In early August, Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a member of the newly created congressional super committee, held his annual charity golf tournament, welcoming nearly 600 golfers to spend the weekend in Santee, South Carolina.
Prior to the tournament, the charity’s website posted a list of golfers signed up for the tournament, which raises money for college scholarships for needy students. Among those golfers, we identified 34 lobbyists, many of who represent companies with a stake in the decisions of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, a 12-lawmaker body tasked with trimming at least $1.2 trillion from the ...
Continue readingSunlight Live to cover first “Supercommittee” hearing
After a quick summer recess, Congress returned this week with the newly formed “Supercommittee” scheduled to hold its first debt reduction meeting this Thursday at 10:30 a.m. EST. Unlike the debt negotiations held earlier this summer, the Supercommittee meetings will be conducted openly and we’ll be there to provide live fact checking, context and analysis so you can better understand the tanlged web of money and politics and how it relates to these meetings.
Although it is not yet known if the first hearing will be televised of livestreamed online, we will have reporters in the room ...
Continue readingCompanies pay to honor Clyburn, other Super Committee members, at charity events
Lobbyists can not only attempt to influence members of the deficit-cutting super committee by donating to their campaign, but they also have another tool: giving to good causes that honor them.
Companies, advocacy groups and their lobbyists have spent at least $715,000 to honor and cover meetings costs for the 12 members of the super committee during the first half of the year, according to lobbying disclosures filed this month with the Senate Office of Public Records. In some cases, these payments were made in honor of many members of Congress—not only those on the Super Committee.
The ...
Continue readingBudget and Deficit Transparency
Earlier this week, the Senate passed an amendment to the unemployment extenders bill that would require the Secretary of the... View Article
Continue readingMAPLight.org’s New Tool
Sunlight grantee MAPLight.org shows the impact of campaign contributions on legislative votes via technology. And by making these connections transparent... View Article
Continue reading
59063
