A report issued yesterday by the Federal Election Commission shows what happens when congressional candidates actually face competitive elections, as they are this year: spending goes up. It’s up by 36% overall from two years ago, the report found – a significant two-year jump even in the world of political campaigning.
The FEC report is based on reports filed by the campaigns through October 18, the final reporting deadline for congressional candidates before Election Day.
Continue readingK Street Project Site Still Active
I haven't heard it mentioned much lately, but the online face of the K Street Project -- the Republican effort to make sure Washington's influence industry hired Republicans going through the revolving door -- is still active. Much as I find the project to be distasteful (although truth be told, I never thought that Republican heavies preventing Democrats from landing plum lobbying jobs rose to the level of a national crisis), I hope the Web site sticks around after the November elections. Where else can you find a compendium of job listings quite like this one?
Continue readingAre Questions on Fighting Corruption Gutter Politics?
Bizarrely, this morning's Washington Post, which carried a story on the front page noting that the ethics issues and scandals plaguing House Republicans may be enough to cost the GOP their majority, suggests, on the very next page, that Sen. Lincoln Chafee, by raising his opponent's record--or lack thereof--in prosecuting ethics charges in contentedly corrupt Rhode Island, is engaging in "gutter" politics.
Continue readingUnder Investigation Watch: Freezer Burn
Rep. William Jefferson’s, D-La., current race for reelection is being described as “like being in a fight with an octopus”. The nine-term incumbent is currently facing 12 opponents in what is his toughest race to date. Jefferson’s difficulties stem from a federal investigation that has already netted one guilty plea, $90,000 in cash in Jefferson’s freezer, and an unprecedented FBI raid on Jefferson’s congressional office. Absent these factors it is unlikely that most of Jefferson’s opponents would have challenged him.
Continue readingDo-it-Yourself Watchdogging
Why should investigative reporters have all the fun?
Sunlight today is unveiling a new website – Watchdogging 101. It’s a collection of more than 20 illustrated tutorials that give step-by-step instructions on where and how to dig out information on the web about money and influence in national politics.
It’s all presented in a Q&A format and the questions run the gamut from the most basic – Who’s my Congressman? – to more complicated issues like tracking industry giving and finding out who’s lobbying for whom.
Continue readingUnder Investigation Watch: Piling On Curt Weldon
Rep. Curt Weldon can’t seem to catch a break. First, he found out that he was under federal investigation after his lobbyist daughter and her client, Itera, had their offices raided by the FBI. Then, to much ridicule, he attempted to blame the entire FBI raid on a liberal conspiracy involving Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger, and Jamie Gorelick. Now the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Times have decided to pile on with stories that are textbook examples of what is wrong with Washington. They describe an Italian defense contractor fêting Weldon at a five-star hotel in Italy and a $2 million earmark to another defense contractor, Dynamic Defense Materials.
Continue readingCitizen Journalists Find Spouses of Incumbents Paid with Campaign Cash
Some 19 current members of the House of Representatives pay their spouses out of their campaign war chests, totaling more than $636,000 in the current election cycle, a study by citizen journalists working with the Sunlight Foundation has found. Phase one of the "Is Congress A Family Business?" investigation is now complete. Using an innovative tool developed by Sunlight Labs, about 40 volunteers investigated anywhere from one to as many as 155 members, uncovering those who, by hiring their spouses to work for their campaign, allow special interest cash to enter their family budgets. While the federal nepotism statute prohibits members of Congress from hiring spouses to work in their Washington or district offices, there is no law preventing members from hiring family members to work for their campaign committees, provided they render bona fide services to the campaign at fair market value.
Continue readingOpen Secrets is back – cross your fingers!
Well, all it takes it washing your car to make it rain. And it looks like all it took for OpenSecrets to get back on line was writing a blog to say it's off the air. Sort of.
At first it looked like Open Secrets was back online, but the only thing working was the home page. But by 11:40 am ET the website looked to be functioning normally. Congratulations to CRP on getting back in business. Let's hope their computer karma stays healthy between now and Election Day!
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No Open Secrets
Just a week before Election Day, the nation’s biggest archive of information on who’s paying the bills for the 2006 election is closed to the public. A computer glitch knocked the Center for Responsive Politics’ Open Secrets website off the air last Friday. It’s been offline ever since, and is still offline as I write this early Tuesday morning.
I’m not going to suggest that this is some election-eve conspiracy, but if it were it could hardly have come at a more critical time. This is the equivalent of Macy’s closing its doors for four days in the middle of the Christmas shopping season.
Continue readingWhat Calendars Reveal
Look at what you can find out, when a lawmaker publishes his schedule.
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