In the wake of allegations that shadow minister Osborne received large contributions from a wealthy Russian, the government seeks to upgrade and tighten enforcement of the restriction on foreign political donations, currently illegal under British law. The Home Secretary will attempt to add the provisions to “Political Parties and Elections Bill, currently on its way […]

Current law prohibits donations from businesses that receive contracts from the state and gambling. The Health Minister is proposing the changes this week, after the connections that have emerged in recent months involving (legal) drug companies, illegal drugs, and contributions to President Cristina Kircher’s campaign. Story at Clarin (spanish).

The Associated Press writes about the diminished likelihood of a revival for the public financing system:
… But advocates of a public finance system aren’t eager to give up on a system that relies on voluntary taxpayer contributions on their annual tax returns. And while Obama backed away from his promise to take public money if […]

The Herald has a series of articles on the undeclared donations scandal in New Zealand, which has tarnished the government right before November (or earlier) elections. Here’s the source of the controversy:
New Zealand First is now facing three separate inquiries into donations it received since 2005 and the Electoral Commission has given it until the […]

After passing on third reading, a public subsidy bill is being reconsidered by the Philippine legislature, apparently after protests that it was not scheduled (or there was no quorum) for the vote.
The bill penalizes politicians who constantly change political parties by disqualifying them from office. It also effectively creates a state subsidy fund that will finance the […]

The Governor of Illinois used an “amendatory veto” to send a campaign finance bill back to the legislature so that it could include a ban on all political contributions from state employees. The AP writes:
With the change, Illinois, one of the few states with no limits on contributions, would become “a model in ethics reform,” […]

From the BBC:
Political parties received £10.7m in donations between April and June - up from £8.1m during the previous three months, figures show.
…The commission’s chief executive, Peter Wardle, said: “Having previously called on parties to address the issue of late reporting of individual donations, we are pleased to see this being addressed and expect to […]

Latinnews.com ($) reports that the deal among leftwing parties to support a single mayoral candidate for Sao Paolo, Marta Suplicy, was in part to give her more of the state subsidized airtime:
The electoral accord will give Suplicy almost seven minutes of free air time on television for electoral broadcasts, second only to the incumbent mayor […]

The BBC reports:
Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander has resigned “with deep regret” after breaking rules on declaring donations.
It came as she faced a one-day ban from Holyrood after failing to register donations to her leadership campaign.
It seems she failed to declare about £10,000:
She later updated her register with details of 10 donors, who each gave […]

Jeff Zeleny at the NYTimes Blog reports:
Senator Barack Obama, as he becomes his party’s presumptive presidential nominee, is starting to exert his authority over the Democratic National Committee. A first step? New fund-raising guidelines.
Mr. Obama is announcing today that the D.N.C. will no longer accept contributions from federal lobbyists or political action committees, which follows […]

WZTV in Tennessee reports:
A campaign finance reform bill to make it harder for candidates to hide the source of their campaign finances appeared to be dead as the 2008 regular session of the Legislature neared an end.

From The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah, a report begins:
The state’s 8-year-old electronic campaign finance reporting system is getting an overhaul, but for now, candidates can change or delete entries to their online documents without explanation or a visible trail.

Pinto-Duschinsky’s report done for Policy Exchange makes several headlines, including: Public subsidies to MPs ‘rising’, Low-level party funding ‘a myth’ and Parties ’spend less fighting elections than 40 years ago’.

Latinnews.com($) reports: “On 21 April the Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE) ordered two TV ads to be taken off the air.” PAN and a group were alleged to have gone too far in their depiction of former presidential candidate Lopez Obrador, and that the latter “had broken the law which bans unregistered groups from attacking political […]

From Honolulu Advisor:  
A pilot program to publicly finance Big Island County Council elections could be in danger after the state Senate amended the proposal yesterday to also soften restrictions on corporate campaign contributions.
Linking the conflicting ideas in the same bill could poison negotiations if the bill moves to a state House and Senate conference […]

Hoy.com (spanish) reports that the President of the Central Electoral Committee (JCE) in the Dominican Republic wants a reduction in the public financing given to the largest parties to achieve a more equitable distribution.  

Boston.com reports:
MONTPELIER, Vt.—Gov. Jim Douglas on Friday vetoed the Legislature’s latest effort to limit the influence of big money in politics, as well as an instant-runoff voting bill.

Douglas said his veto of the campaign finance bill was mainly due to his opposition to a provision limiting the amounts political parties can donate to campaigns. The […]

Hutchinson News Online has more on the reforms passed by the Kansas House:
The chamber overwhelmingly approved four bills making modest changes to state laws governing the handling of political money.
One of the bigger shifts involves shortening a blackout period shortly before an election. The loophole has kept the public from learning about last-minute campaign finance […]

Nicaragua is among the Central American countries that have not lived up to the promises made in November 2006 to increase transparency in the finance of campaigns, according to Transparency International’s report, writes El Nuevo Diario (spanish) last week.

Mentioning short campaign periods and limits on expenditures in privately-owned media, LatioMadrid writes that the rules governing political campaigns are more “clear” and “strict” in Spain than in Latin America, and thus that campaigns are less expensive. They fail to mention that information about campaign donations and expenditures are far more forthcoming in several Latin American countries (e.g. […]