Sunlight Foundation Press Release Archive
Press Releases for January 2010
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Sunlight Foundation Releases Seven Recommendations to Update Political Spending Disclosures in Wake of Citizens United v. FEC
WASHINGTON, DC – This morning, the Sunlight Foundation released seven proposals that should be immediately implemented in order to create a more transparent, accountable political disclosure system in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) decision last week. The proposals are structured to address new realities, including the ability for corporations and labor unions to spend unlimited amounts of money on independent expenditure campaigns, on behalf of candidates and issues.
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President Obama Formally Adopts Sunlight Foundation Priorities in State of the Union
Washington, DC - Last night during the State of the Union address, President Obama made transparency a cornerstone issue for his administration this year. He called for the establishment of a single, Congress-wide database to track earmarks; better and more complete lobbying disclosure and a concerted effort to change the campaign finance laws to reflect the new realities created by last week’s Supreme Court decision on the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) case. Since these issues strongly reflect the Sunlight Foundation’s mission, it has issued policy proposals to help Congress and the White House achieve these goals.
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Obama Administration to Release Unprecedented Amount of Government Data Today
Washington, DC - The Obama administration is making an unparalleled amount of data available online today. The release, as part of the Open Government Directive, is further evidence that the administration is serious about increased government transparency and is committed to moving toward a more open way of operating. The Sunlight Foundation applauds this long-anticipated action by the administration and is pleased to see its own recommendations heeded.
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Supreme Court Deals Blow to Campaign Finance but Calls for Greater Transparency
Washington, DC - Today's landmark Supreme Court decision on Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission which allows corporations to spend unlimited funds on direct electoral activities and issue advocacy makes overhauling election disclosure laws a necessity, according to the Sunlight Foundation. The majority opinion penned by Chief Justice John Roberts specifically cites online public disclosure as key to giving the public the information they need to make informed decisions on political speech.
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The Sunlight Labs Releases Most Comprehensive iPhone Application for Congressional Activities Ever
WASHINGTON, DC - This morning, the Sunlight Labs launched a new resource for iPhone users which could revolutionize the way that users of Apple's popular app phone can access and interact with information about Congress. The Real Time Congress application is a fast and free way to access real-time congressional activity, meetings and documents right at users' fingertips.
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Sunlight Foundation's New Reporting Group Site to Integrate Resources and Trainings for Journalists
Washington, DC - This morning, the Sunlight Foundation launched a new resource for journalists, bloggers and citizens, the Reporting Group Web site, available at Reporting.SunlightFoundation.com. The site will integrate Sunlight’s many efforts on behalf of journalists including training materials, research, data and stories—into a single site.
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White House Releases Visitor Data; Sunlight Labs Augments it with Resources to Make Sense of Data
Washington, DC - Acting on the latest online release of visitor data provided by the White House last week, the Sunlight Labs released a mashup designed to make it easier for anyone to conduct independent research on who is visiting the White House. The new mashup links to data from the Center for Responsive Politics and the National Institute on Money in State Politics to show whether visitors have given campaign contributions on the national or state level; it also links to visitors’ profiles on LittleSis.org and their Google and Wikipedia search results to provide greater context of who is conducting business with the White House.
