NEWS ROUNDUP:

• In sad news: Common Cause President and former member of Congress Bob Edgar passed away yesterday at the age of 69. Edgar served in the House in the 1970’s and 1980’s and had led Common Cause since 2007. (Common Cause)
• Most first quarter lobbying reports have come in and the results are not great for an industry that was hoping to take advantage of congressional movement on a number of issues to boost revenues that have been lagging. While spending on lobbying was down overall, gun groups, defense contractors, oil companies, and Facebook bucked the trend and boosted spending. (Roll Call, The Hill, Public Integrity)
• News Corp will start disclosing its corporate political contributions to shareholders as part of the settlement in a shareholder lawsuit alleging the company did not do enough to investigate its phone hacking scandal. (Roll Call)
• With the addition of Max Baucus to the rolls of retiring Senators the group is collectively holding more than $10 million in campaign cash. Baucus, whose retirement announcement came somewhat out of the blue, has about half of that money. Tom Harkin of Iowa is also sitting on a serious $2.3 million. (Public Integrity)
• Facebook’s lobbying continued on an upward trend during the first quarter of 2013. The Internet giant spent more than $2.4 million between January and March, significantly more than during the same period last year. (The Hill)
• Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg cannon-balled into the national political spending pool last quarter, boosting his super PAC and Mayors Against Illegal Guns. By contrast, the company that made him a very rich man, Bloomberg LP, has been hesitant to spend large sums on lobbying, or file their disclosure reports on time, recently. (Roll Call)

RELEVANT BILLS INTRODUCED:

• S. 791. A bill to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and the Internal Revenue Code 1986 to require the disclosure of contributions and expenditures for independent Federal election-related activity, and for other purposes.

HAPPENING TODAY 4/24:

• Governments, Gatekeepers, and Journalists. NED. 9:30 – 11:00 am. National Press Club, 529 14th street NW, 13th floor, Washington, DC 20045.
• Next Generation Computing and Big Data Analytics. House Science, Space, and Technology. 10:00 am. 2318 Rayburn House Office Building. Subcommittees on Research and Technology.

HAPPENING TOMORROW 4/25:

• What’s on the agenda for the new FCC? IT and Innovation Foundation. 1:00 – 2:30 pm. 1101 K Street NW, Suite 610, Washington, DC 20005.
• Striking the Right Balance: Protecting our nation’s critical infrastructure from cyber attack and ensuring privacy and civil liberties. House Homeland Security. 2:00 pm. 311 Cannon House Office Building. Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies.

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