It has the potential to be a primary that makes history.
The seat at stake, in New York's 13th Congressional District, has been a place where black politicians have flourished -- the place where Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. became the Empire State's first African American elected to Congress.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 6/25/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP: State/Local Campaign finance reform in Connecticut unlikely: An impasse between Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy and the state’s legislature... View Article
Continue readingMontana decision puts campaign finance reform in Congress’s court
With the Supreme Court's decision Monday not to revisit Citizens United, the high court appears to be a dead end for those seeking to address the problem of dark money in elections. Now, key congressmen and reformers say, Congress must act. But the prospects for lawmakers doing so appear slim.
In response to the decision, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., urged Congress to swiftly enact the DISCLOSE Act, a bill he's sponsoring to require organizations making election ads to disclose their underwriters. Whitehouse, seen at left with now Justice Elena Kagan when she was making courtesy calls before ...
Continue readingBest practices for state and local bloggers
With contribution from Amy Ngai Earlier this month, a few of us from the Sunlight Foundation attended two of the major online political organizing conventions: Netroots Nation 2012 and Right Online. Both events highlighted the challenges faced by local and state bloggers, and gave recommendations for bloggers on how to reach a broader audience. We always encourage local bloggers and writers to share their experience in promoting government transparency in their local communities by writing guest blogs. You can read our past guest blog posts here. Blogs prove time and time again to be one of the quickest inexpensive ways of getting the word out – in real time. And if used right, they can be an important platform to call for accountability and transparency from our respective governments.
Continue reading$12 million in the dark
So far this year, groups that do not disclose their donors, and legally are not required to do so, have reported almost $12.4 million in political spending to the Federal Election Commission, much of it made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.
Some $8.4 million of this dark money has paid for independent expenditures--advertisements, phone banks, get out the vote operations and other spending aimed at electing or defeating a specific candidate. Non-profits organized under section 501(c) of the tax code spent the bulk of the money; under federal law, they are not required ...
Continue readingSupremes: Not backing down from Citizens United
The Supreme Court today summarily dismissed Montana's challenge to the Citizens United case, in a 5-4 vote that made it plain the justices who opened the door for massive corporate contributions are in no mood to revisit the issue, despite the fact that the transparency they predicted in their opinion has not materialized.
You can read the court's ruling and Justice Stephen Breyer's dissent here. Plain English translation: The court's majority threw out a Montana Supreme Court decision that upheld the state's long-standing prohibition against corporations donating to political campaigns.
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Continue readingSupreme Court Fails to Correct or Amend its Citizens United Decision
The Supreme Court had a chance to right a wrong. Unfortunately, by a five to four vote, it declined. Today the court announced its decision to overturn a Montana law prohibiting corporate contributions in elections. The decision comes as no surprise. The Montana law was in direct conflict with the Court’s decision Citizens United, which gave corporations the right to spend unlimited sums of money on political activities, as long as they don’t contribute to candidates directly. But the same activist court that enlarged the scope of the issues presented by Citizens United in order to fabricate a reason to overturn a century of law, today took the narrow approach. By summarily reversing the decision of the Supreme Court of Montana, the court ignored an opportunity to reconsider two important issues in Citizens United: First, that independent expenditures do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption, and second, that current disclosure laws would provide “citizens with the information needed” to “see whether elected officials are ‘in the pocket’ of so-called moneyed interests.”
Continue readingWielding a Cleaver on Names, Now Safer and More Accessible!
NameCleaver recently received a small version bump (to 0.3!) with a fairly big addition: safe mode. This was the most-requested feature amongst the other in-house users of NameCleaver, so I figured it might also merit a quick announcement.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 6/22/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP International Big ideas from Buenos Aires’ open government department: Buenos Aires’ young and enthusiastic open government and web... View Article
Continue readingRomney’s elite retreat: Who could be on the list?
All eyes this weekend are set on Mitt Romney’s weekend retreat in Utah, where his campaign has reportedly invited a group of donors with fat wallets to meet the candidate, some of his potential runningmates, and top GOP strategists. A number of media outlets have reported that the minimum price of admission is a $50,000 contribution to his campaign.
According to media sources, some 700 invitees are landing at Deer Valley Resort, which features 10 restaurants and an outdoor amphitheater. While it serves primarily as a ski resort in the winter months, summer activities include mountain biking, horseback ...
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