House freshmen project: Reporting team
Sunlight's series on the House freshmen was reported and researched by a team from our Reporting Group, Sunlight Labs and Communications shop:
Bill Allison: Bill is the Editorial Director at the Sunlight Foundation. A veteran investigative journalist and editor for nonprofit media, Bill worked for the Center for Public Integrity for nine years, where he co-authored The Cheating of America with Charles Lewis, was senior editor of The Buying of the President 2000 and co-editor of the New York Times bestseller The Buying of the President 2004. He edited projects on topics ranging from the role of international arms smugglers and private military companies in failing states around the world to the rise of section 527 organizations in American politics. Prior to joining the Center, Bill worked for eight years for The Philadelphia Inquirer—the last two as researcher for Pulitzer Prize winning reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele.
Tim Ball: Tim is the System Administrator in Sunlight Labs. Before coming to Sunlight, Tim worked in a variety of fields, including government, computer security, defense contracting and academic research, and has fifteen years' experience in developing Linux and free and open-source software.
Dan Drinkard: Dan is a software developer for Sunlight Labs, where he enjoys a broad focus on front-end and back-end technologies. His experience runs the gamut of the D.C. Web industry, from government to news to creative agency work. He holds a degree in Media Arts and Design from James Madison University.
Lee Drutman: Lee is the Senior Research Fellow at the Sunlight Foundation. He is also an adjunct professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. from Brown University. Drutman has also worked as a research fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute, an American Political Science Association fellow in the office of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), and a staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer. His writing has been published in the Los Angeles Times, Slate, Politico, the Providence Journal, the American Prospect, and Miller-McCune. He has also guest-blogged at The Monkey Cage.
Breanna Edwards: Breanna is a reporting intern at Sunlight Foundation. She is a recent graduate from American University, with her BA in Print Journalism and Spanish Studies. Breanna hopes her work at Sunlight will help her learn more about good journalistic practices, as well as prepare her for the trials most journalists have to deal with, especially in regards to government transparency.
Ethan Phelps-Goodman: Ethan is a Seattle-based Software Developer at the Sunlight Foundation. His work focuses on combining various sources of data–campaign finance, lobbying, earmarks, voting records, contracts, etc.–into a comprehensive tool for investigating money and influence in politics. Prior to joining Sunlight Ethan worked in Berlin as a Computational Linguist. He earned his bachelor's degree in Computer Science at UC Berkeley and his master's degree at the University of Washington.
Jake Harper: Jake is one of Sunlight's John E. Moss Fellows. He grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta. After failing in sports at a young age, he was left with comic books and music, and he spent most of his free time practicing and performing music. In his senior year, Jake began writing for the school newspaper and discovered his passion for news and print media. Jake studied International Affairs at the University of Georgia, focusing on security issues. After interning at National Defense University, he changed directions and joined the Peace Corps. While serving in his small community, he edited and wrote for the volunteer publication La Cadena, and decided to pursue journalism as a career.
Rebecca Heller: Becca is one of Sunlight's John E. Moss Fellows. A recent graduate of Guilford College, she has reported on local, national, and international issues and interviewed various politicians in the Washington area. Through her work, Becca has come to appreciate the pivotal role journalism plays in politics and social justice. Having studied in Spain for four months and spent considerable time in Central America, she is highly-proficient in Spanish (although sometimes she still defers to her three-year-old niece, who is half-Nicaraguan and fully bilingual).
Kathy Kiely: Kathy is the managing editor for the Sunlight Foundation. Prior to joining Sunlight in 2011, she was the managing editor for politics at the National Journal, where she worked helped assemble and train a joint multimedia campaign coverage team for NJ and CBS News. Before that, she spent nearly a dozen years covering Congress and national politics for USA TODAY. Kathy, who has covered every presidential campaign since 1980, was graduated from Princeton University cum laude, a member of the fifth class to admit women. She holds a masters degree in interactive journalism from American University.
Kevin Koehler: Kevin Koehler is the Communications Assistant at the Sunlight Foundation. He studied political science and journalism at Wake Forest University, where he was an editor at the student newspaper, the Old Gold & Black. He also co-founded CoPress, a national organization devoted to advancing the use of web technology by student media.
Kat Lucero: Kat is one of Sunlight's Foundation John E. Moss Fellows. She just finished a master's in journalism at Georgetown University. She is currently a freelance writer, as well as the weekend editor for a D.C. blog. After graduating from DePaul University, she worked with several political campaigns. Her most recent stint was at an international polling company.
Anupama Narayanswamy: Anu is the Projects Editor for the Sunlight Reporting Group. Before joining the Sunlight Foundation, she was a researcher with the Center for Public Integrity and has also worked with Investigative Reporters and Editors as a graduate student. Originally from Mumbai, India she has worked as a reporter with leading Indian newspapers. She has a Master's degree in English Literature from the University of Mumbai and a Master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Ryan Sibley: Ryan is the Data and Applications editor at Sunlight. She writes, edits and researches for a number of projects in the Reporting Group and Sunlight Labs. She specializes in reporting on campaign finance and lobbying and researching model legislation. Ryan has worked at Sunlight since 2009 when she came here to be a researcher for SubsidyScope. Ryan graduated from American University's School of Communication with a master's degree in journalism and public policy and received a BA in English literature from California State University, Long Beach.
Keenan Steiner: Keenan is a reporter for the Sunlight Reporting Group, where he writes about congressional fundraisers, lobbying, and money in politics. Before joining Sunlight, he earned his keep covering the gritty local news of Westchester County, New York. He also enjoyed a stint at the city desk of the Jersey Journal in Jersey City, New Jersey. Before that, he studied international politics at Georgetown University.
Nancy Watzman: Nancy is a Denver-based consultant to the Sunlight Foundation. Over the course of her career as an investigative journalist and researcher, she has worked for a number of Washington-based watchdog and advocacy groups, including Public Campaign, the Center for Responsive Politics, and the Center for Public Integrity. She is co-author, with Micah Sifry, of "Is That a Politician in Your Pocket? Washington on $2 Million a Day," (Wiley Books, 2004) contributed to "The Buying of the Congress" (Avon Books, 1998), and has penned articles and opinion pieces for numerous publications.
Lindsay Young: Lindsay is a reporter for the Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group. She graduated second in her class with her Master's in Public Policy from Pepperdine University. Before that, she earned her bachelors in history, graduating summa cum laude from the University of California, Riverside.
