Sunlight Foundation

Press Articles & Mentions Archives

Press Articles & Mentions for 2006

• New York Observer - Politicker - Sunlight: The Empire Edition

  This could be interesting. Former public advocate candidate Andrew Rasiej, who now works for the Sunlight Foundation , is planning to launch a muckraking project in January focusing on lawmakers in New York.

• Philadelphia Daily News - Pelosi's Cleanup

  IN WHAT had to be the only bad decision George Washington ever made, he chose a putrid swamp to be our nation's capital. Many years later, the piece of land he picked on the border of Virginia and Maryland still bears many of the qualities it did way back when.

• New York Times - Congress and the Benefits of Sunshine

  At first, the innovation sounds simple enough: Representative-elect Kirsten Gillibrand has decided to post details of her work calendar on the Internet at the end of each day so constituents can tell what she is actually doing for their money.

• Chicago Tribube - Dems to put Congress to work

  This for sure. The newly empowered Democratic leaders, Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi and incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will put an end to the congressional mini-workweek.

• Examiner - Editorial: Has your congressman signed the Punch Clock Agreement?

  WASHINGTON - You have to account for your working hours to your boss, right? So why shouldn’t your representative in Congress account for his or her working hours to his or her boss, who happens to be … you? That’s the point of the Punch Clock Agreement, which asks incumbents and congressional challengers of all parties to agree to post their daily schedules on their Web sites if they are elected.

• Cox News Service - A Grant, Six Months and A Ton of Work

  OMB Watch, a nonpartisan budget watchdog group, spent six months and just under $200,000 to create a massive database of most types of federal spending.

• Chicago Sun-Times - Citizen ``para-lobbyists'' Get $1,000 if you persuade a lawmaker to disclose schedule!

  Let's take these two concepts -- the positive power of the blogs and the sense that people have a right to know about their government -- and see if there is a way to wrangle even more transparency into the federal system.

• National Journal's Technology Daily - BUDGET; GROUPS, ONLINE ACTIVISTS WORK TO IDENTIFY EARMARKS TECHNOLOGY DAILY

  A diverse group of online writers, advocacy groups and one newspaper group is turning up the heat on government budget earmarks by bringing them to light.

• Christian Science Monitor - Push grows to reform the way Congress spends

  House Republican leaders promise that even if lobby reform stalls - as it has - they will do something to rein in earmarks when they return to Capitol Hill next month.

• Contra Costa Times - Rooting out the pork

  Pork may be the "other white meat" in the famous national advertising campaign, but it is also the lifeblood of the members of Congress.

• The Island Packet - Web helps open up Congress

  Imagine my surprise at Wednesday's headline: "Lawmakers urge workers to save more for future."

  This from the folks who have our nation $8.4 trillion in debt. The national debt is increasing $1.74 billion per day. Yes, that's day, D-A-Y. Congress is putting $1.74 billion per day on the credit card, and it's telling us to save.

• The Washington Post - Putting the Pork in One Barrel

  One legislator's "pork," of course, is another's vital public works project. But all are earmarks, those tax and spending directions added to money bills at the behest of anonymous lawmakers -- anonymous, that is, until the legislation is passed and they can boast of it to constituents.

  A coalition of odd bedfellows is trying to bring more transparency to earmarking by encouraging citizens to get involved in tracking who is trying to get what money for which special interest. And all of this will be online and available to the public.

• The Oakland Tribune - Online muck rakers shed light on earmarks

  "Follow the money."

  That iconic command from a source called Deep Throat was the advice that launched a thousand careers in investigative journalism.

• Captain's Quarters - The Post Highlights Pork Database

  The new effort by a coalition of bloggers and non-profits to identify pork-barrel projects gets noticed in today's Washington Post.

• Marketplace - Earmark forensics

  A watchdog group has launched a campaign to uncover which members of Congress are inserting costly earmarks into spending bills — and they want your help. Scott Tong explains.

• National Journal's Hotline - Let the Sunshine In

  Perhaps it's due to the GOP's recent electoral success, but the right side of the 'sphere continues to focus less on campaigns and elections and more on other (still political) projects. 8/16 is yet another example of the trend as a broad coalition of conservative bloggers and other established institutions join forces to promote an anti-pork spending project that, since the GOP's in power, ought to bring embarrassment to GOP lawmakers in the midst of a tough cycle. With their current belief in partisanship at all costs (see CT SEN), would lefty bloggers ever put forward such an effort that had the potential to hurt so many Dems?

• The Examiner - Editorial: Spending money behind closed doors?

  Something new is happening today as The Examiner invites readers to help uncover which members of Congress sponsored the 1,867 secret spending earmarks worth more than $500 million in the Labor-Health and Human Services appropriation bill now before Congress.
  

• Captain's Quarters - Exposing Earmarks

  The Sunlight Foundation unveils its new Exposing Earmarks website today, in conjunction with the Club for Growth, Citizens Against Government Waste, The Heritage Foundation, and many in the blogosphere, including Instapundit, Porkbusters and Human Events Online.

• PressThink - The Era of Networked Journalism Begins

  Today marks a key moment in the evolution of the Web as a reporting medium. The first left-right-center coalition of bloggers, activists, non-profits, citizens and journalists to investigate a story of national import: Congressional earmarks and those who sponsor and benefit from them.

• craigblog - How you can investigate Congressional malpractice

  The folks at the Sunlight Foundation are pioneering new ways for ordinary people to figure out bad politics, first Congresspedia, like Wikipedia for Congress.

• Salon.com - Highway robbery

  As America spirals through rapid globalization and economic upheaval, it is reassuring to discover that an enterprising member of Congress can still get rich quick in his own Midwestern district. Consider the inspirational story of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who reaped millions of dollars in a farsighted deal that would once have made him the toast of Tammany Hall.

• The Washington Post - Lawmakers' Profits Are Scrutinized

  House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made a $2 million profit last year on the sale of land 5 1/2 miles from a highway project that he helped to finance with targeted federal funds.

  A Republican House member from California, meanwhile, received nearly double what he paid for a four-acre parcel near an Air Force base after securing $8 million for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles away. And another California GOP congressman obtained funding in last year's highway bill for street improvements near a planned residential and commercial development that he co-owns.

• The Hill - Hastert’s land deals

  A series of real-estate deals adjacent to his home in Plano, Ill., yielded House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) almost $2 million last year and could provide more profit in the years to come.

• Chicago Sun-Times - Sweet Column: Hastert should have revealed secret land trust

  House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) last year made about $2 million in real estate deals on parcels near his Plano home in booming Kendall County and could profit from additional land sales in the future.

• The Hill - Flake strikes at earmark of Hastert’s

  Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) escalated his anti-earmark crusade yesterday by attempting to strip a request by Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) out of a defense appropriations bill.

• Union Leader - Robert D. Novak: GOP continues log-rolling for pork

  JEFF FLAKE, a 44-year-old third-term Republican congressman from Mesa, Ariz., last Wednesday burnished his credentials as “Miss Uncongeniality” in the House of Representatives. He introduced 12 amendments to the Transportation-Treasury-HUD appropriations bill removing earmarks of individual House members, including two by chief appropriator Jerry Lewis. All of Flake’s efforts failed.

• CNN.com - The GOP's faulty moral compass

  Gee, the Republicans seem to have lost their moral compass since Tom DeLay quit. Who knew it could get worse without that pillar of rectitude from Texas? What a snakes' nest of corruption and nastiness. The latest involves Speaker Denny Hastert and a land deal.

• ABC News - Land Deal Gives Hastert 300% Profit

  Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) realized an estimated $2 million dollar profit last year on an Illinois land deal that included acreage near a future interstate highway Hastert pushed to build.

• Hotline - In Hastert's Defense

  The day after a watchdog group questioned his $2M profit on a land deal near Prairie Parkway, Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) "defended the transaction."

• Chicago Sun-Times - Hastert's $2 million land deals questioned

  House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert pocketed almost $2 million from real estate deals adjacent to his Plano home in booming Kendall County, one of the fastest growing areas in the nation.

• Chicago Tribune - Records reveal Hastert's hand in land deal

  Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert and two partners turned a profit of more than $3 million on property they accumulated and sold in just over three years near the route of a proposed controversial freeway on the western fringe of suburban Chicago, according to land records and financial disclosure reports released Wednesday.

• The Associated Press - Speaker Hastert defends profits from land deals

  House Speaker Dennis Hastert denied Thursday that he pushed for federal funding for a proposed highway in northeastern Illinois so he and his wife could reap about $1.8 million from land deals near their home in Kendall County. The Sunlight Foundation, a newly created group whose declared aim is to inform the public about what members of Congress do, has accused Hastert of not divulging connections between the $207 million earmark he won for the highway and an investment he and his wife made in nearby land.

• Think Progress - The Pictures of Corruption: How Hastert Used Tax Dollars to Turn a $1.5 Million Profit

  Here’s a graphic timeline explaining how House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) used a federal earmark to turn a $1.5 million profit:

• CongressDaily PM - CongressDaily PM

  A government watchdog group questioned whether House Speaker Hastert benefited from real estate deals because of $207 million he earmarked for a proposed Prairie Parkway.

• United Press International - Hastert land profits linked to road bill

  U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., reputedly shared in $3 million land deal profits linked to an Illinois highway bill, reports say.

• Hotline - ETHICS: Hastert's Road To Riches?

  Chicago Sun-Times' Sweet/Herman report that Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) "pocketed" almost $2M from real estate deals "adjacent to his home" in "booming" Kendall County, "one of the fastest growing areas" in the nation.

• Captain's Quarters - Another Confluence of Pork And Influence (Update With Hastert Response, And Reader Response)

  The Sunlight Foundation reports that another apparently clear linkage between pork and a politician's pocket exists in the business dealings of Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL). They report that Hastert has pushed through $207 million in earmarks for a business venture financed by a trust owned in part by Hastert himself:

• The Hill - Groups urge support for bill creating new database for OMB

  Spending watchdogs and social conservatives are backing a Senate bill that would make it easier to track how the government spends taxpayer money.

• Corporate Engagement: A group blog by Trevor Cook and JWM colleagues - Watching the watchdogs

  The Sunlight Foundation is a Washington-based watchdog that was created to stimulate citizens, bloggers and journalists to investigate what goes on in the US Congress.

• The Washington DC Examiner Newspaper - Editorial: Shine more light on federal spending

  Abraham Lincoln said, “Let the people know the facts and all will be safe,” so the Great Emancipator would certainly cheer an unlikely group of United States senators who have recently joined forces to push a potentially landmark measure. That measure is designed to put every American citizen within a few mouse clicks of knowing the facts needed to track federal spending as never before.

• The Examiner - Let the light shine through

  At the quiet, rather ordinary third-floor offices of the Sunlight Foundation, none of the doors are closed.

• ABC7-KGO - The Back Story: Tracking Political Money

  It's not everyday that lawmakers must choose between their constituents and their big money donors.

  But the Sunlight Foundation which tracks money in politics looks at how lawmakers voted on a bill to rescind billions in oil company incentives. The foundation also looked at the campaign contributions from oil companies.

• C-Span - Ellen Miller on C-Span's Washington Journal

  Check out this video of The Sunlight Foundation's Executive Director on C-Span's Washington Journal. She explains the Foundation, showcases this site, and takes calls.

• Associated Press - Online test of pork barrel

  There's an old Washington saying that "pork" is in the eye of the beholder: A pet project costing thousands or even millions of tax dollars is only a waste if it's in somebody else's town. A new group is putting that to the test, using the Internet to invite people to weigh in on pork-barrel politics.

• blivet 2.0 - links for 2006-05-03

  Sunlight Foundation
  enable citizens to learn more about what Congress and their elected representatives are doing, and thus help reduce corruption, ensure greater transparency and accountability by government, and foster public trust in the vital institutions of democracy

• digg - Wikipedia + Congress = Congresspedia

  Congresspedia is a collaborative project of the Center for Media and Democracy and the Sunlight Foundation and is designed to shine more light on the workings of the U.S. Congress.

• Cooked Goose - The Sunlight Foundation

  The Washington Post (4/26/06) reported on a new organization, The Sunlight Foundation that just opened.
  

• The Hollywood Liberal - Congresspedia

  Whats going on in Congress?

• SendThinker - What a great idea

  Somebody is a genious.

• janethaven.com - They Breed in Server Closets: Wikipedia’s Offspring

  I’m very happy to see the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Media and Democracy launch Congresspedia, the "citizen's encyclopedia on Congress that anyone can edit".

• Talking Points Memo - Talking Points Memo

  Some of the most exciting projects we (and I mean, TPM) and a large group of regular readers) have done over the years would never have been possible without the Internet’s distributed communication tools and the various fee-based (Nexis) and public databases (google, fec.gov) we’d never have ready access to with the Net. Add all that social networking and information together and you get a big leap forward in what you can find out and what you can do about it.

• Muckraked! - Let the Sunshine In

  Last week, the Sunlight Foundation made its much-anticipated debut.

• Delilah Boyd - Info Mashing: Good Day, Sunlight!

  Ever wondered what specious backroom deals your elected officials have been making with lobbyists, contractors, friends, and family? The Sunlight Foundation has just unveiled a plan to make such info available online, accessible to you and me.

• fred's house - insight machine: the sunlight foundation

  The Sunlight Foundation officially launched last week.

• Michael Williams -- Master of None - Congresspedia

  My brother pointed me to this nifty little endeavor: Congresspedia, the "citizen's encyclopedia on Congress".

• MotherPie - Ramble: Wh-Wh-Wh-WikiMess, Google and Congresspedia & Today's Links...

  Congresspedia - wow.

• Philosophical Theology - Being Informed

  With the imigration debate, a controversial war in Iraq, and upcoming elections in the fall, what better time to brush-up on the issues.

• The Blogging Journalist - Recommended: Congresspedia

  Recommended: Congresspedia, "a collaborative project of the Center for Media and Democracy and the Sunlight Foundation ... designed to shine more light on the workings of the U.S. Congress."

• Club for Growth Blog - Congress Goes Wiki

  A new project called Congresspedia is being offered by the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Media & Democracy. It “is designed to shine more light on the workings of the U.S. Congress”.

• Syracuse Post-Standard - Truthiness Squad

  Congresspedia is a collaborative project of the Center for Media and Democracy and the Sunlight Foundation and is designed to shine more light on the workings of the U.S. Congress.

• WTHR-13 - Site hopes to shed light on political funding

  In an election year, the candidates' quest for votes is not hard to see. What isn't as obvious is the quest for cash to finance those campaigns. The Internet is giving voters new ways to bring that part of the political game out of the shadows.

• Hotline On Call - Introducing The Congresspedia

  The Sunlight Foundation held a press conference 4/26 a.m. to launch "its efforts to harness the transformative power of the Internet to bring transparency and accountability to Congress and its members."

• The Big Buy - Welcome to Congresspedia

  Please check out this new tool for citizen activists, courtesy of something called the Sunlight Foundation. It's called Congresspedia, and like you might suspect, it's a wiki open-source approach to provide up-to-date detailed information on every member of Congress. This ought to be an interesting cyber-experiment.

• Hong Pong - Sunlight Foundation looks kinda sweet

  There is an organization called the Sunlight Foundation that just got rolled out. It would appear to be one of these combined blog/exposing data/grassroots participation type things.

• Just Some Poor Schmuck - This Is Encouraging

  "The Sunlight Foundation was founded in January 2006 with the goal of using the revolutionary power of the Internet and new information technology to enable citizens to learn more about what Congress and their elected representatives are doing, and thus help reduce corruption, ensure greater transparency and accountability by government, and foster public trust in the vital institutions of democracy."

• Polinaut - For good, not evil

  The Sunlight Foundation opened its doors this week.

• Smart Mobs - Sunlight Foundation

  via the Washington Post the unveiling of a new site modeled on a quote by Justice Louis Brandeis: "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants..."

• Depth Reporting - Congresspedia

  Congresspedia is the "citizen's encyclopedia on Congress that anyone can edit."

• Swiftspeech - Sunlight On Swiftspeech

  I keep numerous vigils these days in front of the television watching the Washington Journal at 4:00 am before I start a 5:00 am workout. This CSPAN show provides a fascinating glimpse into Americans' point of view.

• Ohio News Network - Ohio News Network

  Political cash: The internet is helping some political candidates raise money for their races.

• WBNS-10 Eyewitness News At 5 PM - WBNS-10 Eyewitness News At 5 PM

  Try to find out where the money comes from and where it goes.

• The Hill - Site will track government contracts

  With an infusion of cash from another good-government group, a White House watchdog is planning to build a database that makes it easier to track which companies get government contracts and grants. The Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit group just founded to shine light on how government operates, plans to use part of its substantial funds to help OMB Watch create a free database that would allow users to search who gets government grants and contracts.

• Roll Call - New Group Sees Public Craving Ethics Reform

  Armed with new poll results revealing public demand for ethics reform in Congress, a new watchdog group launched this week, offering the public a forum for Congressional whistle-blowing online.

• Buzz Machine - Can’t Have Enough Sunlight

  The Sunlight Foundation has launched with many efforts to use the power of the internet and us to bring more sunlight to government.

• Daily Kos - Sunlight Foundation starts new blog: congress meet wikipedia!

  the Sunlight Foundation has opened it's new blog for business! this new blog is a user driven wikipedia on all members of congress - a review of what WE think of them, their actions, their funding, and more! what better way for kossacks to keep congress "honest"!

• Damek - Congresspedia Shows Promise

  “Congresspedia, the “citizen’s encyclopedia on Congress” that anyone can edit.

• The Washington Post - Aiming to Shed Light on Lawmakers

  A new nonprofit group called the Sunlight Foundation plans to spend big money this year to connect voters to a wide range of information about candidates for Congress via the Internet.

• C-SPAN - C-Span Coverage

  There is a story inside the Washington Post aiming to shed light on lawmakers, a new non-profit group called the Sunlight Foundation plans to spend big money this year to connect voters to a wide range of information about candidates for Congress via the Internet.

• First Read - First Read

  Ethics At 10:00 am, good-government activists will announce the launch a new nonpartisan group, the Sunlight Foundation, which plans to use the Internet to promote greater transparency and accountability in Congress.

• ABC's The Note - ABC's The Note

  The Sunlight Foundation launches Congresspedia on a 10:00 am ET conference call with reporters. Congresspedia is a collaboratively-written, wiki-based Web site documenting "the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda." LINK

• National Journal's Hotline - CONSULTANTS' CORNER: Using New Technology To Change An Old Institution

  The Sunlight Foundation held a press conference 4/26 a.m. to launch "its efforts to harness the transformative power of the Internet to bring transparency and accountability to Congress and its members."

• National Journal's Technology Daily - New Nonprofit To Disclose Candidate Data Online

  A nonprofit group scheduled to launch Wednesday plans to make detailed financial information on congressional candidates available on the Internet.

• micah.sifry.com - Disclosure Time

  Today marks the public launch of the Sunlight Foundation and one of its flagship projects, Congresspedia.

• The Nonprofit and Foundation Advocacy Blog - News Clips 4/26/2006

  "A new nonprofit group called the Sunlight Foundation plans to spend big money this year to connect voters to a wide range of information about candidates for Congress via the Internet," reports the Washington Post.

• TAPPED - THE SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION AND CONGRESSPEDIA.

  Today Jeff Birnbaum reports on the activities of the interesting new Sunlight Foundation, financed by securities bigwig Michael Klein and headed up by goo-goo veteran Ellen Miller.

• Hasten Down the Wire - Congresspedia shows promise

  Utne.com has been linking to SourceWatch for quite a while for background on organizations we cite.

• Your Congresspedia - Room Eight: New York Politics

  In case you had any lingering doubts, the reality on the ground is this: people have little faith in government.