NEWS:

• Tobacco behemoth Reynolds American Inc. spent big to support a number of politically active nonprofit groups during 2012. The company sent $175,000 to Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and $50,000 to the Koch brother’s Americans for Prosperity. (Public Integrity)
• Chevron, on of America’s most prolific corporate super PAC donors, faced a threat to their political largesse yesterday, but their shareholders did not give in to an attempt to ban the company from using corporate funds for political activities.  (Public Integrity)
• Chicago is losing its Chief Data and Information Officer Brett Goldstein to the private sector. Goldstein is moving to a fellowship at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy where he will explore new ways to “marry data and government,” for two years. (Government Technology)
• Republican Senator John Thune, the number 3 GOP Senator, isn’t a big fan of super PACs and other outside political spending groups, but he seems resigned to their continue existence. (Roll Call)
• Former Bush administration official and executive at the American Hotel & Lodging Association is taking the reins at the Business Council, an influential group of business leaders who hold high-level policy discussions several times a year. (POLITICO)
• Ben, of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream fame, is heading to Washington to speak in favor of getting money out of politics. In 2012 he started a campaign to “stamp money out of politics.” (POLITICO)
• Former head of the CIA David Patraeus is moving on from the sex scandal that ended his government career, and cast suspicion on that official bio, with a nice cushy gig in the private sector. Patraeus is joining KKR, one of the worlds most prominent private equity firms, as head of their new “global institute”. (Government Executive)

Do you want to track transparency news? You can add our feed to your Google Reader, or view it on our Netvibes page. You can  follow the progress of relevant bills on our Scout page.  You can also get 2Day in #OpenGov sent directly to your reader!