An editorial in the Jamaica Gleaner recognizes that campaign finance disclosure requirements, if they apply only to political parties and not also to individual candidates, can serve as a loophole that undermines the disclosure of campaign finance (providing information to voters and helping to stem quid-pro-quo contributions) as well as enforce other campaign regulations, such [...]

A proposal to fix spending limits is on the table and is supported by the PRD in the Dominican Republic, writes Hoy Digital (spanish). The bill is a response to the large amount of campaign fundraising and expenditure that is occuring so far in advance (and prior to the official campaign period) of next year’s election. The [...]

The NZHerald writes:
Prime Minister Helen Clark has conceded that Labour does not have enough support to secure the state funding of political parties as part of its electoral reforms.
She said last night that “at this time it would not appear that support is there to advance that particular option”.
However, Labour may have enough clout to push [...]

A new Political Parties Bill under debate in Kenya has come under fire from a group of women legislators for not including measures that encourage political activity by women and for not making public funding mandatory, the Daily Nation reports. In another story, they also report that the Electoral Commission of Kenya has set up a committee “to block [...]

The new members of the Supreme Court, Roberts and Alito, both expressed misgivings yesterday about regulating ads like those of Wisconsin Right to Life, signalling that a change in policy may come when the court makes it’s decision on the case. The NYTimes writes:
But a new majority may view more expansively the Constitution’s protection of political messages as free [...]

The Supreme Court of the United States today hears arguments in the Wisconsin Right to Life case about the regulation of campaign ads (specifically, having contribution limits for the finance of those campaign activities) that do not expressly mention a candidate’s name, but seem crafted for the purpose of mobilizing voters for or against the [...]

Mike Murphy speaks at NPR about what the US should borrow from the French: the free and equal tv time given to all presidential candidates, the prohibition on campaign activities the last few days before the election, and the regulation of campaign material to make sure it is “decent”.
The free TV time is something that might [...]

Marco Aurélio was reelected for another two years as head of the powerful (and busy) Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) in Brazil. It will be his second and last term since he comes appointed from the Supreme Federal Tribunal (STF), which is made of only 11 members – losing members for too long puts too much of [...]

The Crown Prosecution Service has been given all the materials in detectives’ investigation into the cash-for-honours probe, and will soon make decide whether to bring prosecutions, the BBC writes. It would be only the 2nd prosecution under the 1925 law.
There has only ever been one prosecution involving the law at the centre of the inquiry [...]

The Tennessean writes:
Sen. Bob Corker’s first piece of legislation is an attempt to prevent a reoccurrence of the worst moment from his campaign last fall — when the Republican National Committee, without Corker’s knowledge, began running the now-infamous “Playboy” television ad.
The ad, which poked fun at Democratic candidate Harold Ford’s lifestyle, ended with a young [...]

A couple reform proposals have been introduced in California. The Fresno Bee writes in disapproval:
On Tuesday, Assembly Member Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, trotted out the latest version of her measure to finance campaigns with public funds, the Holy Grail of self-proclaimed good government groups, albeit one that completely defies reality and, like many such “reforms,” could [...]

The federal police in Brazil have uncovered scores of people involved in an illegal gambling ring, including two congressmen. Latinnews.com($) reports:
According to the Brazilian press, deputies Marina Maggessi (opposition) and Simão Sessim (government-allied), both from Rio de Janeiro, received illegal campaign donations from gambling bankers. In exchange for the donations Maggessi and Sessim were supposed to [...]

PressConnect.com writes:
Gov. Eliot Spitzer said Tuesday that campaign-finance reform tops his agenda for the final 10 weeks of the 2007 legislative session.
… While not detailing specifics, Spitzer said his plan would lower contribution limits and improve transparency. He said an overhaul was needed to “change a culture in Albany that clearly is desperate for reform.”
The [...]

Want to give to the Labour Party - and help them pay back their debt – with every purchase on your credit card? You can by opening a card through the Co-operative Bank. Labour advertises the card on its website and Graham Dines laments about it here.  
I do not know how common schemes like this [...]

By way of AllAfrica.com, East African Standard writes that a proposed reform was “unreasonable”:

The enactment of a law to govern political parties hit a snag after a section of politicians described it as unreasonable and called for its withdrawal.
Party officials and Members of Parliament instead advocated for an overhaul of the Political Parties Bill 2007, [...]

Proposed reforms looks like they will go ahead without state funding of parties in New Zealand. From The Dominion Post:
Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen admitted yesterday that the plan for state-funding did not have the numbers to proceed.
“I’m quite sure we will have support for some quite major reforms to election spending but it doesn’t [...]

The NY Times has a slick new interactive system that tracks presidential candidates’ campaign donations here. It groups donations by area codes to show where candidates are raising their money.

From Reuters:  
Campaigning for the French presidency is highly regulated. Below are the main rules governing campaign spending for the 12 presidential candidates during the run-up to the April 22 and May 6 polls.
- Campaign spending is limited to 15.5 million euros ($20.7 million), per candidate, while a total of 20.7 million euros is allowed for [...]

Add to the current political problems in Ecuador – which for the past couple months have been a constitutional crisis over president’s Correa’s plans for a constitutional assembly – those involving campaign finance. Ciudadanía Informada (in spanish) reports that a member of the committee overseeing electoral finance resigned a day after the committee issued a [...]

A $31 million dollar donation to the PNP by the Dutch company Trafigura has lead to talk in the Jamaican parliament about reforms. More here (in spanish).