The nation's broadcasters are trying another method to stop the Federal Communications Commission from putting information about political ads online.
On Tuesday, the same day that the FCC put TV stations in the nation's top 50 markets on notice to begin posting the ad information by Aug. 2, the National Association of Broadcasters filed a petition asking that the order be delayed until the trade association can try to have it countermanded in federal court. That likely would push resolution of the dispute well past this fall's election.
In its petition to the FCC, the broadcasters' association ...
Continue readingRep. Blake Farenthold deletes tweets from Slovakia
Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, deleted tweets he sent over the weekend detailing various stops in Slovakia, and his office is refusing to say why he's there or whether he's on official travel or vacation.
Continue readingFeds order online posting of political ad info next month
Information about political TV ads must be posted online by Aug. 2 under an order published this morning in the Federal Register.
Sunlight Foundation learned of the order as soon as it was published early this morning from Scout, our new online alert service.
The order ratifies a May ruling by the Federal Communications Commission that requires TV stations affiliated with the four major broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox -- in the nation's 50 largest television markets to make the information available via the Internet. The National Association of Broadcasters is suing to block the order.
Today's ...
Continue readingCongressional ad campaigns poised for big fall blitz
While super PACs, seven-figure checks and the heated Republican presidential nomination fight that Mitt Romney eventually won dominated the news the first half of this election year, congressional campaigns quietly have been pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the political economy -- and the real avalanche of congressional campaign expenditures and campaign ads is yet to begin.
Outside spending groups like the Campaign for Primary Accountability and Freedomworks for America have gotten most of the spotlight for running ads attacking incumbents in primaries. But congressional candidates themselves have had far more to spend to get their message out. As of ...
Continue readingWhat’s in a name? A look at how ‘health reform’ became ‘Obamacare’
The political backdrop for Thursday's Supreme Court ruling on President Obama's health care law is vividly illustrated in the way rhetoric about the controversial measure has changed. The orange line indicates frequency of mentions for "Obamacare." The pink line is for "health reform."
In the graphic above, created by Capitol Words -- Sunlight's tool for tracking the language used on the floor of Congress -- you can see how the derogatory term "Obamacare," invented and mostly used by Republicans, as seen below. The red line indicates Republican mentions of the term, the blue, Democrats.
If winning a debate means ...
Continue readingOMB clears way for FCC to put political ads online
Pushing back against the nation's broadcasters, the White House Office of Management and Budget has approved a rule requiring television stations in the nation's top markets to put information about political ad buys online.
The Federal Communications Commission had already passed the rule but the OMB had to certify that it does not violate government rules that call for minimizing paperwork. That's exactly what the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) unsuccessfully argued that it does.
That could mean that commercial time purchased on local broadcast stations by candidates and as well as by outside groups trying to ...
Continue readingUtah sees $1.6 million in outside spending, including a corporation
Spending by outside interest groups helped force Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, into a primary, but the veteran lawmaker, comfortably ahead in Tuesday's race according to an election eve poll, is benefiting from some home state corporate love.
O. C. Tanner Co., a Utah company that specializes in employee appreciation and awards programs and that has donated Olympic rings for U.S. athletes since the Salt Lake games in 2000, has shown its appreciation for Hatch with a $5,700 in print advertisements supporting him. It's the sort of direct corporate support for a candidate that only became possible ...
Continue readingCharlie Rangel’s challenge: The end of an era?
It has the potential to be a primary that makes history.
The seat at stake, in New York's 13th Congressional District, has been a place where black politicians have flourished -- the place where Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. became the Empire State's first African American elected to Congress.
Continue readingMontana decision puts campaign finance reform in Congress’s court
With the Supreme Court's decision Monday not to revisit Citizens United, the high court appears to be a dead end for those seeking to address the problem of dark money in elections. Now, key congressmen and reformers say, Congress must act. But the prospects for lawmakers doing so appear slim.
In response to the decision, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., urged Congress to swiftly enact the DISCLOSE Act, a bill he's sponsoring to require organizations making election ads to disclose their underwriters. Whitehouse, seen at left with now Justice Elena Kagan when she was making courtesy calls before ...
Continue reading$12 million in the dark
So far this year, groups that do not disclose their donors, and legally are not required to do so, have reported almost $12.4 million in political spending to the Federal Election Commission, much of it made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision.
Some $8.4 million of this dark money has paid for independent expenditures--advertisements, phone banks, get out the vote operations and other spending aimed at electing or defeating a specific candidate. Non-profits organized under section 501(c) of the tax code spent the bulk of the money; under federal law, they are not required ...
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