As the STOCK Act keeps marching through the Senate, on the heels of a State of the Union push from... View Article
Continue readingThe presidential super PACs: five takeaways
Note: the analysis below is based on initial data pulled from the FEC’s website. As more complete data become available,... View Article
Continue readingThe News Without Transparency: Federal Cash Flow to Nonexistent Districts
In 2009 the Washington Times reported that an investigation conducted by researchers at the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 2/1/2012
Here is Wednesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
- Barack Obama has relied heavily on bundlers to pull in huge donations for his reelection campaign. Notable new bundlers in the most recent FEC filings are a one-time chief of staff to former President Clinton and "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria. (Washington Times)
- New analysis shows that Stephen Colbert's focus on super PACs have had a real effect on his audience. Search traffic spikes whenever Colbert mentions the groups on his show. Meanwhile, his own super PAC raised over $1 million in 2011. (Washington Post)
- Some major Democratic super PACs and nonprofits reported raising over $19 million last year. This figure puts them far behind the top Republican groups. (iWatch News)
- Federal investigators found that the Air Force illegally retaliated against four whistleblowers who revealed misconduct at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel recommended disciplinary action against three officials accused of retaliation. (Politico)
- Data.gov has seen mixed results with its launch. Some agencies actively post new data sets in machine-readable formats on a regular basis. But, others have lagged behind in making their data accessible. (Government Executive)
- The British government is testing a new web platform. Gov.UK is open source, mobile friendly, and open for feedback. (O'Reilly Radar)
Super PAC filings show who big donors of 2011 were
The deadline for presidential super PACs like Restore Our Future and Winning Our Future--supporting, respectively, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich--and other committees to file their disclosures with the Federal Election Commission fell at 11:59 p.m. Sunlight's Reporting Group combed through the filings, looking to see who's writing six- and seven-figure checks to the super PACs that are trying to influence voters in the Republican primaries--and beyond. We're also providing a chart tracking super PACs playing in the presidential race where you can download .csv files of their latest FEC filings. If you do, be sure ...
Continue readingHouse Legislative Data and Transparency Conference #LDTC
Tomorrow is a big day for transparency, with the House of Representatives convening a full-day conference on public access to... View Article
Continue readingNot so super PACs
For every high-spending, politically-connected PAC, there are even more PACs that fail to accomplish much of anything. As of January 30, some 300 organizations have written letters to the FEC with their intention of raising unlimited money as a super PAC.
Any citizen, union or company (assuming the company is U.S. or has a U.S. subsidiary) may start a PAC -- or 60 PACs, in the case of serial super PAC creator, Josue Larose.
While some PACs have causes without money, other PACs have money but no cause: The candidate they set out to assist, has dropped out of ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/31/2012
Here is Tuesday's take on transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
- CREDO Mobile, which donates some of its revenue to progressive causes and supports efforts to repeal Citizens United, launched a super PAC to target 10 Tea Party affiliated lawmakers. (National Journal)
- A study by the Wesleyan Media Project found that outside spending on political ads is up 1,600 % in the Republican primary over the same point in 2008. The surge is contributed, in large part, to the rise of super PACs. (Politico)
- Lobbying and communications firm Venn Squared Communications is holding a cocktail celebration for Sen. Al Franken's (D-Minn) new Chief of Staff. Franken's previous Chief of Staff left for a job with energy company Solazyme, a major client of Venn Squared. (Roll Call $)
- A former special assistant to the president and director of Cabinet communications, Tom Gavin, is leaving the White House to join the Information Technology Industry Council as their vice president for external affairs. (The Hill)
- The Senate voted 93-2 to move forward with debate on the STOCK act. The act is intended to prevent members of Congress from participating in insider trading. (Politico)
- The announcement that U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra have caused some to worry about the future of the open data movement within the federal government and others to argue that more emphasis should be placed on using data to make government services and operations cheaper and more efficient. (Government Technology)
- 15 members of Germany's Pirate Party, who won seats elections in Berlin last year, are receiving renewed attention following the shutdown of file sharing site Megaupload. The party consists of open-source advocates who hope to create a more transparent government and use online systems to enhance democracy. (Miller-McCune)
Progress Made in Increasing Transparency of U.S. Foreign Aid
This blog post was written in conjunction with Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey. The Brookings Institution hosted an event in conjunction... View Article
Continue readingSunlight on super PACs
It's a big day in politics: Voters in Florida are casting ballots in their hotly contested GOP presidential primary; voters in Oregon's 1st Congressional District are picking a replacement for ex-Rep. David Wu, a Democrat. Here in Washington, we'll be hovering over computer screens and hitting the refresh button in hopes of learning who is trying to influence those contests and beyond.
Tuesday is the deadline for committees active in the 2012 races for the White House, Senate and the U.S. House to file campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission showing receipts and expenditures ...
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