Every week I climb into the depths of the local political blogosphere to find the Sunlight. I use this series to highlight local blogs that do a great job of covering local, state, and Congressional political news. This week I have highlights from Ohio, South Carolina, Michigan, Missouri, and New Jersey.

In Ohio, the Buckeye State Blog asked what the motivation could be behind Rep. Jean Schmidt’s $100,000 earmark to the John P. Parker Historical Society. It seems they should head over to Earmarkwatch.org and do some investigating.

In South Carolina, SC6 analyses House Bill 2693, Popcorn Lung Bill. While his analysis is interesting, what I find more important is that he is taking the time to look at some of the bills Congress spends time on and evaluating their importance and the motivation behind them in a public place.

In Missouri, The Turner Report wrote a great post about state senators receiving gifts from lobbyists. The report examines documents from the Missouri Ethics Commission to find out what gifts state senators received from lobbyists.

Politics NJ questioned why Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli went on vacation with state Senator Joseph Coniglio even though the senator is a target of a federal criminal probe. I’m pretty sure there is a conflict of interest somewhere in there.

In Michigan, Media Mouse has been monitoring military contracts and they have a great list of contracts awarded to local companies in west Michigan.

I would like to also point out David Weller’s blog Allthingsreform.org which covers reform activism and government ethics.

That’s all I have for this week. If you have any tips for me feel free to contact me here.