A Texas woman arrested by the FBI and accused of illegally donating more than $10,000 to Rep. Michael Grimm’s (R-NY) 2010 campaign is “engaged in plea negotiations” with the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, the Staten Island Advance reports.

The FBI is investigating whether Grimm illegally raised money for his 2010 race.

“Dinesh D’Souza, a controversial political commentator, author and a former president of King’s College, was indicted today by a grand jury for alleged campaign finance fraud, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office announced this evening,” Politicker reports.

According to the office, D’Souza is charged “with violating the federal campaign finance laws by making illegal contributions to a United States Senate campaign in the names of others and causing false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission in connection with those contributions.”

The New York Times looks at “the world of destination fund-raisers, where business interests blend with pleasure in exclusive vacation venues. Lobbyists go to build relationships with lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans alike, seeking action — and often inaction — in Washington for their clients and companies, with millions of dollars at stake. While approval ratings are at historic lows for members of Congress, their allure to those seeking influence in the nation’s capital is as strong as ever.”

“Neither the lawmakers nor the lobbyists attending the events want to talk about them, even though such trips are permitted under the law. They allow members of Congress to hit hot spots like the Napa Valley wine country, famed golf courses and hunting preserves, as well as five-star hotels in Puerto Rico, Las Vegas, South Florida and even Bermuda.”

The New York Daily News says Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) engaged in “donor swapping” in his 2010 campaign, “a controversial practice that allows candidates to sidestep fundraising limits.”

“The swapping works like this: A donor who gives the maximum to Candidate A then donates to Candidate B. In return, a donor or friend of Candidate B gives an identical amount to Candidate A.”

“A Daily News review of 2010 fundraising records found more than 20 transactions suggesting supporters of Grimm and candidates in California, South Dakota, Illinois and Virginia swapped donations totaling more than $75,000.”

“A typical United States senator spends two-thirds of the last two years of their term raising money.”

— Former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-SD), quoted by National Journal.

“Recently released tax forms shed light on the big salaries that an elite corps of political organizers earned during the 2012 elections — and those who made the most often boasted the fewest wins,” Roll Call reports.

“The new disclosures reveal fresh specifics about the six- and seven-figure salaries reaped by the political consultants, lawyers, fundraisers and media buyers who ran the top super PACs and politically active nonprofits in 2012… The size of their payday has, until recently, been undisclosed. Many super PACs that reported their spending to the Federal Election Commission omitted salary or payroll information, making it impossible to know just how much their top executives made.”

“The political network spearheaded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch has expanded into a far-reaching operation of unrivaled complexity, built around a maze of groups that cloaks its donors, according to an analysis of new tax returns and other documents,” the Washington Post reports.

“The filings show that the network of politically active nonprofit groups backed by the Kochs and fellow donors in the 2012 elections financially outpaced other independent groups on the right and, on its own, matched the long-established national coalition of labor unions that serves as one of the biggest sources of support for Democrats.”

“The resources and the breadth of the organization make it singular in American politics: an operation conducted outside the campaign finance system, employing an array of groups aimed at stopping what its financiers view as government overreach.”

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) said he will accept Bitcoins as contributions, after the Federal Election Commission could not agree on whether to permit their use as contributions, Roll Call reports.

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) again has been questioned by the Federal Election Commission for allegedly “excessive contributions” from donors sympathetic to an East Texas tribe’s efforts to gain rights to open a casino, the Houston Chronicle reports.

The AP reports Stockman’s campaign “has been hamstrung by reported problems with its finances and reporting income. Stockman recently dismissed two congressional staffers for making prohibited contributions, and a recent Chronicle investigation found that Stockman long failed to file federal campaign finance disclosure forms.”

Roll Call: “After eleven months as Senators, all twelve Senate freshmen in the 113th Congress now have a registered personal political action committee (PAC) to raise funds and pay for some political activity from an account separate from their campaigns.”

The Obama administration “proposed a crackdown on the widespread use of tax-exempt organizations for political campaigning, seeking to reduce the influential role that the secretive groups have played in recent elections,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“The new ‘guidance’ issued by the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service would curtail a broad array of these tax-exempt entities’ activities, including campaign advertising, voter registration, get-out-the-vote efforts, and distribution of voter guides and campaign materials. The process of completing the new regulations could take months, and officials said they expected a lot of feedback, acknowledging the political battles ahead.”

A federal PAC in Minnesota has carried a $56,025.62 debt to a company that no longer exists because the owner died, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Said PAC treasurer Steve Simon: “The company is no more. The owner is no more. Yet the FEC won’t let us take it off the books.”

“The solution, derived from legal advice and the FEC? The DFL just has to report the debt cycle after cycle forever and ever.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups
were recently subpoenaed by a special prosecutor,  the Wall Street Journal editorial page reports.

“Copies of two subpoenas we’ve seen demand ‘all memoranda, email . . .
correspondence, and communications’ both internally and between the
subpoena target and some 29 conservative groups… In other words, tell us who your donors are.”

A California investigation into dark money “offers a rare glimpse into the shadowy world of politically active nonprofits, which have played an increasing role in elections nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court eased campaign rules in 2010. They provide donors a way to influence elections by piping major money around the country until it resurfaces — without their fingerprints — in a campaign,” the Los Angeles Times reports.

Political Moneyline has an interesting round up of what happens to funds left over after campaigning.

Wonk Wire: Supreme Court gets a lesson in political campaigns

“When it comes to political fundraising, Congress doesn’t travel very far; 76 percent of all political fundraisers in D.C. take place within three city blocks of the U.S. Capitol, a new study by the Sunlight Foundation shows. Additionally, these fundraisers are concentrated in and around congressional working hours and on days when the House and Senate are in session (more to come on this trend tomorrow).”

Freedom Partners, “whose existence until now was unknown to almost everyone in politics, raised and spent $250 million in 2012 to shape political and policy debate nationwide,” Politico reports.

The group serves “as an outlet for the ideas and funds of the mysterious Koch brothers, cutting checks as large as $63 million to groups promoting conservative causes, according to an IRS document to be filed shortly. The 38-page IRS filing amounts to the Rosetta Stone of the vast web of conservative groups — some prominent, some obscure — that spend time, money and resources to influence public debate, especially over Obamacare.”