Immigration is in the headlines this week, with President Barack Obama and his Republican rival, Mitt Romney, aggressively courting the Hispanic vote in back-to-back addresses to a conference of Latino politicians and the Supreme Court expected to rule next week on a controversial Arizona law aimed at illegal immigrants.
Those developments reflect a volatile debate that permeates deep into the nation's political fabric.
Scout, Sunlight's new issue alert service that tracks legislation and issues across the Congressional Record, the Federal Register and all 50 state legislatures, shows that state lawmakers have introduced hundreds of bills relating to immigration ...
Continue readingRebuttal to McConnell’s War of Misinformation on DISCLOSE Act
A war is being waged against the DISCLOSE Act. Its Commander in Chief is Senator Mitch McConnell, his secret weapon is misinformation and his goal is to protect unlimited dark money contributions to the political process.
It’s time for a counter-attack. 
Last week, McConnell outlined his plan of attack in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute. Wrapping himself in a narrow and self-serving interpretation of the First Amendment, McConnell casts liberals as the enemies of free speech and he and his foot soldiers (the Chamber of Commerce) as the true protectors of our constitutional rights. But take apart his arguments and it is easy to spot his true intentions—not to protect the free speech rights of all citizens, but to protect the ability of wealthy donors to anonymously influence our democratic process.
The Sunlight Foundation refutes the worst inaccuracies being lobbed against reasonable efforts to disclose the dark money that is infiltrating our elections. This Orwellian tactic is timed to defang public support for the DISCLOSE Act, which the Senate is likely to consider in July.
Supremes hand setback to Obama super PAC bankroller
The Supreme Court on Thursday handed a setback -- and an ominous warning -- to a labor giant that has been one of the most generous bankrollers of the super PACs backing President Obama and other Democratic candidates.
At issue in the case: tactics that the Service Employees International Union, which has bankrolled a constellation of Democratic super PACs to the tune of more than $3 million, used to beef up its political warchest in California during 2005. SEIU imposed a special assessment on its members to fight a pair of ballot initiatives aimed at public service unions. The high court ruled ...
Continue readingDid mystery Romney donors also play in Texas?
A subsidiary of the Reynolds and Reynolds Company--which was apparently behind $1 million in contributions to the super PAC backing Mitt Romney through three shell companies last month--also gave at least $250,000 to super PACs earlier this election cycle through another subsidiary.
Yesterday we noted that three contributions for about a third of a million dollars each that originated from the same post office box in Dayton, Ohio on May 22 all seemed to be related to Reynolds and Reynolds. The company provides software and other services to car dealerships and related businesses. Chief Executive Officer Robert T ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 6/21/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP Lobbying Gifts to government employees now limited in Nevada city: In Henderson, Nev., a new lobbying ethics ordinance... View Article
Continue readingCampaign Finance Transparency is More than a Band-Aid
New York Times Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal just blogged about the Obama campaign’s recent letter to the FEC, calling... View Article
Continue readingCampaign contributions help companies get more federal contracts, study finds
In 2011, the U.S. federal government awarded $537 billion in private contracts. If U.S. federal contracts were their own national... View Article
Continue readingMusic giant Universal and EMI owner lavish contributions on Senate anti-trust panel
(Clarification: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the timing of Citigroup's donations)
At least half of the members of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, which Thursday will hold a hearing on Universal Music Group’s proposed merger with EMI music, have received contributions from the two music giants or from rival firm, Warner Music.
In the months leading up to and following last November's announcement of proposed merger -- which must win approval from both the U.S. government and the European Union -- the record companies and their corporate ownwers have made a stream of contributions ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 6/20/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP State/Local Campaign contributions subject of Maryland commission meetings: A Maryland meeting reached a consensus on (but took no... View Article
Continue readingWho’s behind $1 million in corporate donations to Romney-aligned super PAC?
Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, accepted three donations totaling $1 million from three different corporate entities at the same Dayton, Ohio post office box, according to campaign finance reports filed Wednesday. The checks--two for $333,333 and one for $333,334--were all dated May 22.
The checks came from "Waterbury Properties, LLC", "Fairbanks Properties LLC" and "CRC Information Systems, Inc." all with a return address of P.O. Box 2608, Dayton, Ohio 45401. CRC Information Systems was bought by The Reynolds and Reynolds Company in 2008--which has listed the same P.O. Box as a return ...
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