Keenan Steiner : Sunlight Foundation

2014 attack ads start already

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Feb 12, 2013 6:06 pm

It's never too early for an attack ad, apparently. The 113th Congress is barely a month old and the National Republican Congressional Committee already is beginning to lay the groundwork for Election 2014, pouncing on a recent report that newly-elected Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., failed to pay nearly $11,000 in property taxes.

The ad, so far airing just on the Internet, is not the NRCC's only hit against a Democrat likely facing tough competition two years from now. Less than two weeks ago, the GOP campaign committee also pumped out an ad against freshman Rep. Patrick ...

Another delay in ethics probes of Reps. Schock, Owens

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Jan 28, 2013 4:03 pm

Thanks to a parliamentary quirk and a slow start getting organized, the House Ethics Committee will not be releasing information today about the ethics probes into two members of Congress.

Shadow lobbyists, ex-lobbyists, give to Obama inaugural committee

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Jan 25, 2013 1:47 pm

Lucky for longtime lobbyist Mickey Ibarra, the president of his own lobbying and strategy shop, he could buy that champagne flute with the presidential inaugural seal.

That's only because, months before, Ibarra had technically deregistered as a federal lobbyist -- on the advice of counsel, he said, even though he continued doing some lobbying. Others in the influence business -- including one lobbyist who told Sunlight she was denied inaugural tickets she had already purchased because of her job -- had more difficulty being part of the inaugural festivities.

But an analysis by the Sunlight Foundation raises questions about just how meaningful ...

Inaugural party surprise: VIP room off limits to congressional VIPs

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Jan 22, 2013 6:01 pm

Celebrities from John Leguizamo to Marlon Wayans were bused to Washington D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre Monday night for a gala to celebrate with the second inauguration of President Barack Obama but in an odd reversal of their usual good fortune, members of Congress found themselves shut out of the Creative Coalition's VIP party-within-a-party.

Obama inaugural officials tight-lipped at press conference

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Jan 16, 2013 5:23 pm

Officials with President Obama's inaugural committee took questions from reporters Wednesday at the National Press Club but the answers were less than illuminating. Here's the rundown:

Q. Why is the committee providing less information on donors than former President George W. Bush, and Obama himself did in earlier inaugurals?
A. That was then. This is now.

"Each one of these is created anew every four years," Brent Colburn, communications director for the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Committee, said of the more parsimonious disclosure strategy. Because the PIC isn't legally required to report its donors to the Federal Election ...

Eight corporations donate to Obama’s inaugural so far

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Jan 14, 2013 1:01 pm

After lifting the lid on donations to his second inauguration and agreeing to accept corporate contributions, President Barack Obama only has eight corporate donors so far, according to an updated donor list posted on the inaugural committee's website over the weekend.

The two new corporate donors on the list: A subsidiary of Southern Company, one of the nation's biggest electric utilities and a major lobbying powerhouse, and United Therapeutics, a $1.5 billion Maryland pharamaceutical company seeking Federal Drug Administration approval for a drug treating a lung disorder.

The Atlanta-based Southern Company contributed $100,000 to the inaugural ...

After the inaugural balls, where does the extra money go?

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Jan 9, 2013 1:23 pm

President Barack Obama's aggressive inaugural fundraising -- he's reversed the ban on corporate donors, lifted the lid on contributions and is soliciting up to $1 million for various VIP ticket packages -- raises an intriguing question: What's he planning to do with all the money? After all, the Presidential Inaugural Committee already has radically downsized the number of official balls.

The options are limitless. A number of recent presidential inaugural committess have acknowledged -- either wittingly or not -- ending up with a surplus of funds. There are no rules limiting how the money can be used. The 2013 Inaugural Committee ...

Obama discloses less about inaugural donors

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Jan 4, 2013 7:41 pm

What a difference four years makes: President Barack Obama, who began his first term with a promise to change the way Washington works, barred corporate donations to his first inauguration, capped individual contributions at $50,000 and began disclosing his donors and bundlers more than a month before his swearing-in.

This time he waited until two weeks before the inauguration to release his first list of donors. The Presidential Inaugural Committee posted the names on its website but without the amount of each donation nor the contributor's occupation and city. Nor was a separate list of bundlers posted.

Moreover ...

House rules package has new ethics clauses, strange wrinkles

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Jan 3, 2013 3:14 pm

Fresh off taking the oath of office earlier today, the new members of the House of Representatives are about to vote to adopt a set of rules and orders this afternoon. There are a few ethics-related changes that are significant. There are also some unusual new wrinkles.

One welcome change for watchdog groups, including the Sunlight Foundation, is the continuation of the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, which has to be reauthorized by each Congress. The terms of four board members -- Yvonne Burke, Jay Eagen, Karan English and Allison Hayward -- expired at the end of the last Congress but ...

Incoming FEC chair’s wish list for 2013

by Keenan Steiner

investigations

Dec 21, 2012 4:22 pm

With the end of the year, the six federal election commissioners are preparing to play their annual game of musical chairs. That means a new chair of the commission for 2013. She has lots she wants to accomplish.

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