LD-203 forms--on which lobbyists disclose their contributions to lawmakers' campaigns, to presidential libraries, and to nonprofits honoring members of Congress, is available online. The disclosure that prompted the headline of this post is here. Lots of other interesting stuff, but there are a little less than 3,917 records in the entire database, which makes me think that the data isn't yet complete. There are also all the usual issues with inaccurate federal data -- here's a a $200,000 contribution to Sen. Barbara Boxer's leadership PAC. That's a bit more than the $5,000 FEC limit ...
Continue readingParty Time at the Conventions
Today’s edition of The New York Times profiles Steven Farber, a very successful lobbyist, who helped secure the Democratic National... View Article
Continue readingPimping the Powers Behind the Thrones
In today’s edition, Roll Call profiles how members of Congress increasingly pimping their top aides as a way to raise... View Article
Continue readingIn Broad Daylight: Waiting for the 111th Congress
Despite a string of revelations revealing innappropriate home loans, rent prices, and rental arrangements maintained by lawmakers, Congress refuses to... View Article
Continue readingLeveraged Lobbying
Zephyr Teachout (former Sunlight colleague and continuing great ally) had an interesting post at techPresident last Friday: airlines have started... View Article
Continue readingFrom Idea to Production in Six Hours
We recently decided to launch a petition-like site that uses Twitter as the organizing method; using one of the very technologies that are impacted by Congressional Web use restrictions. We knew this had to be timely to have an impact, so the decision was made to have the Web site completed by the end of the day. That gave Kerry Mitchell, our fearless Creative Director, and I about six hours to get the site completed.
Continue readingTweet On Dear Friends Tweet On
Wednesday night, we launched Let Our Congress Tweet so citizens could voice their demand that Congress should be allowed to... View Article
Continue readingWeb Use Update
(For everyone looking for an update or an explanation about Congress examining its web use restrictions, I just sent the... View Article
Continue readingHoles in disclosure
The New York Times reports on the cushy arrangement Rep. Charles Rangel has with his landlord, the Olnick Organization. Last... View Article
Continue readingSpeaker Pelosi on Franking
Speaker Pelosi has now weighed in the Franking reform discussion, further clarifying the intent behind the member web use reform... View Article
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