Advisory Opinions

Election Day is over. What do you do now? A good campaign has a solid wrap-up plan regardless of winning or losing. In this episode of Advisory Opinions, Jack Blakely and Adrienne Royer discuss best practices of winding down your campaign in addition to things that campaigns must do, such as updating donation page disclaimers, filing FEC reports, and sending staffers the right tax forms for 2018. 

Make sure to check out the show notes for details and links of all the resources discussed in this episode. 

You've almost made it to Election Day. Find out how to maximize your day with tips and suggestions that your hosts, Jack and Adrienne, gathered from campaign veterans. Hear about lessons learned, strategies for planning your day, and how to best prepare for the unexpected from early in the morning until late that night.

Your campaign security may be bad, but the FEC approved some new tools to help. Jack and Adrienne discuss a recent advisory opinion from the FEC where they exempted Microsoft's AccountGuard from being considered an in-kind donation. Microsoft rolled out a suite of security features for free to political campaigns, PACs, parties and other political entities who are Office 365 customers. Normally, this would be considered an in-kind donation and campaigns would need to disclose it. To the surprise of many, the FEC exempted Microsoft. 

In this episode, the hosts discuss what's available from Microsoft and some free tools that Google provides to improve your security. 

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the hosts and do no necessarily reflect the policies or positions of CMDI, or any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

The world of campaign finance issues has been active in the past couple of weeks, and there are updates to two legal cases mentioned in the episode #14. Jack and Adrienne discuss recent news from CREW vs. FEC and Americans for Prosperity vs. Becerra. They also provide an update on the Senate e-file bill, which President Trump signed this afternoon.

For the latest information on the FEC's response to the Senate e-file change, please see CMDI's blog. 


The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the hosts and do no necessarily reflect the policies or positions of CMDI, or any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

This summer, there have been two big changes for 501(c)4 organizations, one from the IRS and one from the US Courts. First, the IRS announced they would no longer collect the Schedule B portion of 990 forms for 501(c)4 organizations. This eliminates the requirement to submit the names and addresses of major donors. Secondly, a DC Circuit Court judge ruled that 501(c)4 organizations must disclose the names of donors who contribute more than $200 towards an independent expenditure.

The hosts of Advisory Opinions discuss what these two changes mean for 501(c)4 organizations.  

Raffles and bingo games are popular fundraisers for churches and nonprofits, but do they work on political campaigns? In this episode of Advisory Opinions, the two hosts discuss the problems and pitfalls that campaigns can get into with these fundraising events, highlight examples in Florida, Kansas and Michigan, and examine the different state laws surrounding games of chance in politics.

Visit CMDI.com for more information in our show notes. 

Recently, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) was accused of lying on FEC forms tracking travel reimbursement. How did his campaign show that this was a dirty political attack? 

He kept his receipts! 

Jack and Adrienne discuss why it's important to keep those receipts, log those miles, and file timely reports for travel reimbursements. They also go over some of the common pitfalls campaigns makes and tips to make tracking easier. 

Lastly, they discuss how the Senate is closer than ever before in passing e-filing for FEC reports. 

The FEC recently considered two proposals about changing the rules on foreign money in U.S. elections. Is this partisan politics, media hoopla, or a real problem that the FEC needs to address? What laws are already on the books and do they need to be updated? What is the hang up at the FEC? What were in the proposals? What can non-citizens do and not do with US elections? What should campaigns be worried about? Jack and Adrienne discuss if foreign money is a major threat to our elections or much ado about nothing. 

A recent survey from the Shorenstein Center at Harvard Kennedy School found that only 39% of campaign staffers are concerned about hacks. Jack and Adrienne discuss simple steps your campaign can take that aren't expensive or time consuming to make your data and systems more secure. 

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the hosts and do no necessarily reflect the policies or positions of CMDI, or any other agency, organization, employer, or company.

This week, the Supreme Court will hand down their decision in the anticipated Janus vs. AFSCME case. In this episode, Jack and Adrienne discuss how elections are likely to change if the Supreme Court rules against public sector unions.

Currently, only 6.5% of private sector workers are members of a labor union. However, 34.4% of government employees, at local, state and federal levels, are part of a public sector union. About half of this membership is concentrated in California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.

Given the battle ground status of Pennsylvania and Ohio and the Democratic dominance in California, New York, and Illinois, elections could be radically different after this election. Labor unions dominate get-out-the-vote (GOTV efforts) for top ballot races, and often donate substantially to local elections.

Visit CMDI.com for more information in our show notes. 

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the hosts and do no necessarily reflect the policies or positions of CMDI, or any other agency, organization, employer, or company.