WASHINGTON DC — “This has not been a kind year for campaign finance reformers.

Setting aside the now-famous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling from the Supreme Court, which allowed corporations and unions to spend freely on campaign advertisements, there has been a flurry of challenges to other campaign finance laws in the courts.

Although several of these challenges were filed before the Supreme Court ruled on Citizens United, that decision encouraged opponents of campaign finance reform to push their challenges even further, according to experts on campaign finance cases.” Andrew Kreighbaum, OpenSecrets.org.

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CLEVELAND — “One notion that Democrats in Ohio and elsewhere haven’t been able to shake over the last generation or so is that their campaigns are funded by cigar-puffing party big wigs and labor bosses.

In the race to become Ohio’s next Attorney General, Republican candidate Mike DeWine played up to just this kind of stereotype during an interview with ONN anchor Jim Heath on the Aug. 15 edition of Capitol Square. Heath asked DeWine if he was concerned about trailing Democratic Attorney General Richard Cordray in fundraising. Cordray reported he had $3.5 million at the end of July, while DeWine, a former U.S. senator, had $2.1 million.

After explaining that recent campaign finance reports showed the fundraising gap narrowing, DeWine turned the focus back onto Cordray, insinuating that he is a tool of the Democratic party and labor union bosses with a much narrower base of support.” PolitiFact Ohio.

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WASHINGTON — ” Prompted by a request from the Federal Election Commission and after criticism from Democratic congressman Zack Space, Republican congressional candidate Bob Gibbs filed corrected campaign-finance reports yesterday with the federal agency.

Emily Pettigrew, a spokeswoman for Gibbs, said a computer glitch incorrectly reported individuals donating money to his general election campaign when the computer should have credited the contributions to his primary campaign…. The FEC questioned the original reports in two letters to Gibbs last week, warning that “if any apparent excessive contribution in question was incompletely or incorrectly disclosed, you must amend your original report with clarifying language.’” Jack Torry, The Columbus Dispatch.

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WASHINGTON DC — “It’s tough to underestimate the peril to impartial American justice that’s been highlighted in a new report on the big-time campaign money flowing into elections for justices on state Supreme Courts.

Total spending doubled in the past decade, from $83 million in the 1990s to $207 million in 2000-2009, according to the report from three nonpartisan groups — the Justice at Stake Campaign, the Brennan Center for Justice and the National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Equally alarming, those pushing the spending — corporations on one side, trial lawyers on the other — are using shell organizations such as the American Justice Partnership and the Alabama Civil Justice Reform Committee to keep their involvement hidden.” Akron Beacon Journal.

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COLUMBUS — “Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned years of legal precedent to give corporations, unions and other large organizations greatly increased rights to spend vast sums to influence elections and hide their sponsorship of political ads. The case, Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission, was brought by the Citizens United organization, because the commission had refused in 2008 to allow the organization to air, just before the Democratic primaries in which Hillary Clinton was a candidate, a film that was very critical of her….

The Supreme Court cited the Constitution’s First Amendment provision about abridging the freedom of speech. The court seemed to ignore the stated purpose of the Constitution, in its preamble, about promoting ‘the general welfare.’

In my opinion, nothing so effectively abridges free speech in political campaigns as allowing large entities, with virtually unlimited funds, to buy out and bid up the price of the available broadcast time and printed advertizing space and flood them with professionally produced sales pitches for their preferred candidates and issues. These actions do not promote the general welfare.” The Columbus Dispatch.

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In Pay 2 Play, John Wellington Ennis explores the absurd heights of political corruption in Ohio, while following statewide elections that prove surprising and historic. The inspiring stories behind first-time candidates and the struggles of their underdog campaigns reveal the larger failures in our electoral process. Ennis grew up in Chicago and attended the N.Y.U. and U.S.C. film schools. Ennis is a co-founder of Video the Vote, a non-partisan national group that documents and reports on voting issues.

COLUMBUS — “Democrats recently canceled a pair of fundraising appearances by Ohio Department of Transportation director that were drawing fire from Republicans who said they smelled of pay to play.

As first reported last week by Gongwer News Service, invitations to Rep. Vernon Sykes’ Sept. 2 lunch in Akron highlighted ’special guest’ ODOT Director Jolene Molitoris. The event asked for donations ranging from $50 to $1,000.

‘You’re saying with a fundraiser: ‘Vote for me, I’m a good rep. I’ll do what’s right,’ said Rep. Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati. ‘Here you have the chairman of the Finance Committee who appropriates funds to ODOT with the director who awards contracts basically saying, ‘You might want to get to know us. It might be wise to give money to us.’” Jim Siegel, The Columbus Dispatch.

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DAYTON — “After losing their re-election bids last November, former Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin and former Clearcreek Twp. Trustee Greg McDonald signed up for discounted health care coverage provided through a federal program designed to provide relief to unemployed workers.

However, elected officials ousted from office between Sept. 1, 2008, and May 31, 2010, qualify for subsidized COBRA coverage through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to the IRS and insurance officials…. “If you can find one example, you can find 100,” said Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, a statewide consumer advocacy group. While the nonprofit supports subsidized COBRA coverage for unemployed workers, Turcer said its use by former elected officials who have other jobs is questionable. “We need to be really watching the bottom line and thinking about all the ways the U.S. government or the state of Ohio spend more than they need to,” Turcer said.” Lawrence Budd, Dayton Daily News.

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How many former elected officials receive subsidized COBRA insurance?

Lawrence Budd, Dayton Daily News.

COLUMBUS — “After running a campaign with virtually no expenses – and getting criticized for it – Attorney General Richard Cordray last week reported thousands of dollars worth of help from the Ohio Democratic Party.

In a complaint to the Ohio Elections Commission, Republicans accused Cordray of trying to hide campaign expenses behind the facade of the Ohio Democratic Party, which Cordray denied.

In his latest fundraising report, however, Cordray reports thousands of dollars in assistance from the Ohio Democratic Party in July, including $28,452 in payroll expenses.” James Nash, The Columbus Dispatch.

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Money came in different ways, but each raised $2 million last month

Democrat Ted Strickland, left, and Republican John Kasich.

COLUMBUS — “The candidates for governor continued their record-setting pace for hauling in campaign cash in recent weeks, with Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and Republican challenger John Kasich collecting more than $2 million each.

Strickland and Kasich already have raised nearly $25 million combined for television ads and other spending, with only 55 days until the start of early voting for the Nov. 2 election.” Mark Niquette, Columbus Dispatch.

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Gov. Ted Strickland and opponent John Kasich have lots of campaign cash

Mark Naymik, Cleveland Plain Dealer.

COLUMBUS — “Ohio Democrats have followed through on a threat to file a complaint against state Sen. Jon Husted, R-Kettering, with the Ohio Elections Commission. The complaint, filed on Tuesday, Aug. 3, said that Husted carried over more money than state law permits to his current campaign for secretary of state…

That complaint said that on Nov. 5, 2008, Husted made a contribution of $384,000 to the Ohio Republican Party.

The state GOP reported receiving the contribution 75 days later on Jan. 19, 2009. On a later campaign finance report, Husted reported as ‘other income’ a refund from the Ohio Republican Party on March 19, 2009, in the amount of $384,000, the same amount Husted had contributed to the state GOP, according to the complaint.” William Hershey, Dayton Daily News.

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Senate candidate Jack Conway of Kentucky has been targeted by a mining executive as "anti-coal." (Ed Reinke/Associated Press)

WASHINGTON, DC — “Driven by increasing anger at Democratic policies and by recent Supreme Court decisions unshackling corporate contributions, business and conservative groups are preparing a flood of campaign money to try to wrest control of Congress from the Democrats. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest collection point for corporate contributions, has increased its spending for the congressional election in November from $35 million in 2008 to a projected $75 million this year. Officials say it may go even higher.

Two recent Supreme Court decisions have encouraged corporate and union participation in political advertising campaigns. This year, the court decided in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission that corporations and unions could spend directly on elections, overturning a century of laws limiting such spending

Chamber of Commerce officials say a more significant ruling was the 2007 decision in Federal Election Commission vs. Wisconsin Right to Life that lifted the ban on political issue advertising close to an election, allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums on these ads at the last minute.” Tom Hamburger, Los Angeles Times.

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Family has donated more than $1 million; recipients unsure whether to give it back

COLUMBUS — “When a major political player gets into hot water, one party often demands that the other return contributions from that donor.

But what happens when the donor spreads that money to both parties?

State party leaders did not return calls for comment yesterday.

The donor in this case is not a single giver but the Cafaro family, Mahoning Valley real-estate and development titans. One member is Ohio Senate Minority Leader Capri S. Cafaro, D-Hubbard.

Since 2000, the Cafaro family has given more than $980,000 to state political parties and candidates, and an additional $608,000 on the federal side, including $68,000 to the federal accounts run by Ohio’s two state parties.” Jim Siegel, Columbus Dispatch.

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COLUMBUS — “Two county Republican parties are charging that the re-election campaign of Democratic Attorney General Richard Cordray illegally laundered excess campaign funds. The GOP groups have filed their accusation with the Ohio Elections Commission. 

‘It’s hard to prove it’s the same money’ said Catherine Turcer of the watchdog group Ohio Citizen Action.  ‘In many ways the campaign finance system is this system of legalized money laundering.” Bill Cohen, Statehouse News.