If there is a “reluctance of corporations to spend on politics,” somebody forgot to tell the corporations. As far as I can tell, corporations are still spending ridiculous sums here in Washington. This surprising assertion comes from the New York Times’ Eduardo Porter, who wrote an article in today’s paper trying to puzzle through what would be a provocative question if the premise were true: “How did corporate America lose control of the Republican Party?” Porter’s thesis seems to be that corporations should have spent more money to shape the make-up of the Republican Party in Congress. If they had, they’d be better poised to get some action on immigration reform and infrastructure improvement. “Corporations’ reluctance to open their checkbooks,” Porter writes, “suggests an intriguing alternative explanation for the rise of Republicans who are willing to defy their will.” Let’s set a few things straight.
Continue readingAccess denied: Koch funded group bars Sunlight in Tampa
It was billed as a free Republican National Convention event that nonprofit group Americans for Prosperity was holding to honor two of its big funders, conservative billionaire David Koch and North Carolina businessman and political donor Art Pope. But when Sunlight tried to join the party on Thursday afternoon, the door was closed to us.
Continue readingProtesters evicted at Republican convention event
“What have I done to be kicked off the property?” retired teacher Karen Saal asked a security guard outside the Crowne Plaza Tampa Westshore Hotel. The guard's answer: the hotel manager specifically asked that she go. And she wasn't alone. Officials were also ushering peace activists off the hotel property after they interrupted a gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) honoring pro-Israel members of Congress during the Republican National Convention.
Saal, from Oregon, is against the "militarism" of Israel and the United States but said she was not protesting. She said she was just in the parking ...
Continue readingThe three-tiered pyramid convention
(CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect a the correct time for today's YG Network event)
TAMPA -- The GOP convention is now in its third day, and you can divide the extravaganza three ways: The structure of this year's convention is a tripartite social pyramid.
At the tippy-top: The millionaire donors who are holding private meetings with top Republican officials and advisors to GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney advisors. It's a rarefied world into which the Huffington Post’s Peter Stone provided a small glimpse, along with a few other enterprising journalists.
The second level of ...
Continue readingTaxpayers paying for convention observers
TAMPA -- Not everyone can afford to go to Tampa—but taxpayers are footing the bill for some executive branch officials: the members of the Federal Election Commission.
Commissioners Donald McGahn and Matthew Petersen arrived at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Tuesday, dressed down compared to their usual formal attire at FEC public meetings.
The shaggy-haired McGahn, in jeans and a polo shirt, and Petersen, sporting a neater cut and wearing khakis with a button-down shirt, hung out Tuesday afternoon at the hotel with convention passes around their necks.
Both will head to the Tampa Bay Times Forum this evening to ...
Continue readingDid AT&T rent out sprawling eatery to influence lawmakers all week?
TAMPA -- When Tampa Bay Online reported a few weeks back that a lobbyist rented out a sprawling, upscale restaurant for the whole week of the Republican National Convention, they provided a host of details about the restaurant, the big tabs that the GOP high rollers would run up there from early breakfasts to late hour sessions, even the fact that the lobbyist had run the same kind of insiders dining club at the last three Republican conventions. But they were unable to find out the lobbyist's name, or who he worked for.
That mystery has yet to be solved ...
Continue readingSuper PAC profile: Revolution PAC launches NH ad campaign touting Ron Paul’s ‘compassion’ toward interracial couple
A super PAC supporting Ron Paul's bid for the presidency plans to begin airing a television commercial in New Hampshire this weekend that describes how the GOP presidential candidate helped an interracial couple in Texas, where Paul worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist.
Gary Franchi, treasurer of Revolution PAC, said the group has invested $100,000 to put the commercial on major TV networks in the Granite State in advance of Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary. Franchi said the video was not produced in response to the controversy that has arisen around a newsletter published under his name in the late 1980s ...
Continue readingSunlight Live to cover Rick Perry’s debate debut in California
With a new face officially in the mix, eight Republican candidates will take the stage again next week to spar about the economy, jobs, budget deficit and more at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library in Simi Valley, Calif.
It will mark the first debate for Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who joined the race in August just as former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty threw in the towel. Several of the latest polls now show Perry on the top of the pack, outshining Mitt Romney, who has led the group for several months.
Sunlight Live will cover the debate starting at ...
Continue reading72 Hours: The New Normal
In each of the last 3 political cycles, transparency has been a campaign issue. In 2006 we saw ethics and... View Article
Continue readingHouse Republicans Launch “America Speaking Out”
House Republicans are today launching a new site, America Speaking Out. The site provides a forum for a broad, public... View Article
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