ComputerWorld interviewed James Allen, the IT manager at the Federal Election Commission (FEC), a month ago and reposted it yesterday.... View Article
Continue readingBailout Lobbying, Grassroots, and PACs
If ever there was a doubt that campaign contributions effect the votes of lawmakers, look no further than today’s Op-Ed... View Article
Continue readingIn Broad Daylight: FBI Peeks Into VIP
An investigation begins into the Friends of Angelo. Stevens’ conviction prompts reform group push. Some people don’t like transparency. That... View Article
Continue readingD.C., VA Top Campaign Contributors
Update: Please see Ellen’s comment in the comment thread for a clarification of these numbers. MAPLight.org’s excellent study on in-state... View Article
Continue readingSen. Ensign’s Enemy List
Today, NARAL Pro-Choice Oregon filed an ethics complaint against Sen. Gordon Smith for using Senate property to make a political... View Article
Continue readingMemo to Senator Reid: Take Ensign Up on His Offer on S. 223
Knowing we had a great opportunity to corner Sen. Ensign, who’s blocking a bill requiring electronic reporting for senators’ campaign... View Article
Continue readingIn Broad Daylight: The Banks Bought Congress
Budgeting political risk helped Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and financial services companies avoid the kind of scrutiny they needed from... View Article
Continue readingNorth Carolina Businessman Pays for Campaign Ads
In late July this year, two North Carolina state legislators and a pharmaceutical industry executive set up a political non-profit to run ads focusing on the present financial crisis ahead of the November election. The nonprofit has spent more than $600,000 to produce the ads, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Real Time has been following various ads using our new "Follow the 527s" widget, available on the right side of the site.
The nonprofit, RightChange.com, Inc., was set up by a pair Republican lawmakers, state Sen. Fletcher Hartsell ...
Continue readingWho’s Paying for Election Ads? Follow the 527 Widget…
The 30-second ad is typical fare for a campaign: the taxing and spending of a candidate, in this case former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., is pilloried. Her Republican opponent, Sen. John Sununu, facing a tough race, did not pay for the ad out of his own campaign funds. Instead, FEC filings show, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ponied up the $750,000 to attack Shaheen.
Political nonprofits are playing a bigger role than ever in election 2008, and Real Time (with assistance from Sunlight Labs) is making it easy to find the latest information on ads run by ...
Continue readingFannie Mae handbook: Illegal actions in a gray area?
This is largely gratuitous, but while tooling around Fannie Mae's Web site, I came across their Employee Code of Conduct, revised in 2007. The opening includes this passage:
But in many situations the right course of action is not always obvious. So here are some questions that we can ask ourselves to help us navigate the shades of gray:
The first shade of gray?
Is the action legal?
In fairness, the preceding sentence tells employees, "Perhaps most importantly, our Code not only requires us to comply with the law, but it challenges us to promote ethical conduct in all ...
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