In the 10 years leading up to current economic crisis, the financial sector spent $5 billion on political influence, according... View Article
Continue readingGlobal Problems with Political Financing
The Center for Public Integrity’s PaperTrail blog highlights a new report on international government corruption that’s set to be released... View Article
Continue readingPresidential Library Reform bill…
...is one of the first bills introduced In the House. If passed, it would require quarterly reports on donors to presidential libraries.
Items like this and this demonstrate why this is useful.
Which reminds me -- how is the Clinton Foundation going to handle new donations? Will they periodically add to what they've already disclosed? And will the Bush Presidential Library Foundation release the names of any donors at all? Nope.
Continue readingUnraveling Rangel
It's been interesting to watch the stories that have described multiple ethics problems for Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and someone identified by The Hill as the top fundraiser for House Democrats. The Washington Post seems to have kicked things off with a story on July 14 saying that Rangel used official House stationary to solicit big donations for his Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York. There followed a series of revelations that he wasn't properly declaring income on a vacation property ...
Continue readingAuto Bailout and UAW PAC Contributions
A couple of analyses highlight the contributions of the United Auto Workers PAC to proponents of the auto bailout. The... View Article
Continue readingAuto Bailout, Foreign Plants, and Senate Votes
The auto bailout vote split along both partisan and regional lines, which in turn exposed the regional rivalry of Southern-located... View Article
Continue readingAuto Industry Bailout: Money-Votes Analysis
Lawmakers supporting the auto bailout received more in campaign contributions on average from the auto industry and auto unions, according... View Article
Continue readingBig Three Ask for Money, Spend On Lobbying
Executives for the Big Three auto makers are in Washington again asking for money. (Did you know they drove to... View Article
Continue readingAnnals of Embarrassing Decisions
Rules for giving campaign cash to family members: First, don’t do it. It’s not against any rules, but it looks... View Article
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: Do Interests of Automakers and Members Diverge?
Reading the restructuring plan that General Motors put together makes me wonder whether, in a broad sense, there isn't an insuperable conflict of interest between members of Congress and the automakers. Consider just one aspect of the plan:
...the number of GM retailers is expected to decline to 4,700 by 2012. This will occur primarily in metropolitan and suburban areas where GM has too many dealers to serve the market. In the Plan, it is projected these dealers will be reduced by 35%, increasing annual throughput for the remaining outlets to a more competitive level with other high-volume ...Continue reading
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