In the five or so years since hedge fund manager Donald Sussman and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, have known each other, the investment tycoon has made his mark in her state, becoming its top political donor in 2012 and a major backer to Democratic super PACs. He's also found ways to bankroll her campaign, while buying a controlling interest in the local papers that cover her district.
Sussman, the billionaire manager of boutique hedge funds which manage about $8 billion in assets, married Pingree in 2011. She's the former president of campaign finance watchdog Common Cause. In his ...
Continue readingOpen Source Initiatives Can Strengthen Cities’ Downtown Revitalization
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Sunlight Foundation or any employee thereof. Sunlight Foundation is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information within the guest blog.
Jennnifer Wike is an Editor and contributor for Opensource.com, a community service website of Red Hat dedicated to highlighting the 
ways in which the 'open source movement' is shaping government, law, education, science and technology, and other areas of life. Jen also helps other businesses develop their content strategies and blogs about growth in downtown Raleigh, NC where she lives. Follow her on Twitter or you can contact her at jenn.wike@gmail.com.
The open government movement in our country is well underway, though still brand new in terms relative to the pace of the workings of government. Change tends to be delivered slowly, as evident during President Obama’s re-election campaign this year when many of us had to remind ourselves that though some change has trickled down over the past four years, much of it has yet to come to pass due to the inherent processes of government bodies. And yet, it still astonishes me how quickly ‘open’ ideas are being accepted, built and implemented into city governments from the east to west coast.
Adelsons’ $10 million checks revealed among last-minute campaign donations
Eye-popping checks from the Adelsons were among the more startling findings as campaign committees revealed their last-minute election donors.
Continue readingFEC considers whether company can solicit PAC contributions from its dealers
Can Slim Jim solicit employees of 7-11 for donations to its political action committee?
Members of the Federal Election Commission mused about that hypothetical prospect today in an open meeting that considered whether companies should be able to ask independent retailers to participate in their PACs, potentially opening the door for corporations to significantly broaden their donor base.
On another non-controversial request, commissioners appear ready to soon approve a request by the Global Transaction Services Group to fundraise for political committees via text messages – the phone user’s credit card would be charged. In another decision, the committee gave the ...
Continue readingWhen It Comes to Pay, All Feds Aren’t Created Equal
By Daniel Schuman and Alisha Green
It comes as little surprise to hill watchers that House staff are underpaid compared to their Senate equivalents, let alone executive branch and private sector staff, but we decided to dig a bit deeper. Just in time for the holidays (and those non-existent public sector bonuses) here's a comparison of key positions in the House, Senate, and executive branch. We admit that the data is a bit old, like the Ghost of the War on Christmas Past, but it's the best we can do with what’s available.
The shaded areas in the bars for the executive branch staff show a range of potential pay.
2Day in #OpenGov 12/6/12
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- House approves financial disclosure delay: The House approved a bill this week that further delays financial disclosure requirements for nearly 30,000 federal employees. The bill pushes the disclosure back to April 15, 2013. (Washington Post)
- Groups ask Boehner to keep ethics board: Several good-government groups are asking House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to keep the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) in the 113th Congress. Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have to replace at least four of the panel's members for the body to continue to exist. (The Hill)
- A look at the hill's revolving doors: Lawmakers who lost reelection bids are being courted now by lobbyist recruiters as they pack up their offices. Headhunters sometimes end up talking to outgoing members of Congress in locations ranging from House offices to the backseats of cars. (Roll Call)
Snap Decision: DeMint leaves Senate for Heritage
How sudden was Sen. Jim DeMint's surprise announcement Thursday that he'll be leaving his post to head the conservative Heritage Foundation? The Senate Office of Public Records confirms receiving a disclosure form that lawmakers and top staffers have to make when they are negotiating with a potential employer from the South Carolina Republican on the same day DeMint's new job was announced. Ethics rules require the forms to be filed when salary discussions are underway.
Update Dec. 6, 2012, 5:15 p.m.: "I just found out yesterday," said Wesley Denton, press secetary for DeMint. "I know ...
Continue readingHouse Rules Changes: Sunlight’s Proposals for the 113th Congress
Congress runs on rules. With the upcoming changeover from the 112th to the 113th Congress, the House of Representatives will adopt new regulations that innervate every aspect of legislative life. The last time it did this, in 2010, the House set the stage for greater openness and transparency in the lower chamber. At that time, Sunlight issued a series of recommendations, some of which were adopted. The House of Representatives made significant progress toward ensuring the people's house belongs to the people, from the new transparency portal docs.house.gov to expanded video coverage of House proceedings to retaining the Office of Congressional Ethics. In advance of the 113th Congress, we're issuing an updated set of transparency recommendations, each of which would mark a significant step towards increased transparency.
Continue readingMoney in politics drives up U.S. corruption perception index
The United States scores worse than many of its partners in the developed world on this year's Corruption Perception Index in part because of money in politics, the group that publishes the index said Wednesday.
Transparency International's compilation of surveys by well known civic and business groups ranked the U.S. at 19 among 174 countries, with No. 1 being the country with the least perception of corruption (a ranking shared by Denmark, Finland and New Zealand) and No. 174 (Somalia) being the country perceived as the most corrupt. Among the nations getting a better ranking than than ...
Continue readingWho benefited most from dark money in the 2012 election?
Eighteen incoming members of Congress each got more than $1 million in dark money donations during their recent campaigns, but many more have reason to resent the stealthiest of campaign contributions, a Sunlight Foundation analysis has found.
Dark money represents campaign contributions whose sources never have to be publicly reported. That's because the money is funneled through non-profit entities organized under a section of the tax code that protects them from having to name their donors. These kind of groups -- such as the pro-GOP Crossroads GPS and the pro-Democrat League of Conservation Voters -- have increased their electoral role in the wake of a series of court rulings that opened the door for unlimited corporate and union spending on campaigns. Nonprofit groups made more than $300 million of such donations during the course of the 2012 election cycle, the vast majority to influence the fall races.
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