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14 Congress enacted and president George w. Bush signed on September 14, 2007, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (PL. 110-81, 121 Stat. 735, 2 U.S.C.§1601) amending House and Senate Ethics Rules and the Federal election Campaign Act. Amendments to the latter act introduces new disclosure requirements for certain committees that receive bundled contributions from lobbyists and committees established or controlled by any lobbyist and new rules relating to travel on private jet aircraft. The law requires candidates’ authorized committees, leadership political action committees, and party committees to disclose the name, address, employer of, and the bundled contribution amount credited to, each lobbyist (or lobbyist’s committee) who provided the committee with bundled contributions aggregating in excess of $15,000 during specified time periods. The commission on December 20, 2007, certified $19,287,504.65 in federal matching funds to seven presidential candidates (Joseph Biden, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Duncan Hunter, Dennis Kucinich, John McCain, and Thomas Tancredo) for the 2008 election. Other candidates declined to participate in the matching fund program. The presidential public funding program, however, lacks sufficient funds to make the payments. On December 20, 2007, the commission amended its written rules for the conduct of meetings to provide for circumstances when the commission has fewer than four members. Currently, the commission has only two members. The amended rules were published in the Federal Register on January 30, 2008 (73 FR 5569) and are available on the commission’s web site: http://www.fec.gov/law/cfr/ej_compilation/2008/notice_2008-01.pdf The commission reported a 1.5 percent increase in the number of federally registered political action committees (PACs) from 4,168 to 4,234 during the second half of 2007. Corporate PACs continue to be the largest category with 1,601 committees, an increase of 15. Labor PACs remained constant at 273, but trade/member/health PACs declined by 1 to 925. The commission issued several advisory opinions. Advisory Opinion 2007-9 provides the Kerry-Edwards 2004 General Legal and Compliance Fund may reimburse the Kerry-Edwards 2004 Incorporated Presidential Campaign Committee for the portion of its advertising expenses dedicated to compliance with the “stand-by-your-ad” provision of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. Advisory Opinion 2007-10 holds a candidate’s committee may not recognize the corporate employers of individual contributors at a golf tournament fundraiser because the use of the corporation’s name, trademark, or service mark would result in the corporation facilitation of contributions which are prohibited by the Federal Election Campaign Act. Advisory Opinion 2007-16 holds the American Kennel Club (AKC) and its voting clubs and accredited clubs are membership organizations under the Federal Election Campaign Act and commission regulations, and the voting clubs and the accredited clubs are affiliated with AKC. Therefore, any separate segregated fund the AKC establishes may solicit contributions from the individual members of its affiliated voting clubs and accredited clubs. Advisory Opinion 2007-18 authorizes U.S. Representative Charles Rangel’s principal campaign committee or his leadership political action committee to pay for the
15 commissioning of an official portrait of the representatives that will be donated to the U.S. House of representatives. Advisory Opinion 2007-19 stipulates a non-profit 501(c)(4) corporation qualifies as a membership organization and individuals selected to be members of that organization qualify as “members” for purposes of the Federal Election Campaign Act. Hence, the organization may solicit those individuals for contributions to a separate segregated fund established by the organization. Advisory Opinion 2007-22 provides Jim Hurysz for Congress may receive volunteer services and professional services from Canadian citizens and may use its campaign funds to pay for candidate travel to Canada in order to gather campaign-related information. The committee may not accept elections materials donated by Canadian campaigns, but may purchase the materials at fair market value. Mr. Hurysz also may use his personal funds to pay for candidate travel to Canada and to obtain information from Canadian citizens. Advisory Opinion 2007-24 allows the campaign committees of Jim Burkee for Congress (Republican) and Jeff Walz for Congress (Democrat) may engage jointly in fundraising and campaigning activities provided the committees use an appropriate payment method for each type of activity, and otherwise follow the limits, prohibitions, and other requirements of the Federal election Campaign Act. Advisory Opinion 2007-28 provides U.S. Representatives Kevin McCarthy and Devin Nunes may, in addition to soliciting funds from federally permissible sources and not exceeding the contribution limits for individuals and political committees, may solicit funds from individuals, subject to a $20,000 calendar year limit, for one or more independently run ballot measure committees in connection with the qualification and passage of a redistricting initiative. Advisory Opinion 2007-34 holds a federal candidate’s appearance on a billboard endorsing a nonfederal candidate is not a coordinated communication and may be paid for with nonfederal funds. BOOK REVIEWS Editor: Richard Vengroff Kennesaw State University Kennesaw, Georgia 30144 Telephone: (770) 423-6174 E-Mail: Richard_Vengroff@kennesaw.edu Section members with forthcoming books should notify the book editor to facilitate the speedy review of books. Rein Taagepera, Predicting Party Sizes: The Logic of Simple Electoral Systems. Oxford and New York: University of Oxford Press, 2007. xxii, 314 pp. ISBN: 078-0-19- 928774-1. Hardback, $84.00. Predicting Party Sizes is a testament to Rein Taagepera’s seminal contribution to cumulative theory development in comparative electoral systems research. It builds on
Page 1 and 2: REPRESENTATION AND ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Page 3 and 4: Panel 4: Co-sponsored with Comparat
Page 5 and 6: 5 Lee Ann Banaszak (Penn State) and
Page 7 and 8: SECTION TREASURER REPORT 7 Professo
Page 9 and 10: 9 from among members of the Executi
Page 11 and 12: 11 Other Political Party Autonomy D
Page 13: 13 the funding before the election
Page 17 and 18: 17 Part I of the book on “Rules a
Page 19 and 20: 19 Colomer, Josep. 2004. “The Str
Page 21 and 22: 21 Democracies. New York: New York
Page 23 and 24: 23 Politics 30(4):711-32. Bardi, Lu
Page 25 and 26: 25 Social Cleavages in Western Euro
Page 27 and 28: 27 Kasuya, Yuko and Johannes Moeniu
Page 29 and 30: 29 June 2006." Electoral Studies 27
Page 31: 31 Nepal. 2007. Samvidhanasabha Nir

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