For all of the Foreign Agents Registration Act’s strengths, it can be a bummer. But Sunlight has some recommendations that can change all that.
Continue readingExplore Ukrainian influence battles with foreign lobbying docs
The struggle in Ukraine has spilled into the halls of Washington. Search our FARA documents to see which government officials have contacted by the lobbyists on behalf of dissidents and pro-government groups.
Continue readingMake Lobbying for Foreign Interests More Transparent
Sunlight will be making a big push in the 112th Congress for improvements to lobbying disclosure. As part of that effort, we will also call for amendments to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the law that requires anyone who lobbies the U.S. government on behalf of a foreign interest to register and report his or her activities with the Justice Department. FARA requires fairly detailed information from lobbyists, including the names of the government employees or Members of Congress contacted and the dates of each contact. (This fundamental information is not required by the Lobbyist Disclosure Act and is a reporting loophole Sunlight aims to close.) Unfortunately, many details regarding the work of foreign agents is hidden from public view because it is buried in unsearchable PDF documents. Sunlight and ProPublica have teamed up to put some of the FARA data in electronic form, but full transparency demands that FARA forms be electronically filed and all data reported made publicly available in searchable, sortable, downloadable databases.
Continue readingFARA Reports Shine Light on Dubai Dealings
My colleague Anupama Naranswamy writes at the Real Time Investigations blog about the lobbying campaign waged by Dubai businesses in... View Article
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