The Colorado Supreme Court rejected a referendum to stem the flow of money in politics by banning holders of large,... View Article
Continue readingSchumer and Van Hollen Embrace Transparency Measures to Combat Citizens United
The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC opened the door to a torrent of new political spending that,... View Article
Continue readingNew Batch of White House Visitor Logs Released
Last Friday, the White House released a new batch of visitor logs covering last October, fulfilling a pledge they made... View Article
Continue readingA New Regime Required For Disclosure
As most of you know I have a long history in the campaign finance field as a founder of two... View Article
Continue readingReal Time Disclosure, Technically Speaking
Last week's Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision was a game-changer in terms of corporate money in politics. In short, corporations will be allowed to freely spend unlimited amounts of money to support or oppose a candidate, just as long as there is no direct coordination with that candidate's campaign. Unprecedented amounts of corporate money will now flow into our political process. But here at Sunlight, we're focusing on the disclosure aspects of the decision. The majority opinion stated:
With the advent of the Internet, prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters.
While the decision doesn't mandate "prompt disclosure", it does strongly recommend it. So what does disclosure at Internet speed look like?
Continue readingJustice Thomas Says No to Disclosure, Blames Internet
Noted without response. From Justice Thomas’ dissent wherein he states that the court should eliminate all campaign finance disclosure requirements:... View Article
Continue readingHow the Citizens United Case Affects Money & Politics and Transparency As We Know it
The ramifications of today’s Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC are breathtaking – opening the floodgates of political... View Article
Continue readingWhy You Need to Download the Real Time Congress App for iPhone now
As a former Capitol Hill Communications Director, I can tell you that access to real-time information on what is happening... View Article
Continue readingSo, you want to know who is visiting the White House?
Last week, the White House released another set of visitor logs online and in a format that can be parsed... View Article
Continue readingSunlight’s Reading Recommendations
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to read more; so I asked a few fellow Sunlighters for books to... View Article
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