Last Friday, Taxpayers for Common Sense updates us on where the House is on the Appropriations process (a few weeks back the process could best be described as "nyah nyah nyah," and "I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you,", to use the parliamentary terms favored by most members of Congress).
In that update, they posted a link to their downloadable database of earmarks from the House version of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, they've also put the request letters online.
(This is what happens when you ...
Continue reading$1,000 to the Jerry Lewis Portrait Committee
LD-203 forms--on which lobbyists disclose their contributions to lawmakers' campaigns, to presidential libraries, and to nonprofits honoring members of Congress, is available online. The disclosure that prompted the headline of this post is here. Lots of other interesting stuff, but there are a little less than 3,917 records in the entire database, which makes me think that the data isn't yet complete. There are also all the usual issues with inaccurate federal data -- here's a a $200,000 contribution to Sen. Barbara Boxer's leadership PAC. That's a bit more than the $5,000 FEC limit ...
Continue readingA 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 readingSubprime 6, 60…well, at least 13…
Glenn Reynolds notes that the Politico reports that Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, called for a wider investigation than the one ongoing into the burgeoning Countrywide preferential loan scandal. Politico notes that, "no other Republican leader jumped on Hensarling's bandwagon Monday, and aides said they were reluctant to push forward with a probe because they didn't know what it might reveal," prompting Reynolds to write, "That's because it'll probably turn out to be more like the subprime sixty" (as opposed to the six figures currently implicated).
Sadly, personal financial disclosure forms do not require members to disclose ...
Continue readingMore 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
Bonner earmark #13
Rep. Jo Bonner joined Sen. Richard Shelby in securing a $9,089,000 earmark for the University of Alabama "for construction, renovation, and equipment" in the Labor, HHS and Education appropriations bill, according to our good friends at Taxpayers for Common Sense. The earmark originated with Sen. Shelby--employees and family members of the University of Alabama collectively are his 11th most generous career patron, having contributed $$62,769 to his campaign committee. In the course of his House career, Bonner has taken in roughly a third of that -- $21,150 -- from University of Alabama employees, making them the 19th most ...
Continue readingBonner earmark #s 11 & 12
The next two earmarks are went to the same recipient. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., secured a $352,500 earmark for Team Focus, a Mobile, Ala.-based nonprofit which aims to "provide young men that do have a father figure in their life, ages 10 18 with leadership skills, guidance, Godly values, and a continual relationship with a mentor," according to its Web site. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., joined Bonner in sponsoring the earmark in the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill. Team Focus got another earmark in the same bill for $517,000--this one sponsored by Sens. Shelby and Jeff ...
Continue readingBonner earmark #10
Rep. Jo Bonner and Sen. Richard Shelby joined President George W. Bush in requesting an earmark for the Mobile Tensaw Delta; the final value of the earmark, in the Interior, Environment, and related agencies appropriations bill, was $1,969,000.
It doesn't appear that the State of Alabama or the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources lobbied for the earmark.
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