When Sunlight and our coalition partners were invited to meet with Associate Attorney General Tony West in April to discuss transparency initiatives, FARA reform was what Sunlight brought to the table. And, perhaps to some surprise, it has led to some tangible results.
Continue readingWhat foreign interests spent the most to influence the USA?
A look at what foreign interests spent the most last year to influence policy and public opinion in the USA.
Continue readingForeign lobbying regulation: A history
Originally enacted to put a damper on pro-Nazi propaganda, the Foreign Agents Registration Act has been sparingly -- and selectively -- enforced.
Continue readingHow we got the story: Using Foreign Influence Explorer for reporting
Sunlight staffers provide a step-by-step primer on how we used our new tracker to follow foreign influence.
Continue readingForeign dictionary: Translating FARA terms into plain English
Confused by some of the legalistic terms on the FARA forms? This cheat sheet will help.
Continue readingZimbabwe opposition figure hires D.C. lobbyists
Morgan Tsvangirai may have been cheated out of yet another election against Zimbabwe strongman Robert Mugabe in Wednesday's landmark election, but a key figure in his party is ramping up his presence in Washington.
Continue readingEgyptian military aid still flying high
The planned delivery of 20 Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter planes to Egypt is the perfect symbol of iron triangles at work--special interests and their lobbyists, federal agencies and the lawmakers who fund them.
But in the years since President Dwight Eisenhower delivered his warning about the inertia of defense contracts in 1961, the lobbying has only grown more sophisticated.
The U.S. government gives Egypt foreign aid, which it uses to buy U.S. military hardware. Lobbyists for the Egyptian government and Lockheed Martin (they both used the same firm) arranged meetings between the buyer and the seller, between representatives of Egypt's military and the Defense Department and key members of Congress who provided Egypt with the U.S. taxpayer dollars--some $213 million--to pay for the planes.
Continue readingICYMI: Sunlight’s report on Susan Rice’s financial stake in Keystone XL
The widely reported possibility of United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice’s nomination to become secretary of state now has a lot... View Article
Continue readingArab Spring Data
| Location | Lobbying and PR totals 2010 | Recent events | U.S. lobbying summary |
| Algeria | $205,000 | President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has remained in power since, 1999. In March, the government boosted wages of government employees to soothe protesters. Spring protests were dispersed by riot police. Small-scale protests against housing shortages and unemployment continue. | Algeria has hired Foley and Hoag since 2007. Lobbying efforts focused on reducing Morocco's influence in Western Sahara. |
| Bahrain | $63,000 | Bahrain began to crackdown on protests mid March. Protests left 30 dead, the state of emergency was lifted June 1. Negations were set up between the government ... |
Gaddafi’s long history of lobbying comes to an end
Libyan Dictator Moammar Gaddafi was killed today in his hometown of Sirte, a showman to the end, “brandishing a golden pistol.” Lobbying, in many ways, was part of his political arsenal that boosted Gaddafi’s international prowess, helped protect him from additional sanctions and promoted the business interests of the Libyan ruling elite and U.S. business. We’ve covered several of these instances in the past. Here’s a look at a few:
Paul Blumenthal reported, on the Monitor Group, an international firm that contracted with the Libyan dictator, which should have filled under the Foreign Agent Registrant Act ...
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