An Oklahoma City developer and two state lobbyists are behind a newly minted for-profit corporation spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on Oklahoma’s special senate election. Two of the group's "incorporators" have ties to a federal PAC.
Continue readingLocal D.C. corruption has ties to federal politicians
The man who plead guilty on Monday to violating campaign finance laws in 2010 by funneling more than $600,000 to then Washington D.C. mayoral-candidate Vincent Gray has also had questionable financial dealings on the federal level.
Continue readingInfluence profile: Retiring Rep. John Dingell
The longest serving member of congress in history, John Dingell has benefited from his ties to the automotive and utility industries.
Continue readingLandrieu’s political prospects tied to the energy industry
Mary Landrieu has been named the new chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee – a sector which has contributed handsomely to her campaigns over the years.
Continue readingReversing trend, Democrats top the list of biggest super PAC donors
The rumors are true, Democrats like Michael Bloomberg, Thomas Steyer and others have learned to love the super PAC.
Continue readingYes Rep. Pelosi, Congress has a revolving door
In an appearance on the Daily Show, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was skeptical that the 'revolving door' phenomenon applied to Congress.
Continue readingSink raises over $1 million in Fla. special, including from in-state frenemy Crist
Democrat Alex Sink is dominating fundraising in the special election for Florida's 13th District, even getting a $1,000 contribution from Republican-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist, whom she recently called a "disaster."
Continue readingAbortion rights prompts liberal groups to spend big, and early
WIth more than a year to go before the next congressional race, Democratic groups have begun to outspend Republican groups two to one. Much of that money is coming from groups focused on abortion rights.
Continue readingLatest round of Obama bundlers claim ambassador posts
At a meeting Thursday, tucked between a resolution condemning the recent terrorist attacks in Kenya and a panel on the ongoing civil war in Syria, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will vote on the confirmation of 25 prospective diplomatic appointees, a number of them wealthy supporters of President Barack Obama.
Continue readingPolitical influence by county: A new way to look at campaign finance data
Over the summer, the Sunlight Foundation partnered with Azavea, a Philadelphia-based firm that specializes in mapping and geo-spatial analysis, to create location-based analyses of the federal campaign finance data we display on InfluenceExplorer.com. The partnership produced new and more accurate ways to identify trends in political spending according to location that were previously hard to complete because of complications in the mapping process. Many of the findings were mapped.
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