Sunlight Foundation

MEDIA ALERT

Contact:
Gabriela Schneider, 202-742-1520 ext 236
gschneider@sunlightfoundation.com

WHAT
Press briefing to announce MAPlight.org's new revolutionary search engine that reveals the connections between money and politics within Congress.

A grantee of the Sunlight Foundation, MAPlight.org's new federal search engine uses official records from the Library of Congress and the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics to demonstrate the link between campaign contributions to federal legislators with their votes on every bill.

This allows journalists and the public to follow the money and voting trail for over 100 subject areas, legislators, special interest groups, and bills for the 109th Congress and the current 110th Congress.

WHEN
1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007

WHERE
National Press Club, Murrow Room
529 14th Street, NW Washington, DC

WHO
Dan Newman, Executive Director, MAPLight.org
Ellen Miller, Executive Director, the Sunlight Foundation

Users and reporters can now search online to find answers to previously difficult questions like these:

• How closely does a vote in Congress correlate with special-interest contributions?
• What organizations and industries support and oppose key federal bills?
• How much money was spent by special interests on each side of a bill, and did legislators received funds in the final days preceding a vote?

Reporters interested in attending, please register by sending email to gschneider@sunlightfoundation.com.

Founded in January, 2006, the mission of the Sunlight Foundation is to strengthen the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents. Sunlight puts information and tools in citizens' hands so they can learn more about what Congress and their elected representatives are doing. Its ultimate goal is full transparency by Congress, its Members and staff will help reduce corruption, ensure greater accountability, and foster public trust in this vital institution of democracy.

Since its founding, the Sunlight Foundation has issued nearly $2 million to groups to digitize existing information about Congress and those that use Internet technology tofurther Sunlight's goals. Additionally, the Sunlight Foundation has fostered its own projects such as Congresspedia, OpenCongress.org and Congress' Family Business.
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