With Sen. Orrin Hatch appearing to pass a first crucial political test on Thursday night when his supporters swelled attendance at GOP caucus meetings in his state to record numbers, the inundation of outside money in the Utah Senate race may only pick up steam. Super PACs have played a bigger role in the multi-stage contest that will decide the 36-year Senate veteran's fate than any other 2012 congressional contest so far. And that's not even counting the money spent by a nonprofit group spending hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting Senator Hatch.
At least six outside interest ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 3/16/2012
Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Enjoy Sunshine Week’s last look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related... View Article
Continue readingCelebrate Sunshine Week: Shine some light on secret money in our elections
Sunshine Week presents the perfect opportunity each year to recognize the importance of transparency and open government. This year, with... View Article
Continue readingSunshine at Sundown
Last evening, over a hundred supporters of open government joined Sunlight Foundation, the National Press Club, ProPublica, United Republic, Reporters... View Article
Continue readingOn patent law, Mavs owner Mark Cuban knows the score
When two popular Internet utilities get in a high-priced legal fight and a famously outspoken NBA owner jumps in the middle, it's hard not to keep your eye on the roundball -- especially on the day March Madness gets underway.
After Yahoo sued Facebook for patent violations earlier this week, Dallas Mavericks boss Mark Cuban took aim at Yahoo and the nation's patent law with a satirical blog post that got picked up by the Huffington Post and is generating a lot of buzz on the web. The j'accuse by Cuban (full disclosure: he's a sometime Sunlight ...
Continue readingTools for Transparency: Pinterest Tips & Ideas
Piggy backing off the recent post I had written two weeks ago about Pinterest, I wanted to add a few... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 3/15/2012
Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post Here is Thursday’s look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills... View Article
Continue readingCrusading lawyer takes aim at contribution limits
The attorney who has been pushing the FEC to ease a host of campaign finance rules is at it again.
Dan Backer's latest target: the ceiling on how much money a person can give candidates for federal office in one election cycle, which currently stands at $46,200. In an advisory opinion request to the Federal Election Commission posted today, Backer, of DB Capitol Strategies, and two other attorneys argue the limit "has the effect of punishing the wealthy contributor" and is unconstitutional for many reasons, not the least of which is the Supreme Court's game-changing Citzens United ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 3/14/2012
Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here is Wednesday’s look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills... View Article
Continue readingThe News Without Transparency: The Impact of Disclosure on Public News & Knowledge
While journalistic skill and technique are essential for writing a good investigative article, we often take it for granted that... View Article
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