Sunlight Foundation

Sunlight Foundation Press Release Archive

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Press Releases for 2006

  • THREE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR REFORM LAID OUT BY THE SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION

    WASHINGTON, DC – The Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit focused on transparency in Congress, today set out three elements that must be included in any Congressional upcoming “reform” proposals -- an agenda endorsed by this morning's New York Times (see below).

  • ALL-IN-ONE WEB TOOL LAUNCHED TO SEARCH POLITICIANS, DONORS, AND LOBBYISTS

    WASHINGTON, DC – The Sunlight Foundation’s SunlightLabs is today unveiling a web tool that will allow users to search any politician, donor, industry or lobbyists on five leading political data websites at the same time. Available at www.sunlightfoundation.com, code will be made available next week, so that any webmaster can install it on his or her sites.

  • SUNLIGHT UPS THE ANTE ON MAKING CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULES PUBLIC

    WASHINGTON, DC – The Sunlight Network is today announcing that if a non-profit organization gets a Member of Congress to sign an agreement to put their Congressional schedule on the internet, it will receive a $4,000 “good will bounty” from the group, as part of Sunlight’s ongoing Punch Clock Campaign.

  • SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION SITE NAMED ‘BEST BLOG’

    WASHINGTON, DC – The 2006 International Weblog Awards are out, and the Sunlight Foundation’s website (www.sunlightfoundation.com) has been named the “Best Blog” in the world, by an international panel of thirteen bloggers. The competition, nicknamed Best of the Blogs (BOB) is organized by German broadcasting company Deutche-Welle. The panel judged thousands of blogs on the basis of their “prose, creativity, design, and user friendliness.”

  • NEW CITIZENS’ GUIDE TO INVESTIGATING CONGRESS LAUNCHES

    WASHINGTON, DC – A new online tutorial teaches citizens all the basics of how to investigate where their Member of Congress gets his or her money from, how much he or she is worth, how they spend their campaign cash, as well as the role lobbyists and industry are playing on Capitol Hill.

  • SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION LAUNCHES CONGRESSIONAL SPOUSE PROJECT

    Washington, DC -- The Sunlight Foundation today launched a new distributed reporting project that lets online citizen journalists investigate and record research on a member of the House of Representatives in just three minutes.

  • Sunlight Launches Congress In 30 Seconds Contest

    WASHINGTON, DC – Software similar to that used in the infamous Chevy Tahoe mix-and-match ad contest – where user-created ads turned into a public relations fiasco for Tahoe – is being modeled and put to use in the political sphere for the first time. The Sunlight Network, working with MSNC partners and UGEN media, is launching a tool that provides clips of public domain cartoons, golfers, an old man doing water jazzercise, and staff meetings, and audio clips of the Brandenburg concerto and creative-commons licensed funk, and asking people to write their own irreverent take on "what does Congress do all day?"

  • SUNLIGHT TO OFFER MORE THAN $680,000

    WASHINGTON, DC -- The Sunlight Network (the 501(c ) (4) social welfare organization affiliated with the Sunlight Foundation) is today announcing “The Punch Clock Campaign,” which will pay out good-will bounties to anyone who gains the signature of a Member of Congress, or prospective Member, on an agreement to make their daily schedule – listing all the people they meet with, including lobbyists, and all the meetings they go to, including fundraisers — public on the Internet.

  • Sunlight Announces Six More Grants

    WASHINGTON, DC – The Sunlight Foundation and Sunlight Network (an affiliated 501 (c)4) is announcing six grants today, furthering its mission to promote more openness in government. The grants are going to organizations developing cutting edge projects ranging from an effort to forge a partnership between citizen journalists and traditional reporters, to a model depository on all information related to the 2006 election in one congressional district.

  • Blogger Uncovers Curious Earmark in Labor/HHS/Education Bill

    WASHINGTON, DC – A blogger at Talking Points Memo (www.tpmcafe.com) has uncovered a startling Congressional earmark -- as part of a project launched by the Sunlight Foundation and other organizations -- which seems to personally benefit a small number of lobbyists.

  • Sunlight: Government Might Overpay For Online Database

    WASHINGTON, DC – Earlier this year, the Sunlight Foundation made a grant of just over $234,000 for a period of three years to the nonprofit organization, OMB Watch, to develop a database that will be nearly identical to the database that would be mandated under a bill introduced by Senators Tom Coburn and Barack Obama. This is just a fraction of the $15 million cost estimated by the Congressional Budget Office.

  • Sunlight Joins Coalition in Launching Website to Expose Earmarks

    WASHINGTON, DC – A diverse coalition of groups and websites dedicated to a more open government are launching a coordinated effort today to get citizens involved in tracking and researching the more than 1,800 earmarks in the 2007 appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

  • THE RESULTS ARE IN:

    WASHINGTON, DC – The Sunlight Foundation (www.sunlightfoundation.com) released the results of a blogosphere-wide poll today, which showed readers of internet blogs hold little hope that Congress will pass real ethics reform.

  • Sunlight Labs Announces Debut of "Pop Up Politicians"

    WASHINGTON, DC – Sunlight Labs (the technology development segment of the Sunlight Foundation) today is unveiling the “Popup Politicians” plugin on the SunlightFoundation.com website and plans to make the service available to other sites next week after further testing.

  • SUNLIGHT NETWORK INVITES PROPOSALS FOR NEW “MINI-GRANTS”

    Today, the Sunlight Network (the 501(c)(4) affiliate of the Sunlight Foundation) is announcing a series of "mini-grants" of $1,000 to $5,000 for nonprofit organizations and non-affiliated groups who have creative and innovative approaches to strengthening the relationship between Members of Congress and the citizens they represent.

  • SUNLIGHT ANNOUNCES THREE NEW HIRES

    The Sunlight Foundation (www.sunlightfoundation.com) today announced three key hires that bring organizing, technical, and communications experience that will further the organization’s goals.

  • Dennis Hastert's Highway to (Financial) Heaven

    A new, explosive finding from the Sunlight Foundation has connected a controversial multi-hundred-million highway earmark, championed by Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL), to an investment in nearby land made by the Speaker and his wife. The sale of that land made just after the highway was funded, likely netted the Hasterts millions of dollars. The Speaker has failed to disclose his interest in the trust.

  • Recent Survey Findings on Ethics Reform and Increased Transparency in Congress

    Voters nationwide believe that too little has been done in Washington to reform lobbying and disclosure laws for Congress. Solid majorities across the political spectrum support reform proposals for increased transparency. And voters – particularly swing voters – are more likely to vote for candidates who support these proposals.

  • SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION LAUNCHES INTERNET INITIATIVES DESIGNED TO BRING TRANSPARENCY TO CONGRESS

    New non-partisan, non-profit organization announces launch of Congresspedia website that creates the “citizens’ encyclopedia” of Congress