Sunlight Foundation

Press Articles & Mentions Archives

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May 2008

  • ABC World News Tonight - New Ethics Law Still Doesn't Stop Congressional Freebies

    Despite a new ethics law designed to prevent lobbyists from paying for lush vacations for members of Congress, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, and Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., found a way to get someone else to pay for their travel to one of Hawaii's top resorts, ABC News has found. A full report will air tonight on "World News With Charles Gibson" as part of the ABC News Money Trail series.

  • USA Today - Donors among those ruling on Fla., Mich. delegates in limbo

    WASHINGTON - "The Price of Power" is an ongoing series tracking the role of money and business interests in the political process.
    More than a third of the Democratic Party committee charged with deciding the fate of Michigan and Florida delegates have donated to the campaigns of Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

  • Newsweek - Obama’s Lobbyist Connection

    When Illinois utility Commonwealth Edison wanted state lawmakers to back a hefty rate hike two years ago, it took a creative lobbying approach, concocting a new outfit that seemed devoted to the public interest: Consumers Organized for Reliable Electricity, or CORE. CORE ran TV ads warning of a "California-style energy crisis" if the rate increase wasn't approved-but without disclosing the commercials were funded by Commonwealth Edison. The ad campaign provoked a brief uproar when its ties to the utility, which is owned by Exelon Corp., became known. "It's corporate money trying to hoodwink the public," the state's Democratic Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said. What got scant notice then-but may soon get more scrutiny-is that CORE was the brainchild of ASK Public Strategies, a consulting firm whose senior partner is David Axelrod, now chief strategist for Barack Obama.


  • San Diego Union Tribune - Rich or bankrupt?

    For a perfect example of how weak ethics rules still are for members of Congress and other high-ranking government officials, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 2007 financial disclosure statement can't be beat.


  • 2theadvocate.com - What they were worth

    Louisiana had three millionaire federal lawmakers in 1996, according to a new analysis by The Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit government watchdog group in Washington.

  • Washingtonian - The Insider: Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation

    Ellen Miller has spent decades around Capitol Hill looking at money’s influence on Washington. In the process she founded two groups focused on money and politics: the Center for Responsive Politics—the force behind the campaign-donation-disclosure database OpenSecrets.org—and Public Campaign. Now, as cofounder of the Dupont Circle–based Sunlight Foundation, she works to combine the open-source-technology movement with the open-government movement.

  • Investor's Business Daily - It Pays To Be Elected

    It's curious how so many lawmakers enter office with little, yet accumulate tens of millions in assets over the years. Nothing wrong with building wealth, but cashing in while serving the public looks bad.

  • The Nation - Good News for Transparency from Alaska's Senate Race

    I'm in Alaska this week--a state famous for both beauty and corruption--and the news here is promising for a movement towards open government. Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, who is running neck-and-neck with Ted Stevens in the race for the US Senate, announced a major ethics pledge this week.

  • Conneticut Post - Obama snares most of state's superdelegates

    WASHINGTON - With 50 primaries and caucuses behind him, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama passed a significant milestone Tuesday night when he secured a majority of pledged delegates to this summer's Democratic National Convention. But he still has a way to go to secure the nomination.


  • KSRO 1350 AM radio - Bill Allison discusses Fortune 535 on KSRO AM

    Senior Fellow Bill Allison discusses Sunlight's project, Fortune 535, on KSRO 1350 AM radio.

  • LA Times - John McCain advisor Thomas Loeffler steps down over lobbying role

    A top fundraiser and advisor in Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has resigned, becoming the latest of five aides to leave in recent days as McCain moves to sever ties with lobbyists.

  • The New York Sun - Saudi Lobbyist Quits McCain Campaign

    A national co-chairman of Senator McCain's presidential bid, Thomas Loeffler, has quit less than a week after a report in The New York Sun highlighted his work as a registered lobbyist for Saudi Arabia.

  • San Diego Union Tribune's SignOn San Diego - Colleagues' net wealth? It's tip money to Darrell Issa

    The Sunlight Foundation has set up an excellent web site where you can see how wealthy your congressman/congresswoman has gotten while in office. How are our locals faring? Be prepared for the maddening fact that lawmakers only have to give ranges for their wealth.


  • Wired - 8 Best: Non-Wikipedia Pedias

    Congresspedia
    "The citizen's encyclopedia on Congress"
    Fourteen members of the US House and Senate are currently under investigation. Know of others who should be? Add 'em!

  • http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/05/18/news/local/13566768.txt - Earmarked for controversy

    Two years ago, area Republican leaders urged voters to return U.S. Rep. John Sweeney to office so he could keep bringing home the bacon.

  • O'Reilley Radar - Yochai Benkler, others at Harvard map current and future Internet

    Harvard's world-renowned Berkman Center for Internet & Society is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a conference called Berkman@10. I'll report here on today's sessions, which were organized as a fairly conventional symposium (although as loosely as one could run it with 450 attendees). Tomorrow will be set up as an unconference, where the audience defines most of the topics and self-organizes into small-group discussions.

  • Lawerence Journal and World - In the money

    How much money does someone need these days to run for president of the United States?

  • Newsday's Spin Cycle - Brookhaven's pork barrel: The wider context

    In Washington, the campaign season has made earmarks all but a dirty word. On the Albany scene, criminal charges are still pending against state Sen. Efrain Gonzalez Jr. involving his member-item spending. At City Hall in Manhattan, oddball budget practices have brought forth the term "slush fund" to apply to money allocated by Council members -- and by Mayor Mike the Maintainer, as reported here.

  • Glenn Post Falls - RIGHT TO KNOW: Here comes the sun on the personal wealth in Congress

    The Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan group dedicated to exposing the influence of big money and politics in Congress, has set up a new Web site to help citizens find out the personal wealth of their representatives in Congress.

     

  • Nashville Post's Post Politics Blog - Sunlight Defends Its Reporting That Senator Bob Corker Had A Negative Net Worth

    The Sunlight Foundation defends its calculation of Senator Bob Corker's net worth:

     

  • Raleigh News & Observer - Clinton wealth growing fastest

    WASHINGTON - Propelled by her husband's post-White House earnings, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's average net worth soared from red ink to $30.7 million between 2000 and 2006, the fastest financial climb among members of Congress who arrived without assets, a watchdog group reported Tuesday.

  • Sacramento Bee - Clinton tops Senate in wealth increase

    WASHINGTON - Propelled by her husband's post-White House earnings, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's net worth soared from red ink to $30.7 million between 2000 and 2006, the fastest financial climb among members of Congress who arrived without assets, a watchdog group said Tuesday

  • Charlotte Observer - Report names Congress' richest, poorest

    WASHINGTON --Hillary Clinton's average net worth, adjusted for inflation, grew from negative $6 million to $30.7 million between 2000 and 2006, the fastest financial climb in recent years for any member of Congress who started out with no assets, a political watchdog group reported Tuesday.

  • Appeal Democrat - Herger's wealth about $12.2 million

    WASHINGTON - Rep. Wally Herger is the 43rd wealthiest member of Congress, according to a study released Tuesday.


  • The Press Democrat - Woolsey's wealth surges, mirroring trend in Congress

    Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, has come a long way financially from her days as a single mother on welfare in the late 1960s, with a net worth of $681,511 in 2006, a watchdog group reported.

    Woolsey's average net worth has more than quadrupled in the last 11 years, rising from $119,675 in 1995, according to the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation.

    In comparison, the average American family's average worth has increased 31 percent from 1995 to 2006, the group said.

    Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, had a 5 percent increase in net worth from $1.7 million in 1998 to $1.8 million in 2006.

    But Thompson, a former state legislator and vineyard owner, and Woolsey, a former Petaluma city councilwoman and personnel agency owner, are comparative paupers among their 535 peers on Capitol Hill, many of them multi-millionaires whose fortunes have recently soared.

    Two Californians, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Venice) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), are the wealthiest federal lawmakers.

    Harman, married to Harman International chairman Sidney Harman, had a worth of $409 million in 2006, up $168 million, or 70 percent, from $241 million in 2000.

    Issa, who built a fortune in the electronics industry, ranks second at $337 million in 2006, but his gain of $210 million, or 165 percent since 2000 was the largest in Congress.

    The Sunlight Foundation posted on its Web site the first-ever comparison of the House and Senate members' latest available net worth with their earlier disclosure statements. The forms don't require any explanation for shifts of fortune.

    The group also noted that its figures should be taken "with a boulder-sized grain of salt," based on information from Congress' own "seriously flawed" disclosure system Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, has come a long way financially from her days as a single mother on welfare in the late 1960s, with a net worth of $681,511 in 2006, a watchdog group reported.


  • Chattanooga Times Free Press - Tennessee: Corker disputed net worth spotlights reporting flaws

    WASHINGTON - Sen. Bob Corker's average net worth plummeted from $78.1 million in 2005 to a negative $1.8 million in 2006, according to a report compiled by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency watchdog.


     

    WASHINGTON - Sen. Bob Corker's average net worth plummeted from $78.1 million in 2005 to a negative $1.8 million in 2006, according to a report compiled by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency watchdog.

    Foundation, a government transparency watchdog.

     

  • Kansas City Star - Report analyzes lawmakers’ net worth

    WASHINGTON | It almost looks like life on a game show: Some congressional members make millions, while others leave with little more than the experience.

  • The Hill - K Street in Brief

    The Sunlight Foundation , a group dedicated to pulling back the curtain on how government operates, launched a new website that lets voters sneak a peek at how well members of Congress have done for themselves in the past 11 years.

    That's how long personal financial data has been available. Sunlight is putting it online on its new site, Fortune 535 .

    The site also lets viewers compare the net worth of each lawmaker to that of the average American family and will list the wealthiest lawmakers.

    Ellen Miller, executive director of Sunlight, said the information may surprise some people.

    "Even though popular stereotypes tell us that lawmakers are all millionaires and get more wealthy the longer they serve in Congress, we found that every lawmaker profile is different," Miller said in a release.

  • The Miami Herald - How much is that congressman worth?

    The Sunlight Foundation is making it a little easier to find out. The open government advocacy group has launched a new web site Fortune 535 to let constituents see "how much - or how little -" lawmakers' wealth has grown in the last 11 years - the period of time from which lawmakers' personal financial data is available

  • Minneapolis Star Tribune - What are they really worth?

    The nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation on Tuesday posted the first analysis of the net worth of the 535 members of Congress. The numbers are in inflation-adjusted 2006 dollars from as far back as 1995 to 2006. Here's a look at lawmakers' rising and falling fortunes

  • New York Times - Craig (of the List) Looks Beyond the Web

    Imagine what it might have been like to be Dr. Kleenex. You invent a modern miracle, the cheap paper handkerchief, and suddenly you become the person blamed for America's disposable culture, praised for a more convenient life, or both.

  • KRON TV 4 San Francisco - Web 2.0- Sunlight Foundation

    Sunlight labs' Jeremy Carbaugh spoke with San Francisco's local KRON4 TV about Sunlight's online efforts to make Congress more transparency during the Web 2.0 conference last month.

  • Dallas Morning News - Unique to '08: Superdelegates, Internet

    AUSTIN - Presidential superdelegates have gone unnoticed by the general public for decades, mostly a blip on the screen of Democratic nominations that are decided long before the 795 party stalwarts enter the picture to cast their largely ceremonial votes.

  • Harvard Business Review - Emerging Graphic Tool Gets People Talking

    Executives seeking to engage employees in solving company problems may find hope in the emerging science of visualization, the sophisticated graphing of digital information. Our research has found that the compelling presentation of data through visualization's advanced techniques generates a surprising volume of impassioned conversations. Viewers ask questions, make comments, and suggest theories for why there's a downward trend here or a data cluster there. That level of engagement could foster the kind of grassroots innovation CEOs dream of

  • The Hill - Transparency bill worked on in the open

    Public interest groups far and wide want to pull back the curtain on the federal government. To make a point, they are drafting a transparency proposal online and allowing anyone with a computer to take part in the legislative process.

  • Netsqaured - Shining a Light on Politics: An Interview with Ellen Miller of The Sunlight Foundation

    You vote, right? But do you use Congresspedia, Wiki The Vote, the SuperDelegate Transparency Project, OpenSecrets.org, FedSpending.org, or PublicMarkup.org to be an informed voter? They are all projects whose creation was facilitated by the Sunlight Foundation to educate citizens and increase transparency in politics.