday
Insert gif of a cash register: "Former Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) on Wednesday revealed he would earn nearly $1 million per year in his new job as chief executive of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC)." This does not include his role as a "senior adviser" at Agenda, so he's most definitely bringing in seven figures.

Sunlight: Inside spending: super PACs, dark money groups dominated by political insiders
Interesting analysis by Bill Allison on the impact of Citizens United: "In practice, an analysis by Sunlight finds, it has created a new revolving door, giving longtime members of the political industrial class new and relatively untrammelled venues to exploit their contacts."

Price of Oil: Pro-Keystone XL letter dripping in oil money
Senators have sent a new letter to President Obama urging him to approve Keystone--and its signers have received, over their careers, $27.5 million in dirty energy money.

Politico: Democrats launch plan to turn Texas blue
"National Democrats are taking steps to create a large-scale independent group aimed at turning traditionally conservative Texas into a prime electoral battleground, crafting a new initiative to identify and mobilize progressive voters in the rapidly-changing state."

USA Today: Watchdogs, conservatives rap Obama's new advocacy group
"Watchdog groups and President Obama's conservative foes alike are criticizing his decision to transform his vaunted campaign operation into a non-profit advocacy group that will fight for Obama's second-term agenda."

CPI: Fiscal cliff, elections boost spending on lobbying
"Congress’ fiscal cliff fiasco, a flurry of lame duck legislation and election-season politics drove some of the nation’s most powerful lobbying forces to double down on their governmental influence efforts late last year, newly filed reports show."

Politico: K Street sings the blues
K Street haz a sad.

Politico: Sandy adds a twist to some firms lobbying efforts
"More than 140 entities lobbied the federal government on Hurricane Sandy-related issues, according to a POLITICO review of fourth-quarter disclosures in the Senate Office of Public Records.

Globe: Mike Capuano named to ethics committee
Cap and Democrats "Ted Deutch of Florida, Yvette Clarke of New York and Pedro Pierluisi of Puerto Rico" will join Ranking Member Linda Sanches on House Ethics.

Boston Globe: Kerry to divest some financial holdings
"Senator John F. Kerry and his wife, seeking to avoid possible conflicts of interest, will sell nearly 100 separate investments in the United States and abroad if the Massachusetts Democrat is confirmed as secretary of state."

Billings Gazette: Secretive conservative group looks ready to vanish
American Tradition Partnership: "After four years spent dumping candidate attack ads on Montana elections and leading high-profile challenges to state campaign laws, a secretive conservative organization looks as if it may simply vanish."

CT Mirror: Smoke shop owner pleads guilty in campaign finance case
"A smoke-shop owner Wednesday became the third defendant to plead guilty in the campaign finance case that helped derail the congressional campaign of former House Speaker Christopher Donovan, D-Meriden, last year."

Other/States
WaPo: Florida group wants to end caps on campaign donations
Washington Post picks up the Florida chatter. I'm still giving some side eye to a "good government group" that favors getting rid of contribution limits.

Des Moines Register: Iowa Ethics and Campaign Finance Board seeks complaint process change
"The executive director of Iowa’s Ethics and Campaign Finance Disclosure Board on Wednesday proposed a change to streamline the agency’s complaint process, but citizen activists questioned whether the end result would be less public input and disclosure than the current arrangement provides. "