If there were any question of the clout big media wields in Washington, the fate of Derek Khanna, the House Republican staffer who called for scaling back the copyright protections these interests benefit from, should leave no doubt. Khanna, whose copyright paper was mistakenly published online by a House Republican policy making body, then quickly withdrawn after protests erupted from major media firms and their congressional allies, was fired earlier this month.
That's not the only potential win for the intellectual property protection lobby this month--the House Judiciary Committee today is taking time in the lame duck session to ...
Continue readingPro-gun groups’ influence on Connecticut politics
Since 1996, the National Rifle Association has invested about $395,000 to influence elections in Connecticut, the state that is home to the nation's latest mass shooting tragedy. Data downloaded from Sunlight's Influence Explorer show that the nation's premier gun rights lobby has given both to federal and state candidates.
Though the NRA has not had good success in Connecticut's congressional contests, at least 15 sitting members of the state legislature received contributions from the NRA. During the most recent session of the Connecticut state legislature, some 40 pieces of legislation were introduced involving firearms, according ...
Continue readingSens. Ayotte, Menendez continue raising money for their defense funds
While candidates and their supporters wooed donors to bankroll their campaign committees in this year’s elections, two senators continued to maintain legal defense funds that attracted thousands of dollars from deep-pocketed supporters and their parties' leadership.
Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Robert Menendez, D-N.J., both filed third quarter reports with the Ethics Committee listing donations to funds set up to provide financial support from lawsuits against political opponents. Ayotte has raised $147,000, and Menendez $120,000 since setting up the legal defense fund.
Documents obtained from ...
Watch dog groups call for Congress, President to fill ethics posts
Government watchdog organizations went to Capitol Hill yesterday to remind the White House and congressional leadership--currently deadlocked in negotiations over avoiding the flscal cliff--that there's a void in some of the critical institutions that police ethics in Washington. 
Representatives from 10 government-accountabilty groups gathered to make sure that House Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi maintain the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) by appointing new board members. They also emphasized that the president needs to take the lead in campaign finance reform by appointing new Federal Election Commission (FEC) commissioners.
Full disclosure: Though it did not participate ...
Continue readingA look at online ads in the 2012 election
Super PACs, trade associations and other nonprofit groups that made campaign expenditures spent roughly $46.1 million on web ads. Though the Obama campaign considerably outspent Romney's campaign on web advertising, outside Republican outside spenders ponied up nearly five times more on online advertising than liberal outside groups, according to independent expenditure filings with the FEC.
Continue readingWealthy two dozen: 24 super PACs that got the most last-minute money
Twenty-four super PACs collected more than $1 million in contributions during the final weeks before the election, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.
Continue readingAdelsons’ $10 million checks revealed among last-minute campaign donations
Eye-popping checks from the Adelsons were among the more startling findings as campaign committees revealed their last-minute election donors.
Continue readingWho benefited most from dark money in the 2012 election?
Eighteen incoming members of Congress each got more than $1 million in dark money donations during their recent campaigns, but many more have reason to resent the stealthiest of campaign contributions, a Sunlight Foundation analysis has found.
Dark money represents campaign contributions whose sources never have to be publicly reported. That's because the money is funneled through non-profit entities organized under a section of the tax code that protects them from having to name their donors. These kind of groups -- such as the pro-GOP Crossroads GPS and the pro-Democrat League of Conservation Voters -- have increased their electoral role in the wake of a series of court rulings that opened the door for unlimited corporate and union spending on campaigns. Nonprofit groups made more than $300 million of such donations during the course of the 2012 election cycle, the vast majority to influence the fall races.
Continue readingTech companies flex influence abroad at UN Internet conference
Does management of the Internet need an upgrade? That's the question before representatives of governments, corporations and civil society groups at a two-week conference that opened today in the Persian Gulf city of Dubai.
Continue readingFollow the money from big Dem donors to super PACs to races
Big money won big on Election Day. That is, big money supporting Democrats.
In this year's campaign, many wealthy individuals and groups with large campaign coffers were involved -- directly with contributions to candidates or indirectly through outside spending. Sunlight decided to zero in on five mega-donors who gave the most to super PACs backing liberal candidates. They comprise two millionaires, two unions and a political action committee with strong ties to labor:
- Media executive Fred Eychaner, who gave $12 million;
- Retired hedge fund manager James Simons, $7.5 million;
- The National Education Association (NEA), $8.5 million;
- The United ...
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