The Sunlight Foundation is at the Democratic convention, literally and virtually, and you can join us online Wednesday and Thursday nights.
Our colleagues in Charlotte, Liz Bartolomeo and Keenan Steiner, are following the (oops - did we see corporate? And super PAC? yes we did!) money at all the parties. They can't possibly make all 400+ that we've got in our Party Time database. But they are doing their best. See something we don't know about? Let us know!
And we are exposing the Democrats to Sunlight at night via Sunlight Live. This platform enables our team to ...
Continue readingWho ‘nose’ why Obama deleted this tweet?
For some reason President Obama's campaign deleted two tweets quickly after posting them Tuesday, but the reasons remain shrouded in mystery. When Sunlight called the campaign to ask about the deletions, an aide said that no one could talk about them over the phone. Hmm? Is there something we're missing here?
We had to email our questions to the press office. At press time, we were still awaiting illumination. Now that we have received it, you, dear readers, are among the first to know:
UPDATE, 8:30 p.m.: At 6:30 p.m. we got an email ...
Continue reading39% of Office of Legal Counsel Opinions Kept from the Public
by Daniel Schuman and Adeeb Sahar The Department of Justice is withholding from online publication 39% (or 201) of its... View Article
Continue readingInfluence profile: Paul Ryan
Rep. Paul Ryan, whom Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney reportedly will name as his running mate Saturday, is a prolific fundraiser whose most ardent backers are a curious mix of the conservative elite and the blue collar plebian.
Since winning election to the House in 1998, the Wisconsin Republican has attracted more than $11 million in donations, Sunlight's Influence Explorer shows. Among Ryan's most generous backers: the beer wholesalers, Koch industries -- headed by conservative bankrollers David and Charles Koch -- and the Carpenter and Joiners union. Over the years, Ryan also has received steady support from the Laborers union ...
Continue readingPutting Romney’s tax returns in presidential context
The controversy over what’s hiding in Mitt Romney’s unreleased tax returns continues. But even without the missing filings, putting his 2010 and 2011 tax numbers in context is strikingly informative. It dramatically shows what an outlier Romney is on a few basic tax and income dimensions.
Continue readingMcCain campaigns for Romney, transparency or not
Political irony: That's probably the best definition for what happened Monday when when Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., probably the only GOP lawmaker to express interest in the Disclose Act, rallied Michigan on behalf of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who has turned his back on requests to be more open with his campaign finance. 
McCain is the father of modern campaign finance reform. He was the coauthor of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, popularly known as the McCain-Feingold Act. And he hasn't been shy about criticizing this year's conduits for big money, even if it ...
Continue readingRomney surging, but Obama well ahead in campaign cash
For Mitt Romney, the magic number is $158 million. That's how much he'll have to outraise President Barack Obama over the last four months of the campaign to surpass the president, the record holder for campaign fundraising.
Obama's advantage has been lost in media reports highighting the Republican nominee's $106 million June haul. Even Obama's campaign, including the president himself, has downplayed its financial advantage when it warns of being outspent by Romney and the Republican National Committee. For that to happen, Romney would have to best Obama by $39.5 million a month for ...
Continue readingCould the United Nations squelch freedom on the Internet?
Activists expressed concern this week that several United Nations proposals to regulate the Internet would undermine freedom and give too much control over the World Wide Web.
Proposals to centralize Internet regulation will be discussed at the two upcoming U.N. winter conferences -- the Internet Governance Forum in November and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meeting in December.
But panelists at “Clear and Present Danger: Attempts to Change Internet Governance and Implications for Press Freedom,” a National Endowment for Democracy forum in Washington argued for maintaining a more decentralized Internet.
“We see the potential to shift Internet governance away from ...
Continue readingAnnouncing Politwoops: Deleted Tweets from U.S. Politicians
Today we're proud to unveil Politwoops, the only comprehensive collection of deleted tweets by U.S. politicians.
Continue readingCalifornia dreaming: Obama bags big political donations in Silicon Valley, Hollywood
For President Obama, there's gold in the Golden State. According to the California News Service, he's making his 15th trip to the state as president, trips that have included 35 fundraisers. Many of those have oscillated between two important fundraising constituences for the president -- Hollywood and Silicon Valley. With Obama's three fundraisers today and tomorrow, this time it's NorCal's tech community that is getting the chance to shower multi-thousand dollar checks to the president.
There are conflicting signs about which community can be a bigger fundraising draw for the president and his allies. The vast ...
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