Bain Capital, the private equity firm that Mitt Romney has touted as the source of his business acumen and one of his opponents for the Republican nomination has labeled "vultures" is the largest source of political money for the former Massachusetts governor over the course of his career.
Current and former executives and family members of Bain Capital have contributed more than $2.7 million to Romney's federal and state campaigns, federal and state leadership PACs, the Restore Our Future super PAC that supports Romney, and his gubernatorial inauguration fundraising committee.
Sunlight analyzed federal campaign finance data from the ...
Continue readingSunlight Weekly Roundup: Bernie Sanders calls Citizens United “a complete undermining of democracy”
In our continued effort to highlight the anniversary of January 2010’s Citizens United decision, all of this month’s weekly roundups... View Article
Continue readingHouse Launches Transparency Portal
Making good on part of the House of Representative’s commitment to increase congressional transparency, today the House Clerk’s office launched... View Article
Continue readingData lacking on private student loans
With student debt rising to a projected $1 trillion and concerns rising in the Occupy Wall Street movement and beyond about the bursting of the student loan bubble, the new federal consumer protection agency has set a Tuesday deadline for the public to send in data and stories about the rapidly expanding private student loan market—loans students are getting from banks and, increasingly, by for-profit universities such as Corinthian Colleges and DeVry University.
“The private student loan market is one of the least understood credit markets,” wrote Rick Hackett, a staffer for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in ...
Continue readingSuper PAC profile: Citizens for a Working America flies under the radar
Citizens for Working America is not the biggest or the most influential of the super PACs, but it may provide one of the clearest illustrations of how hard it is to track the shadowy organizations that have sprung up to influence elections in the wake of the Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United decision.
The group first surfaced in 2010, when it became one of the big spenders in a successful GOP campaign to unseat House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt from a seat that the South Carolina Democrat occupied for 28 years.
In July, when the PAC, filed its ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/13/2012
Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here is a look at this week’s transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings,... View Article
Continue readingPublic Online Information Act Inspires Transparency Advocacy in California
Transparency advocates in California are drawing inspiration from the Public Online Information Act (POIA) to pursue disclosure improvements in California. POIA... View Article
Continue readingTools for Transparency: Fluid for Mac
Fluid is a compelling Mac-based application that allows you to turn almost any website into its own ‘app.’ What does... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/12/2012
Here is a Thursday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
- WhatDoTheyKnow.com, a site dedicated to making it easier for people in the UK to make and track Freedom of Information requests, has been used to send 100,000 requests since February 2008. (MySociety)
- Weak whistleblower protection laws and pervasive threats of retribution keep many Latin Americans from reporting corruption. The recent Central American and Dominican Republic Forum for Transparency outlined reforms that could help the situation. (Transparency International)
- Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) plans to introduce legislation to serve as an alternative to SOPA when the house comes back into session next week. The legislation will be a companion to a bill introduced in the Senate by Ron Wyden (D-OR). (National Journal)
- The Research Works Act, introduced in the House of Representatives, could limit public access to taxpayer-funded research and provide a set-back to open access to information. (Tech President)
- Super PACs and the candidates they support are not allowed to explicitly coordinate their activities. But, that doesn't stop them from watching, and parroting, each other's ads. (Washington Post)
- According to a new study, four times more employees at major companies claim to have witnessed illegal contributions to public officials this year than in 2009. (Roll Call $)
- Editorial: Congress should amend its ethics rules to require a "fundraising quiet period" during non election years. (Politico)
As campaigns head south, super PACs dominate the airwaves
As the Republican presidential race turns south, the key players to watch appear to be not the candidates emerging from Tuesday's New Hampshire primary but the super PACs who are supporting or opposing them.
In South Carolina, where the next votes will be cast in a Jan. 21 primary, local political observers and television executives tell Sunlight that the new political entities—most of which have yet to disclose any sources of their funding—are dominating the airwaves, far outspending the candidates. In Florida, which holds its primary on Jan. 31, a super PAC backing New Hampshire winner Mitt ...
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