As stated in the note from the Sunlight Foundation′s Board Chair, as of September 2020 the Sunlight Foundation is no longer active. This site is maintained as a static archive only.

Sunlight Foundation

Follow Us

2Day in #OpenGov 10/28/2011

by

You made it to Friday! Celebrate with the week's last look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Campaign Finance

  • A new study on corporate political disclosure and accountability ranks S&P 100 companies on the way they disclose and manage their political spending. Lowest on the list are Disney, Amazon, and Berkshire Hathaway. IBM and Merck ranked near the top. (Politico)
  • Registered lobbyists have been donating to Republican presidential candidates, but not in large enough amounts to represent a significant percentage of any candidate's take. (National Journal)
  • The dwindling House Blue Dog caucus, full of moderate Democrats, is gearing up for a tough election cycle. They have jumped head first into fundraising, outpacing more liberal Democrats as well as their own hauls from 2010. (Politico)
  • Super PACs are siphoning money, talent, and purpose from the national party committees. The committees have long dominated the American election process, but are seeing their influence wane in the post Citizens United world. (Politico)
  • President Obama has spoken in opposition to the Citizens United decision, but he takes full advantage of its provisions when fundraising. In an interview with Politico Martin Frost, a former Democratic Congressman,  stated that he doesn't see this as hypocritical. (Politico)
Revolving Door
  • Senator John Kyl (R-AZ) often takes advantage of the revolving door when looking for top staff, according to Legistorm. The site is conducting a three week series on the revolving door ties of Super Committee members. (Legistorm)

Continue reading

Federal Reserve delays release of transcripts of major meetings

by

If you want to know who says what at next week's meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), which oversees market operations for the central bank, you will have to wait until the year 2016 to find out.

While the FOMC releases the minutes of these meetings three weeks after the fact, full transcripts are kept secret for five years. Right now the most recent transcript available is for December 13, 2005. And even these transcripts have been edited from the original.

As a result, the public still does not know the details of what ...

Continue reading

2Day in #OpenGov 10/25/2011

by

Here is Tuesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:

Super Committee 
  • GOP Governors have joined the list of groups lobbying the Super Committee. The Republican Governors Association has sent a letter urging the committee to cut spending by rewriting Medicare laws. (Politico)
Government
  • The Justice Department has proposed a rule that would allow Federal agencies to tell people making FOIA requests about certain law enforcement or national security related documents that no such records exist, even when they do. (ProPublica)
  • The House Ethics Committee may be ready to launch a full scale investigation into allegations that Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) pressured her staff to engage in banned political activities while on government time. The committee has been quietly looking into the claims since last year. Politico)
  • The Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is calling on the Defense Department to do a better job tracking domestic violence incidents involving military service members. They want DOD to institute a central database to track and target domestic violence in the armed services. (Government Executive)
  • A new report suggests that Federal agencies are struggling to compile substantive and useful mobile applications. (ExecutiveGov)
State and Local
  • The San Francisco Ethics Commission has approved a new set of campaign finance laws. The measure includes new disclosure requirements for 3rd party spending relating to a candidate, and an affirmation of a $500 individual contribution limit. (Lobby Comply)
  • The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices is working on new rules for using social media in campaigns. The current laws were crafted primarily for radio, TV, and print media. The rules are being revised in response to complaints about the use of email and social media. (Lobby Comply)
International
  • A new website allows Chileans to investigate possible conflicts of interest between their elected officials and business interests. The site includes data from financial disclosure reports. But, those have been found to be inconsistent. Data is also pulled from three other independent sources, to correct for inconsistencies in the disclosure reports. (techPresident)

Continue reading

CFC (Combined Federal Campaign) Today 59063

Charity Navigator