New campaign finance data — covering both the Congressional and Presidential races — is now available from the Center for... View Article
Continue readingWhere does the money go?
This year’s presidential election started in January 2007 and continues apace with the field of over a dozen in the... View Article
Continue readingBirnbaum: Bank of America lobbyists wrote parts of bank bail out bill
Jeffrey Birnbaum, writing in the Washington Post, reports lobbyists wrote key portions of the mortgage bailout bill:
Credit Suisse, a large investment bank heavily invested in mortgage-backed securities, proposed allowing hundreds of thousands of homeowners to refinance their mortgages with lower-cost government-insured loans, relieving financial institutions of the troubled debt.After the bank proposed this to Congress in January, it became known as the "Credit Suisse plan" among congressional staffers and lobbyists. It later formed the basis of housing provisions in both the House and Senate.
Bank of America, which is acquiring Countrywide Financial, the country's largest mortgage lender ...
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A little digging into FEC disclosures
A while back, Jim Geraghty of the Campaign Spot wrote a pair of interesting posts, the first noting that, during his 2000 campaign to unseat Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., Barack Obama took "on credit card debt to finance his effort," while the second raised additional questions but seemed to put the credit card issue to rest, by quoting a New York Times article that looked at the campaign committee's finances:
When Mr. Obama decided to run for Congress in 2000 against the former Black Panther Bobby Rush, he used a $9,500 personal loan to help finance the campaign ...Continue reading
CRP lists Countrywide’s big campaign cash recipients
The excellent post by Irene Kan, along with a list of all the members in the 110th Congress who've taken campaign cash from Countrywide's PAC, employees and their family members, is online here. Note that Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is number two on the list. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., is tied for 23d place, by my count.
Continue readingAPME, Member Papers Turn Reporters Loose on Earmarks
So what happens when reporters around the country investigate earmarks, digging into resources like the exhaustive compendium of fiscal year 2008 earmarks put out by Taxpayers for Common Sense and the wealth of influence data that the Center for Responsive Politics assembles on Open Secrets, and then ask members of Congress about what they've found? Well, they get incredibly revealing defenses of how earmarks work, like this one from Rep. Tim Holden that was reported by the Republican Herald of Pottsville, Pa:
“People you do business with contribute to your campaign,” Holden said in a phone interview Friday. “This was a constituent of mine who was having trouble doing business with the Pentagon, having trouble getting through the bureaucracy.”So are some members of Congress in business with their earmark recipients, exchanging help getting through the bureaucracies for campaign cash? That's what a remarkable project that the Associated Press Managing Editors, the Sunlight Foundation, scores of reporters at dozens of newspapers tried to find out. Continue reading
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More tidbits from trainings
American Express says that they'll start disclosing information on their donations to 501(c) groups (trade associations, political 501(c)4s and so on) that engage in political activity, provided that the groups disclose this info to Amex:
Beginning for payments made in calendar 2008, American Express will request information regarding political contributions from trade associations, entities organized under section 501(c) 4 of the Code, and other tax exempt organizations that engage in non-deductible lobbying and political expenditures under Code section 162(e). For any such organization that receives in excess of $50,000 during the calendar year ...Continue reading
Tidbits from trainings
Lately I've been doing a lot of traveling, training reporters on using some of the campaign finance resources that Sunlight supports, and doing a lot of research in the process. I've come across some interesting stuff along the way, including this General Dynamics statement on their political contributions:
General Dynamics participates in the U.S. political process when it is in the best interests of its shareholders, businesses and employees to do so. Participation in this process ensures that the company's interests as a leading member of the defense and aerospace industries, as well as a large ...Continue reading
Campaign Contributions Cum Sympathy
The Washington Post's Dana Milbank is brilliant today in discussing Alan Schwartz, the former CEO of Bear Stearns and the richest welfare recipient in the nation, and his appearance before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Milbank notes that the head of the investment firm that nearly dragged the entire economy down was questioned by sympathetic and apologetic lawmakers who just so happen to have received $20 million as a whole in campaign contributions from the Securities and Investment industry. Watch the video and read the story:
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