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- Home
- Practices and Industries
- Regulatory and Public Policy
- Election and Political Law
- Lobbying and Campaign Finance Internal Investigations
After a series of high profile scandals involving lobbyists, gifts to government officials and campaign finance violations, many corporations have expanded the focus of their compliance programs to include government relations risk. When problems are detected, Covington frequently is engaged to conduct internal investigations aimed at understanding what happened, why it happened, and what step the company needs to take to remediate any political law violations.
Increasingly, corporations proactively engage our Election & Political Law group to conduct audits or reviews of their Washington offices and their overall government affairs compliance.
The typical politically active corporation faces a variety of potential compliance risks in the political law area. Examples include:
- Illegal reimbursement of campaign contributions through the corporate expense reimbursement process.
- Illegal bundling or “facilitation” of campaign contributions by corporate employees and lobbyists.
- Failure to register lobbyists.
- Failure to accurately quantify and report lobbying activity.
- Violation of corporate policies or laws governing gifts to public officials.
- Mishandling of PAC funds.
We understand that investigations of this kind are necessarily extraordinarily sensitive in nature. Our lawyers are able to marshal not only the investigative skills and professional discretion necessary to learn the facts but also the specialized knowledge of the election and lobbying laws needed to spot and understand the issues.
February 2, 2021, Inside Political Law
Just two days after taking office, President Joe Biden reversed former President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13957, which had dramatically expanded the potential number of political appointees in the executive branch and stripped thousands of career officials of their civil service protections. President Trump’s order created a new “Schedule F” of the ...
December 3, 2020, Inside Political Law
An opinion by Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia unsealed yesterday has generated much attention for its discussion of contributions-for-pardons allegations in a case that is still largely obscured from public view. But the underlying offenses at issue in the case also include an alleged “secret lobbying...… ...
November 9, 2020, Inside Political Law
With the election over, attention now turns to the transition and the upcoming inauguration of the new Biden-Harris Administration. In this alert, which will be of interest to chief compliance officers and many others across the country, Covington’s Election and Political Law Practice Group provides insight into what promises to be a transition and ...
October 26, 2020, Inside Political Law
UPDATE (2/2/2021): The Executive Order discussed in this post has been revoked by President Biden. See here. Despite his promises to “drain the swamp,” last week President Trump issued an Executive Order that may inadvertently create a large number of new lobbyists. The order creates a new category of federal employees who are exempt from...… Continue ...
June 26, 2020, Inside Political Law
Nearly a decade after his release from prison, having served nearly four years on corruption charges, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff may be heading back behind bars, this time as the first person ever charged and convicted for criminal violations of the Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”). Yesterday the Justice Department announced that notorious lobbyist Jack ...
May 1, 2020, Inside Political Law
As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic spreads through every industry, companies that previously steered clear of Washington, D.C. may find themselves contacting the federal government for assistance. From communicating with Members of Congress about potential provisions of the CARES Act to requesting new forms of assistance from federal agencies that oversee ...
April 29, 2020, Inside Political Law
As states grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, many have opted to make changes to campaign finance and lobbying reporting due dates and filing procedures. Covington has published a client alert containing a chart of changes to state campaign finance and lobbying filing schedules that states have announced as of last week. State...… Continue ...
April 29, 2020, Covington Alert
As states grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 crisis, many have opted to make changes to campaign finance and lobbying reporting due dates and filing procedures. Covington has assembled a chart of changes to state campaign finance and lobbying filing schedules that states have announced as of last week.
April 8, 2020, Inside Political Law
The 2020 annual report from the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) provides new details regarding the state of Lobbying Disclosure Act (“LDA”) compliance and enforcement. By statute, the GAO is charged with conducting random audits of LDA compliance and submitting reports reflecting the results to Congress. This year’s audit reviewed approximately 100 ...
March 24, 2020, Inside Political Law
The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic are reverberating in every sector of the global economy, from life sciences to transportation, retail to manufacturing, financial services to sports and entertainment. As federal, state, and local governments attempt to blunt the pandemic’s public health and economic effects, many companies are frantically working with ...
March 24, 2020, Inside Political Law
The countless lobbyists urging Congress to include relief for their clients in the third coronavirus legislative package (“COVID 3.0”) currently pending in Congress may soon be unemployed, at least if the House version becomes law. The Take Responsibility for Workers and Families Act (H.R. 6379), proposed by Democrats in the House of Representatives on ...
July 31, 2018, Roll Call
Robert Kelner is quoted in Roll Call regarding legislation to overhaul the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Mr. Kelner says, “They [lawmakers] are all are focused on ‘toughening’ the statute, which is a political approach, but not an approach that will make it more effective. FARA has been in need of a major overhaul for decades. It’s an extremely vague statute, ...
August 18, 2014, LXBN TV
Covington's Zack Parks was interviewed by The Lexblog Network regarding the Obama Administration loosening its ban on having lobbyists sit on federal committees, boards and commissions.
Bombshell: Ethics office alleges illegal lobbying
July 25, 2014, The Hill
Rob Kelner is mentioned regarding his blog post on the Congressional Ethics Office referring alleged unregistered lobbyist to the DOJ.
Back to Election and Political Law
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Corporate and Trade Association Political Activity
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Corporate Political Disclosure
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FEC Advice and Enforcement
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Foreign Agents Registration Act
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Government Affairs Compliance Reviews
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Lobbying and Campaign Finance Internal Investigations
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Lobbying Disclosure Act Compliance
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Pay-to-Play Law Advice
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Political Tax and Tax Exempt Organizations
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State and Local Enforcement
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Super PACs
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Vetting and Confirmation of Political Appointees