POLITICIANS OFFLOAD DONATIONS FROM DONOR: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and GOP congressional candidate Joe Kent have unloaded donations from a campaign donor who pleaded guilty to a stock manipulation charge earlier this year, after PI highlighted the donation. — Ira Gaines, who works for a Phoenix-based financial firm, was sentenced to 60 months probation in June for selling unregistered securities, and paid almost $100,000 in restitution to the victims of the scheme in addition to a $10,000 fine. He donated $750 to Sinema on Sept. 15, and a spokesperson for the senator told the Arizona Republic’s Laura Gersony she has donated it to charity. — Gaines has donated to several other politicians in recent months, including Kent, who is angling for a rematch against Washington Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez next year. Gaines donated $300 to Kent on Sept. 18, according to FEC records. A spokesperson for Kent’s campaign told PI that Kent was previously unaware of Gaines, and provided a screenshot of a receipt for a donation of the same amount to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. — Gaines has made several thousand dollars’ worth of other political donations since his guilty plea, including to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), an Arizona pro-Israel PAC, and a PAC for the House Freedom Caucus. The same month that Gaines pleaded guilty, FEC records show he wrote a $1,000 check to the presidential campaign of former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. None of the PACs or lawmakers responded to a request for comment on the donations. — The Arizona Republic reports that “in 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued Gaines an enjoinder after he was accused of making fraudulent offers to shareholders and ordered him to pay upward of $120,000 as part of the judgment. He engaged in ‘virtually identical conduct’ in 1999, the SEC wrote at the time,” though Gaines disputed the SEC’s characterization of the 2004 judgment. — "I don't know these people well but I love every Republican on earth," Gaines told Daniel in a brief interview. Even though he pleaded guilty in his criminal case, he said "the case is not accurate." WHO HELPED DELAY THE MENTHOL BAN: Mother Jones’ Dan Friedman and Isabela Dias peel back the curtains on a “massive, shadowy lobbying push” against the White House’s plans to ban menthol cigarettes before the proposal’s delay this month. “Evidence suggests that much of this effort — involving more than a half dozen organizations across the political spectrum — was funded by Reynolds American, the big tobacco company that earns a major chunk of its revenue from its Newport menthol cigarette brand.” — Opposition has come from such ideologically disparate groups like the Border Security Alliance, which warned that a menthol ban would boost Mexican drug cartels, and the Alliance for Fair and Equitable Policy, which raised alarms about a menthol ban’s effects on overpolicing in Black communities. Both groups were formed within days of new developments surrounding a menthol ban. — “Reynolds previously has provided funding for a host of other groups involved in the broad campaign opposing the menthol ban, and the corporation has clear ties to AFEP. When Mother Jones asked Reynolds specifically about ads by those two groups, the tobacco giant did not dispute paying for them.” — “This campaign is notable for its ideological flexibility. The groups involved are exploiting existing hot-button issues on the left and right. And it seems to be working.” ANNALS OF CONGRESSIONAL STOCK HOLDING: “Nearly a quarter of the lawmakers on a House committee whose decisions directly affect the oil, natural gas and utility industries own shares in companies across those sectors,” according to a review of their financial disclosures by our Ben Lefebvre. — “The equity holdings among the House Natural Resources Committee members aren’t illegal and congressional rules only require lawmakers to report their holdings in broad ranges, making an exact calculation impossible.” — “But a review of the financial disclosures found that 11 of the committee’s 45 members had a combined ownership of between $277,000 and nearly $1.1 million in shares of energy companies or exchange-traded funds that were at least half full of energy-related equities.” — “Those stocks illustrate the prickly ethics issue around lawmakers’ ownership of financial stakes in industries they are supposed to oversee. The issue has drawn scrutiny from watchdog groups as well as some lawmakers who have pushed legislation that would bar their colleagues from holding such stocks — efforts that have stalled despite broad support.” — “For example, four committee Republicans, including Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.), own shares in Chevron, one of the largest oil companies in the United States.” In addition, Westerman holds “between $15,000 and $50,000 of iShares TR Global Energy, a BlackRock fund that consists almost entirely of fossil fuel company stocks, including ExxonMobil and Chevron, according to his latest financial disclosure forms.” — “The committee chair isn’t alone. It’s not just committee Republicans who own stock in companies tied to fossil fuel companies. Some committee members hold shares in businesses that appear to be in stark contrast with the lawmaker’s public messaging.” A PRE-CHRISTMAS HAIL MARY: “The head of the American Bankers Association is urging President Joe Biden to intervene and slow a barrage of regulations pending for U.S. lenders, warning of a significant upheaval in the banking industry that could impact the economy,” per our Zach Warmbrodt. — “ABA President and CEO Rob Nichols sent a letter to Biden this week asking him to meet with the group's board and to order an interagency review of the looming rules before they take effect.” — “‘If preserving the dynamic, diverse U.S. banking system remains a priority for the nation and access to affordable banking services for every American a table-stakes imperative, I encourage you to ask tough questions about the regulatory tsunami now forming and whether it is consistent with your goals to increase economic growth and expand opportunities for all Americans,’ Nichols wrote.” — “The request marks an escalation in the banking lobby's fight with Biden-era regulators over a host of planned safeguards. Nichols in his letter cited policy overhauls including tougher capital requirements, a revamp of the Community Reinvestment Act, payments regulations, a reporting mandate for small business lending and changes to Federal Home Loan Banks.” — While “it's unlikely that Biden would second-guess his own regulators, and it's not a surprise that bankers are pushing back hard against the planned rules,” and the ABA’s appeal “comes as the administration faces bipartisan complaints from Capitol Hill and groups outside the banking industry about some of the planned regulations.”
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