NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Obama accepts corporate cash for inauguration: President Barack Obama will accept corporate money for the inauguration, changing course from his first inauguration in 2009. (Washington Post)
- Obama, Romney draw $2 billion during campaign: More than $2 billion was raised to support Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in their campaigns to win the presidency, reports show. At least $1 billion was spent on each candidate by a combination of their own campaigns and supporting groups. (Washington Post)
- Late super PAC donations revealed: Donations poured into super PACs just days before the election, campaign finance records show. The deadline for post-election reports was Dec. 6. (Roll Call)
Obama Opens Floodgates for Corporate Inauguration Funding
President Obama has reportedly loosened fundraising restrictions, allowing huge corporate donations to support his 2013 inauguration festivities. Obama placed far... View Article
Continue readingA look at online ads in the 2012 election
Super PACs, trade associations and other nonprofit groups that made campaign expenditures spent roughly $46.1 million on web ads. Though the Obama campaign considerably outspent Romney's campaign on web advertising, outside Republican outside spenders ponied up nearly five times more on online advertising than liberal outside groups, according to independent expenditure filings with the FEC.
Continue readingThe 2012 super PAC million dollar club
At least 156 people and entities gave more than $1 million to super PACs, according to an analysis of post-election campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. See a list of the top 10 super PAC donors below.
This millionaires club accounted for 59 percent of the total $834 million that went to super PACs, committees that can spend and raise and unlimited amount on elections.
Nine donors gave at least $10 million. The biggest gave to the GOP: Sheldon Adelson, at $49.8 million, followed by his wife Miriam at $42 million. The next biggest givers are ...
Continue readingInfluence Explorer API, Now with Entity Type Filtering
Last year, we wrote about how to get access to our political influence data via the Influence Explorer API. That post is a great introduction, but here's an update on a small, but significant, improvement we've made to make accessing our data easier.
Continue readingTallying the Adelsons’ $92 million
The Adelson’s have given a mind-blowing $92.28 million dollars to outside spending groups this election. The Casino mogul and his physician wife were the impetus behind Newt Gingrich’s primary campaign. After Gingrich left the race, donations to “Winning our Future” became donations to “Restore our Future” the pro-Romney group that the Adelson’s would give the most to, $30 in all.
Wealthy two dozen: 24 super PACs that got the most last-minute money
Twenty-four super PACs collected more than $1 million in contributions during the final weeks before the election, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Continue readingSecret money fuels Freedomworks
New filings show that Freedomworks, the Tea party-aligned super PAC that's in the midst of a messy leadership breakup, got more than $12 million from two shadowy companies set up just this fall.
Continue readingTransparency and the Obama presidency: Looking Back and Looking Forward – Video and Event Recap
How transparent has President Barack Obama's administration been? While the first term seemed to start with several bold initiatives, members of the transparency community have been disappointed with the apparent lack of initiative since then. Panelists gave the administration mixed reviews at the Dec. 3, 2012 Advisory Committee on Transparency event examining what's happened over the past four years and what in store for the next four. Participants in the panel discussion, moderated by Daniel Schuman, policy counsel at the Sunlight Foundation and director of the Advisory Committee on Transparency, had a hard time listing the Obama administration's accomplishments without mentioning caveats in the same breath. Anne Weismann, chief counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the administration's efforts may have been well intended but were not always well executed. The decision to release the White House visitor logs, for example, resulted in more transparency about who is trying to influence the executive branch, but also resulted in some staff taking meetings to coffee shops.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 12/7/12
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- McConnell fights campaign finance reform: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is fighting against campaign finance reform as some members of his caucus talk about supporting the measures. (The Hill)
- Something familiar about backroom talks: President Barack Obama is letting talks about the so-called "fiscal cliff" happen in the dark, despite being criticized during the healthcare reform negotiations for the same kind of move. (POLITICO)
- DeMint leaves Congress for Heritage Foundation: U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) announced he is resigning from Congress to lead the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. South Carolina's governor can appoint a replacement until a special election in 2014. (New York Times)
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