In a comment to this post pointing to some resources for getting acquainted with the Republican vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, I noted this Washington Post story on a lawsuit involving Robert Hunter Biden, the son of the Democratic vice presidential nominee, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, James Biden, the Senator's brother, and plaintiff Anthony Lotito, who is the former business partner of the two non-elected Bidens in a deal that didn't work out. Both sides charge one another with cheating; hence the lawsuit. It turns out the New York State Supreme Court (where the case ...
Continue readingWashington Post: Biden’s Son Lobbied Obama’s Staff for Earmarks
The Washington Post reports that Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for President, requested $3.4 million in congressional earmarks for clients of the lobbying firm that employs the son of running mate Joe Biden. Hunter Biden, who's a registered lobbyist (see here and here for his clients), apparently lobbied Obama's Senate office directly:
Campaign spokesman David Wade also said Hunter Biden never appealed directly to Obama."Hunter Biden met with the Obama Senate office, not with Senator Obama," Wade said.
Read the whole thing. An aside: Nice to see the Washington Post use information from both Taxpayers for ...
Continue readingIt’s…………Party Time!
Today, we are launching a new Web site, Party Time, a project to track parties thrown at the 2008 Democratic... View Article
Continue readingOil & Coal Throw Down Half a Billion
Public Campaign Action Fund just released a report on total influence spending by the big oil, coal, and electricity interests... View Article
Continue readingMark Warner biggest recipient of lobbyist dough, new disclosures show (so far)
Mark Warner, who's running for Virginia's open seat to the U.S. Senate and will serve as the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, has received more than $206,000 from lobbyists since the beginning of the year, a Real Time Investigations analysis of recently released disclosure records show.
That makes Warner the top recipient of money contributed directly by lobbyists to congressional campaigns in 2008. Overall, Warner, the former Virginia governor who is seeking the seat now held by retiring Republican Sen. John Warner, has raised $18 million since he announced his candidacy in ...
Continue readingWhat a little Sunlight can tell you…
Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported how targets of a Senate investigation have showered Washington with campaign contributions, in... View Article
Continue readingMark Warner top recipient of individual lobbyist contributions
While there’s much room for improvement, the 110th Congress has made a stab at providing a few rays of Sunlight... View Article
Continue readingAppetite for Disclosure
Not everyone has that kind of appetite apparently. Businesses and lobbying firms are still complaining about the disclosure of contributions... View Article
Continue readingUnofficial Schedules for Nominating Conventions List 370 Events for Pols, Insiders
Don’t be fooled by the talking heads and the pundits who ceaselessly tell us that nothing interesting happens at the... View Article
Continue readingHow confusing are earmark disclosures?
When Rep. Neil Abercrombie requested an earmark in the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill to fund "Saddle Road Phase 5," he listed (on page two of that mega file courtesy of Taxpayers for Common Sense), the "U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, located at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii" as the entity that was the recipient of the funds. Search the spread sheet Taxpayers compile for the list of earmarks in that bill, and only one Abercrombie request turns up: a $9 million earmark for "Access Road, Ph 1" in Pohakuloa TA.
The only thing that connects the two is the ...
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