As stated in the note from the Sunlight Foundation′s Board Chair, as of September 2020 the Sunlight Foundation is no longer active. This site is maintained as a static archive only.

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Oops! What House freshmen deleted from Twitter

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Like other Twitter users, members of Congress delete and revise their tweets. Unlike most Twitter users, however, lawmakers maintain official accounts -- a use of taxpayer resources -- which is why the Sunlight Foundation considers them fair game to monitor for Politwoops, our database of deleted tweets by elected officials, launched earlier this year.

Freshman may be new to Congress, but they seem seasoned when it comes to social media skills. Based on our sample of congressional Twitter behavior so far, new members, who make up 20 percent of the 112th Congress, are sending out 19 percent of the tweets. On the ...

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Rape by any other name

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Updated 3:32 p.m.

The political firestorm that Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., ignited with his now-recanted claim that  women rarely getting pregnant from “legitimate rape" has focused attention on an unusual fact about the crime: When speaking of it, politicians often use a qualifier.

A search of the Congressional Record using the Sunlight Foundation's Capitol Words tool shows no instances of other lawmakers using the phrase or advancing the odd biological theory that has led Republican leaders from Mitt Romney to Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to urge Akin -- a member of the House Science Committee ...

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Super PAC profile: American Bridge 21st Century

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The recent buzz that one of the frontrunners to be Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney's vice presidential pick, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, had registered as a foreign agent for the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti came from American Bridge 21st Century, a super PAC that's spent most of its money not on attack ads, but on opposition research.

The registration was old news: A July 17 Washington Post profile of Portman, seen at right, noted it, along with a Patton Boggs attorney's statement that, though registered, Portman hadn't represented Haiti. But it shows that independent ...

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Bank accused of Iran money laundering lobbies in US

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Standard Chartered Bank, a British bank with a U.S. division that is suspected by the New York State Department of Financial Services of laundering $250 billion dollars to Iran, has been trying to influence U.S. policy through lobbying, but exactly what the bank is trying to accomplish remains vague.

So far this year, Standard Chartered Bank has spent $90,000 to hire mega-lobbying firm The Glover Park Group, according to Senate records. Complying with regulations, the Glover Park Group has filed lobbying reports quarterly.

Since 2000, records obtained from the Senate and Sunlight's Influence Explorer reveal, Standard ...

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A matter of trust? Mystery groups write big checks to super PACs

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They may not be the biggest givers of this campaign cycle but they could be the shadiest: So far in this campaign cycle,12 trusts have given super PACs a total of $3.2 million.

Though that amounts to a sliver of the $314 million flowing to super PACs, it represents an extreme in one sense: Trusts are a highly opaque way to facilitate political spending. Trusts act as separate entities that manage assets on behalf of people, corporations, charities, and other entities. They can serve as tax shelters and generally, are more private than traditional charities and corporations because ...

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Mexico’s president-elect hires DC lobbyists

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Mexico’s President-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto, who takes office December 1, has hired lobbying firm Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates to represent him in Washington. According to documents filed with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the contract focuses on U.S. outreach and “monitoring of news and policy developments related to Mexico-U.S. interests.”

So far, six lobbyists with the firm have filed paperwork confirming they will work as part of the Peña Nieto account. 

The question is whether Peña Nieto, seen at right, should have filed sooner. This may not even be the first U.S. media ...

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The black hole of political disclosure

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Our Sunlight Foundation colleague, Lee Drutman, has written elsewhere about the amount of dark money -- political donations that come without donors attached -- flowing into this year's campaign. But what about the conduits? As the Senate debates the DISCLOSE Act this week, a measure that would take modest steps towards adding a little transparency back into the campaign finance system, it's worth taking a look at the entities that are taking advantage of the loopholes that allow them to avoid disclosing -- sometimes just donors, sometimes just about everything.

The groups run the gamut from long established organizations with a ...

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Following the Chamber of Commerce down the campaign finance rabbit hole

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US Chamber of Commerce LogoA New York Times report that New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is subpoenaing records of tax-exempt groups involved in politics underscores the difficulty of tracking campaign spending to its source following the 2010 Citizens United decision, a ruling that the Supreme Court reaffirmed this week. 

According to the Times story, Schneiderman is seeking emails and bank records to determine the legality of financial transactions made between the National Chamber Foundation and one of its donors, the Starr Foundation, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The business trade association received $18 million from the Chamber Foundation in 2003 ...

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