Don't look now, but someone in Washington has apparently decided that it's not fair for Sen. Ted Stevens and Sen. Robert Byrd to hog all pork-hiding, dislcosure-obstructing glory. Rebecca Carr reports that, no sooner were Stevens and Byrd outed for blocking the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act sponsored by Sen. Tom Coburn and Sen. Barack Obama, a new anonymous Senator has placed a hold on the bill.
Continue readingSpecial Interest Cancels Congressional Perk
Over the weekend, Mike Dorning of the Chicago Tribune reported on the means that one Washington special interest, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, used to influence members of Congress, but noted one very interesting fact. First, the means:
For years, the National Marine Manufacturers Association asked one of its member manufacturers to lend the group's Washington lobbying office the use of a new yacht for the warm-weather months. The purpose was "to help our government relations staff develop relationships with key policy makers," the group's political action committee wrote in a report to members. Continue reading
Site Feedback
Sunlight is still new and growing, and we're eager to get your feedback on how we could do a better job. Email info at sunlightfoundation.com, or use the comments section below to give us feedback on the site or on our projects.
Continue readingThe Stretch Begins
Remember this moment. We’ve just begun the final stretch to the fall campaigns and – at this point – the outcome looks good for the Democrats. The party line, even from the GOP, is that the Democrats have an excellent shot at retaking the House if they can manage not to blow it between now and Election Day. The Senate, while not likely to turn Democratic, will certainly turn more Democratic than it is now.
But as stretches go, this is a long one. Don’t think of it as the end of a horse race. It’s more like the 4th quarter in a game of football, or the end of a baseball game from the 7th inning on.
Continue readingVeco and a Bridge to Nowhere
I doubt it had much to do with the search of Alaska state lawmakers' offices, including Ben Stevens, the son of Sen. Ted Stevens, for information on the legislators' relationship to Alaska oil services firm Veco (whose executives are prolific campaign donors to Alaskan politicians), but it's worth noting that Veco figures in one of the two "Bridges to Nowhere" -- the Knik Arm Crossing, described here as "a proposed 13,500-ft span across Knik Arm from Anchorage to hundreds of square miles of unpopulated wetlands to the north."
Continue readingCatalog of Ted Stevens’ Actions That Have Benefitted Clients of Ben Stevens
From the miracle of Nexis comes this list compiled by Chuck Neubauer, Judy Pasternak and Richard T. Cooper of the Los Angeles Times in June 2003 of Sen. Ted Stevens official actions in the U.S. Senate that have benefited the clients of his son, state Sen. Ben Stevens. Regrettably, that article (part of a two-part series the Times did looking at congressional offspring who became lobbyists) is not available online; this is a small chunk of it.
The Stevens connection The special interest: Cook Inlet Region Inc., (CIRI), a Native Alaskan corporation created by federal legislation sponsored by Sen. Stevens Continue reading
Sunlight At Your Service
Last week Sunlight launched a free promotional service for bloggers -- and diarists on their sites -- who are writing about what's going on in Congress. Our goal is to help bring attention to bloggers and the wisdom of the crowds who are flocking to these sites, particularly those sites that have yet to be discovered by the MSM.
While we are doing our best to monitor the blogoshere, to really make this work, bloggers and their readers have to let us know what they are writing about. So if you are a blogger, or just an avid reader of one, and you know of posts about members of Congress -- information that brings to light news about a Member of Congress that his or her constituents should know -- send us the link! We're specifically interested in information about ties between lawmakers and lobbyists, questions about Members' relationships with fundraisers or special interests, and examples of lawmakers going to bat for local special interests that remain below the radar screen of the mainstream news media. No one knows their own Congressperson the way local bloggers do.
Continue readingFBI Investigating Top Alaska Donor
FBI agents in Alaska, armed with search warrants, descended without warning Thursday at the offices of several Alaskan lawmakers in what appears to be a major investigation involving VECO, the oil field service company that has long been one the most generous political contributors to Alaska politicians.
Among the offices searched were that of State Senate President Ben Stevens, the son of US Senator Ted Stevens, and an important political ally of VECO in the state legislature. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Stevens has closer connections to the company than simply receiving campaign contributions:
Continue readingAnother holding foul!
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) wasn't alone in placing a hold on the Coburn-Obama transparency bill. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who along with Stevens is a notorious earmarker, also had a hold on the bill. Byrd, however, has announced that he will lift his hold. TPM Muckraker has the scoop and the rest of this statement from Byrd's office:
Senator Byrd wanted time to read the legislation, understand its implications, and see whether the proposal could be improved. Now that there has been time to better understand the legislation, Senator Byrd has released his hold. Senator Byrd believes that the bill should be debated and opened for amendment, and not pushed through without discussion.
How Much To Build a Grants and Contracts Database?
Sunlight's been an active analyst on what turns out to be Sen. Ted Stevens' hold on the Coburn-Obama bill and how the lack of transparency of this peculiar Senate process is a huge disservice to our democracy, even though it has long been a hallmark of how the Senate does its business. It's time has come and now, thanks to citizens' response to the blogosphere's rallying calls to find out who was at the bottom of the hold, gone. (OK. That's too optimistic, but I bet that the next time a high profile piece of legislation is moving, a Senator will think twice about putting a secret "hold" on it.)
Continue reading
59063
