Lindsay Young : Sunlight Foundation

Agencies slow to provide new data required by Dodd-Frank

by Lindsay Young

investigations

Jul 18, 2011 11:30 am

One year after passing Dodd Frank Financial reform, much of the work of reforming America’s financial system still lies ahead. This is not too surprising considering the sheer size of the legislation. The law created 243 rules and requires agencies to produce 67 studies, according to Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. One-hundred-twenty-two deadlines are due between July 16 and July 21.

The law also requires agencies to make new data from disclosures filed by financial firms public, but to do so agencies must overcome obstacles such as lack of funding and limited bureaucratic capacity ...

Sunlight Live to cover Rematch of the Elizabeth Warren Hearing

by Lindsay Young

investigations

Jul 13, 2011 6:00 am

If you didn't get your fill of fireworks on July 4, then be sure to tune in to a Capitol Hill fireworks display set for July 14. That's when Elizabeth Warren returns to Capitol Hill to defend her Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

A little more than month ago, Warren encountered a tough interrogation by committee member Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., when the congressman accused Warren of misleading the committee. The contentious hearing turned nasty when the two got into an argument about Warren's schedule.

Thursday ...

Palestinian lobbyists meet with key decision makers

by Lindsay Young

investigations

Jun 9, 2011 1:19 pm

The Palestine Liberation Organization recently filed their bi-annual lobbying documents that show outreach to top decision makers, media and academia, and list meetings with up and coming policy leaders.

Lobbyists met with Dan Shapiro of the National Security Council a few months before before President Obama appointed him to be the U.S. envoy to Israel.

The general delegation of the PLO to the U.S. also honored General James Mattis on December 2011 at an event hosted by the Ambassador of Yemen. The event took place before he was named U.S. Central Command, replacing General David Petraeus.

Another ...

Three countries lobby to minimize fallout of political tug-of-war

by Lindsay Young

investigations

Jun 3, 2011 1:49 pm

South Korea, Panama and Colombia are lobbying to cement U.S. trade agreements that have been embroiled in political jockeying between the White House and Congress, recently filed foreign lobbying disclosures show.

On May 16, the White House announced President Obama will not sign the three trade agreements without Congress passing a job training legislation for workers displaced by foreign competition. Senate Republicans retaliated by threatening not to confirm President Obama’s choice for Commerce Secretary nominee. Soon after this impasse, the three countries upped their lobbying presence in Washington pushing their agenda for their country's free trade agreements ...

Egypt’s PR shop terminates their US operation

by Lindsay Young

investigations

May 26, 2011 6:17 pm

A few weeks after Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in response to the public outrage against his 30 year rule, the Egyptian government’s PR outfit in Washington terminated their operation, records show. Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates ended their representation of the Egyptian press office on February 28, 2011, shortly after Mubarak resigned on February 11.

From November 2010 to March 2011, the Egypt Press and Information Bureau paid the lobbying group $200,000 in fees and expenses. The lobby shop was hired in April 2009 and was paid a total of $985,000 during that period ...

Lobbyists for Morocco go on a meeting spree soon after political upheaval

by Lindsay Young

investigations

May 26, 2011 10:14 am

A nonprofit established by the government of Morocco went on a lobbying frenzy earlier this year, coinciding with the time when pro-democracy demonstrations in the country took an ugly turn. The Moroccan-American Policy Council, which is the registered agent of the Moroccan government met with 130 congressional offices on February 23, 24 and 25 just days after the riots broke out, FARA records show.

Protests in the country started on February 1, when a protestor lit himself on fire, immitating the incident that sparked the Tunisian revolt and in a few weeks turned violent with riots on February 21. A ...

Princess and the policy

by Lindsay Young

investigations

Apr 28, 2011 10:21 am

There is a special role for princesses in international diplomacy and some like Princess Diana and Queen Noor of Jordan captivated the imagination of the world with their charm and humanitarian work, but others play a more formal diplomatic and public relations role and appear in foreign lobbying records.

Princess of Qatar, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, hired Fenton Communications in September of 2009 to assist her with a website and media outreach promoting her public education campaign, Foreign Agents Registration Act filings show. The contract with Fenton was terminated but the website is still up and running, describing her ...

Unofficial Libyan ambassador registers with FARA

by Lindsay Young

investigations

Apr 25, 2011 4:27 pm

In a sign of the ambiguity of international policy toward Libya, Ali Suleiman Aujali, the diplomat who made headlines when he defected from the Gadafi Government in February, has registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Justice Department to represent the Transitional National Council of Libya, the umbrella group representing the forces opposed to the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.

The State Department has not officially recognized the opposition rebels as the legitimate government of Libya. If it had, as the Foreign Agent Registration Unit notes on its website, no filing would be necessary. "Diplomats and officials of foreign ...

Lobbying Tracker now follows foreign influence

by Lindsay Young

investigations

Apr 6, 2011 10:27 am

Sunlight's Lobbying Tracker, which shows the latest hirings of K-Street professionals by special interests and when former congressional members and staff can legally lobby their old colleagues, now lets users track foreign influence as well. The Lobbying Tracker pulls in the latest filings made under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, allowing users to follow the latest foreign clients, see the most recent semi-annual disclosure reports and even see who the most recent individuals are to disclose their activities under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

The Foreign Lobbying Filing component of the Lobbying Tracker pulls in filings as they are ...

Despite moratorium, Lungren staff met with firm seeking earmark

by Lindsay Young

investigations

Mar 30, 2011 10:02 am

Six months after Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Calif., joined a House Republican voluntary moratorium on requesting earmarks, his staff met with executives from a cyber security company that requested an earmark to explain their appropriations process, according to internal company emails from the firm released by a group of hackers known as Anonymous.

Though House Republicans requested no earmarks in 2010 and the House Republican leadership agreed to a ban on requesting earmarks--appropriations directed to specific beneficiaries in congressional spending bills--in 2011, there have been some indications that members have found ways around the ban. For example, Rep. James Moran, D-Va ...

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