A couple of weekends ago, I attended Art Hack Day
at Harvard. The event was put on by the
Big Bad Lab, where we were proud to provide
the data for the event through our APIs
It was a pleasure getting to show off
python-transparencydata
and (ok, I'm biased here) python-sunlight.
The creative juices were really flowing throughout the 3-day hackathon, folks
created some amazing projects, such as a vending machine bill acceptor that
sucked 100 dollar bills at the same rate money has been spent this election
cycle (it was really fast!), political speech karaoke, and a voting booth that just
can't accept "no". Some other creative projects included an app that would
process tweets from federal Senators and Representatives (twitter IDs found off the
Sunlight Congress API), and a
bulletin board was covered with flyers featuring (real!) numbers for lobbyists discovered through
Influence Explorer.
The IRS Should Stop Ignoring Dark Money
For voters disgusted by nasty campaign ads and frustrated that they don’t know who is paying for them, there is plenty of blame to go around. The Supreme Court for allowing the dark money takeover of our elections, Congress for failing to enact the DISCLOSE Act, the Federal Election Commission for its failure to enforce laws already on the books. Add to that list the IRS, for its apparent willingness to look the other way while millions of dollars are laundered through fake nonprofit organizations whose only purpose is to influence elections.
Continue readingLas Vegas Tops Political TV Ad Filings
Of the 50 TV advertising markets where stations have been putting political ad files online since Aug. 2, Las Vegas has the most disclosures on Political Ad Sleuth, with more than 2,300 filings. If you just look at Senate races, though, the No. 1 spot goes to Pennsylvania, which has Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D) facing challenger Tom Smith.
Political Ad Sleuth, a project of the Sunlight Foundation and Free Press, is just one week old and already the amount of political ad filings on TV are hitting record numbers. Be sure to check out how your local media market ranks.
2Day in #OpenGov 10/17/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP: Government
- Electronic access to lab test results: A regulation proposed by HHS in 2011 would expand patient access to electronic versions of their lab test results, which was excluded from a 2009 modernizing patient access to electronic medical records. A number of groups have signed a letter in support of the rule. (O'Reilly Radar)
- Finding abuse in mountains of data: According to panelists at a FedInsider Leadership Forum, The IRS and SEC are beggining to embrace new data mining tools to detect evidence of fraud and abuse in large amounts of data. (Government Executive)
Democratic super PACs come into their own
Democratic super PACs, which earlier this year lagged far behind their Republican counterparts, passed a milestone in August: they took more in contributions into their coffers than GOP super PACs: $28 million versus $22 million. Filings covering September are due this Saturday.
It may be more of a photo-finish than it first appears: a portion of the Democratic groups' take involve PAC-to-PAC transfers, which are difficult to extricate from the totals due to way reports are filed with the Federal Election Commission. But quarterly filings that landed Monday leave little doubt that the Democratic super PACs, including Priorities USA and ...
Continue readingWho let the dog out? Frosh Republican Allen West’s tweet sics would-be pooch adoptees on the Marines
A tweet from Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., calling for volunteers to adopt IED-sniffing dogs has contributed to a situation that Marines might describe as a 'snafu.'
On West's Facebook page, a post stated that the Marine Corps has 400 decommissioned dogs in need of 'forever homes.' West (or a staffer) promoted the page on Twitter and deleted it two hours later. The deletion was captured by Sunlight Foundation's Politwoops, a site that records and posts deleted tweets from politicians. The Facebook post has since been removed.
Information about the dogs was based on a military listserv email sent ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 10/16/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP: Government
- Tangherlini talks innovation: Dan Tangherlini, acting administrator of the GSA, outlined some avenues towards innovationthat his agency is pursuing. Speaking at a seminar at George Washington University, he highlighted telecommuting, mobile devices, social media use, and crowdsourcing. (Executive Government)
- Romney to lobbyists- You're hired? Lobbyists are hopeful that if Mitt Romney wins the presidency his administration will be more open to hiring them than President Obama, who signed an executive order keeping many lobbyists from moving to jobs in the White House. (Politico)
- Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes: Several staff changes on K Street came to light today. Notably, a former chief of staff to Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) headed through the revloving door. Chelsey Pendrod Hickman is joining the Grossman Group as a lobbyist. (National Journal) Continue reading
Stealthy effort fuels get out the vote effort–in Israel
An assertive bipartisan get-out-the-vote effort known as “IVoteIsrael” and aimed at Americans living in that country appears to have ties to conservative billionaire Ronald S. Lauder, a supporter of Republican causes and of the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
A project of Americans for Jerusalem, a charity registered under 501(c)4 of the U.S. tax code, IVoteIsrael is not required to release information about its donors. However, corporate filings in Delaware show that the group lists the same Manhattan address as that used by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation. Other intriguing connections:
- Allen Roth, the president of ...
Moderate millionaire floods far-flung House race
The super PAC of one of California’s richest political donors, who supports centrist Republicans, has dropped more money on an obscure House race than both candidates combined.
The committee, Spirit of Democracy America is largely funded by Charles T. Munger, Jr., the heir to Berkshire Hathaway’s billionaire vice chairman and the third third biggest donor in California politics in the past decade, according to a study by California Watch. The group has spent more than $545,000 on the race so far. Combined, candidates Paul Cook and Greg Imus reported spending $363,000 as of the most recent ...
Continue readingRapper donor, mystery million and other fun finds in pop-up PAC filings
(Updated 8:42 a.m. Oct. 16)
Grammy-winning rapper Prakazrel Michel, known as Pras, can now add 'political activism' to his long list of talents. Michel is the only reported donor to super PAC Black Men Vote. He ponied up $250,000.
It's just one of the interesting nuggets turned up by the Sunlight Reporting Group's examinations of filings by super PACs that made their first-ever unveilings of donors Monday, as reports from committees that file on a quarterly schedule were due at the Federal Election Commission. Sunlight has identified nearly two dozen committees that surfaced as independent ...
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