Summary of Changes UPDATE

In this month’s Summary of Changes Update you will find: 

1. In Alberta, the Lieutenant Governor in Council proclaims the Conflicts of Interest Amendment Act in force on April 1, 2008, changing the gift limits for members of the legislative assembly and executive council.

2. South Dakota passes Senate Bills 4 and 100, making definitional and technical changes to the political contributions laws.

3. Seattle passes a bill creating a lobbying law to go into effect 30 days after the Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission adopts the rules and regulations within the ordinance, or on September 17, 2008, whichever
   is first.

4. Alaska, Arkansas, and North Carolina call special sessions, requiring additional lobbying reporting.

5. Louisiana calls a second special session and the governor continues to sign additional ethics bills.

Congratulations!

Some people are concerned about opening our
e-mails when they learn we have had three babies born to staff members since December and a grandbaby for another staff person.

• In December, Shannon Christen-Syed
  welcomed her first baby boy right before
  the holidays;

• February 20^th came the birth of
  Ava Kathleen Linke, daughter of
  Compliance Associate Amber Fish Linke;

• March 1^st came the birth of Coen Springer Shields, grandson to
  Compliance Associate Cy Naumoff; and

• March 25^th came the birth of Clare Kasmira Cassidy, daughter of Compliance Associate Brian Cassidy and our former file clerk,
  Mary Cassidy.

Everyone is doing very well and the babies are all very beautiful.
Thank you to everyone who has sent wishes to my team.

Ohio Birthday Celebration

Elizabeth Bartz attended the 9th Annual Ohio Birthday Celebration at the Library of Congress on March 5, 2008.  State and Federal joined other Ohio universities and companies at the event, which was started by the University of Akron.

LD-2 Class – a few key notes

The first report must be filed by April 21^st (the 20^th is a Sunday). Here is a helpful tip to remember when compiling the information for the report.

Organizations that employ in-house lobbyists may incur lobbying-related expenses in the form of employee compensation, office overhead, or payments to vendors, which may include lobbying firms.  To ensure complete reporting, the Secretary of the U.S. Senate and the Clerk of the House of Representatives have consistently interpreted section 5(B)(4) of the Lobbying Disclosure Act to require organizations to report all of their expenses incurred in connection with lobbying activities.

All employee time spent in lobbying activities must be included in determining the organization’s lobbying expenses, even if the employee does not meet the statutory definition of a lobbyist.

Example: The CEO of a registrant, “Defense Contractor,” travels to Washington to meet with a covered Department of Defense official regarding the renewal of a government contract. “Defense Contractor” has already determined that its CEO is not a lobbyist because he does not spend 20 percent of his time on lobbying activities during a quarterly period.  Nonetheless, the expenses reasonably allocable to the CEO's lobbying activities (e.g., plane ticket to Washington, salary and benefit costs, etc.) will be reportable.

Landmark Series – Liberty Bell

This article is one of an ongoing series that focuses on historical and/or significant landmarks.  Information gleaned from nps.gov, wikipedia.com, ushistory.org, aviewoncities.com, and other sources.

In 1701, William Penn created and signed the Charter of Privileges which allowed citizens of Pennsylvania to take part in making laws and gave them the right to choose the religion they wanted.  In 1751, the Pennsylvania Assembly ordered a new bell for the State House to commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the charter.  The bell was cast in London by Whitechapel Bell Foundry and arrived in Philadelphia in 1752.  On the bell the following verse was inscribed, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof – Lev. XXV, v.x.  By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pensylvania [sic] for the State House in Philada.”    In March 1753 the bell was placed in the steeple of the State House, today called Independence Hall, and was cracked by a stroke of the clapper as it was hung to try the sound.  The bell was then recast by two local craftsmen John Pass and John Stow, whose names appear on the front of the bell along with the city and state.  Using metal from the English bell, they added additional copper to make the bell less brittle.  The sound of the bell sounded so awful due to the extra copper, Pass and Stow recast it again and the final bell was placed in the State House in June 1753.   The Liberty Bell was given its’ name by a group of abolitionists who remembered the words on the bell, and in the 1830s adopted it as a symbol of their cause.

Over the years, the bell was rung several times for public announcements.    Historically, one of the most important events associated with the Liberty Bell was in 1776 when the bell was struck to invite citizens to attend the reading of the Declaration of Independence.  Contrary to what most believe, the bell did not ring
on July 4^th.  On July 4^th the document was sent to the printer, on July 8^th the bell, along with other bells throughout the city, was said to be struck to announce the first public reading of the document.  On the other hand, historians today doubt the likelihood of the story because the steeple was in bad condition.

In the first half of the 19^th century a crack in the bell started to appear and was repaired.  The current crack dates back to 1846 when the Liberty Bell was struck for the last time to honor the birthday of George Washington.  In 1853, the Liberty Bell was taken down from the steeple and placed in the Declaration Chamber inside of Independence Hall.  It then visited fairs and expositions across the country in the late 1800s in an effort to heal the divisions fashioned by the Civil War, and to remind Americans of the days when they worked and fought together for independence.

The Liberty Bell has called three places home.  Independence Hall (The Pennsylvania State House) from 1753 – 1976, although for a period of time the bell was moved to Allenstown, Pennsylvania to keep it safe from the British during the Revolutionary War.  The other two homes included the Liberty Bell Pavilion from 1976 to 2003, and the new Liberty Bell Center beginning in October of 2003.

FACTS

1. Current Location:  Liberty Bell Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

2. Size of “Crack”:  Approximately ½ inch wide and 24.5 inches long

3. A series of hairline fractures can also be found on the bell

4. Composition:  70% copper, 25% tin, small amounts of lead, zinc, arsenic, gold and silver

5. Strike Note:  E-Flat

6. Circumference around the lip:  12 feet

7. Lip to Crown:  3 feet

8. Weight (originally):  2080 pounds

9. Length of clapper:  3 feet 2 inches

10. Weight of the clapper:  44 ½ pounds

11. Weight of yoke:  200 pounds

12. Yoke wood:  American Elm

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