Sunlight Foundation

Press Editorials

February 2010

• Merced Sun-Star - Our View: Reform earmarks back to 1994

  U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican who represents a district that stretches from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada to the Oregon border, has been nothing if not consistent on earmarks, those funds that members of Congress request for specific projects.

• The Bristol Press - OUR VIEW: The political secrets of a group with money

  You’ve seen the commercials: U.S. House Bill 4173, already passed in the lower chamber, now headed for the U.S. Senate, is going to lead to another bailout for the fat cats. Really?

• The Washington Post - Two Democrats' remedy for the high court's campaign finance ruling

  THERE IS no simple legislative fix to the Supreme Court's unfortunate recent decision allowing corporations to spend money directly advocating the election or defeat of federal candidates. The court's 5-4 decision was grounded in the First Amendment; consequently, the congressional response is inevitably limited. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) unveiled an important proposal last week designed to address the most fixable aspects of the ruling in time for the 2010 election.

• The Sacramento Bee - Editorial: Earmark reform is a worthy cause

  Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican who represents the congressional district that stretches from Sacramento to Lake Tahoe and from the Sierra Nevada to the Oregon border, has been nothing if not consistent on earmarks. These are funds that members of Congress request for specific projects. McClintock signed a "no earmarks" pledge in 2008, and he has kept to that.

• Times Union - A few checks on influence

  Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the floodgates on political spending by corporations and unions, the challenge is to find a way to live with the new law of the land. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer seek to do that in separate proposals that at least would force companies to fully disclose how much they spend on elections, and to whose benefit.

• The Sheboygan Press - Editorial: Let's shed more light on earmarks

  When Barack Obama campaigned for the presidency in 2008, he promised that his administration would be transparent to the American public. He has made some strides in this regard, but most notably let taxpayers down when he didn't insist that the talks between House and Senate leaders on a compromise health care bill be televised by C-SPAN.

• The Washington Examiner - Sunlight memo to Congress: Here's how to do earmark disclosure

  President Obama's remarks during last State of the Union address included an admonition to Congress to change the way it discloses earmarks, by putting all of the information about every earmark on one web site that is easily accessible to the public.

• The New York Times - What Price Politics?

  A binge of special interest money seems inevitable unless Congress acts quickly — before this year’s election — to repair the damage from the Supreme Court ruling that ended restraints on campaign spending by corporations and unions.

• Victorville Daily Press - Let the Internet shine

  “The legislative process is one of horse trading and compromises. If you put that all on camera all of the time, nothing would get done.” -Ellen Miller