Trying to ensure the accessibility of digital documents was the goal of the PDF Liberation Hackathon, held over the Martin Luther King Jr. day weekend in at least six cities. Sunlight provided the DC venue.
Continue readingWho did business with political consultant tied to illegal foreign donations?
A political consultant charged with illegally funneling foreign money into San Diego campaigns has had numerous clients nationwide. See if he's done business with politicians in your neck of the woods.
Continue readingTo the donors go the spoils: Obama renominates bundlers to cushy overseas posts
President Barack Obama has renominated some of his most generous supporters to some of the plushest ambassadorships.
Continue readingLobby-a-palooza! New year brings new turn of the revolving door
It's a happy and potentially lucrative New Year for many former Capitol Hill denizens, as the turn of the calendar also brings a turn of Washington's revolving door.
Continue readingIRS takes aim at $300 million campaign influence industry
Updated: 11/26; 6 p.m.
Tuesday's surprise announcement that the Internal Revenue Service intends to take aim at campaign spending by so-called social welfare non-profits could substantially alter the political landscape -- if the tax agency's proposed new regulations eventually take effect. That's a big if given the lengthy and, given the stakes involved, highly contentious path ahead.
Outside groups organized as non-profits poured at least $305 million into the 2012 elections, according to Federal Election Commission figures compiled by the Sunlight Foundation. Those figures likely represent the tip of the dark money iceberg as the groups ...
Continue readingUnions, Obama dark money group press GOP on immigration
A new fight over immigration appears to be brewing, but it likely has more to do with the 2014 elections than with any real chance legislation will be passed.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, appeared to close that door on Wednesday, when he ruled out any negotiations over the sweeping immigration law the Senate passed in June. On the same day, Organizing for Action, the dark money committee that grew out of President Barack Obama's campaign, sent an email to supporters calling on them to pressure Republican lawmakers to take up the immigration bill. The committee suggested targeting Rep ...
Continue readingAmerican Crossroads targeting vulnerable Senate Democrats — and passing the hat
American Crossroads, the big-spending Republican super PAC that's been relatively quiescent since posting a less-than-impressive return on investment in the last election cycle, has resurfaced with some advertisements targeting some of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats -- and an ask for money.
The ads, which surfaced on Political Ad Hawk, Sunlight's mobile app for linking political advertisements with the sources of their funding, are nearly identical and attempt to discredit three Democrats up for reelection next year -- Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana -- over the controversial new health care law ...
Continue readingBiggest players in shutdown drama raised big bucks in Q3
Some of the biggest players in the shutdown drama also saw some of the biggest returns in the third quarter, Sunlight's new Real-Time FEC tracker shows.
Continue readingShutdown spells big gains for nation’s gross political product
While federal workers and beneficiaries are taking an economic hit, the shutdown seems to be proving a financial bonanza for the nation's political consultant class. Both Republicans and Democrats are churning out ads focused on the shutdown. Guess what? Each blames the other for it.
Continue readingDemocrats pull a page from last shutdown playbook
A Democratic super PAC is pulling a page from the 1995 playbook in hopes of turning the government shutdown into political gains.
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