Though President Barack Obama called super PACs a "threat to democracy" before embracing them last February in his own reelection effort, he and members of his inner circle had no trouble meeting with the kind of people who contribute to them. At least 16 individuals who gave money to some of the major outside spending groups had meetings with White House officials--including Obama himself.
The group of 16 includes major Democratic donors, bundlers for Obama's campaign and a few individuals who have official roles in the administration. Some have frequent access to both the president and his inner circle ...
Continue readingOpposition grows to Jamie Dimon role at Federal Reserve
A grassroots movement with some big name support is calling for Washington’s favorite banker to cut his ties with the Fed. Some 30,000 signatures have been collected on a Change.org petition urging that the chief executive of embattled JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, resign or be removed from the New York Federal Reserve's board of directors. The petition creator, Simon Johnson, is the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. In the past Change.org waged successful campaigns on issues ranging form the Bank of America debit card fee, to working conditions in Apple’s Chinese ...
Continue readingDespite ‘unlikes’ over Facebook, Morgan Stanley still has friends in high places
The disappointing debut of Facebook’s IPO and Morgan Stanley’s seemingly unequal treatment of its customers in providing inside last-minute cautions about the social network giant has investors and regulators upset, and lawyers readying for business. But when the nation's lawmakers start making the inevitable inquiries (key House and Senate committees already are making noises) about the deal and its chief underwriter, Morgan Stanley will not be defenseless. The financial services giant has plenty of political capital from campaign contributions and a veteran lobbying team.
Morgan Stanley has heavily invested in lobbyists. In the last three quarters of ...
Continue readingPrivate equity invests in lawmakers
Whether or not the much-in-the-news private equity industry has been the bane of the economy or a job creator, one fact remains uncontested: it has been very, very good for political fundraising, for Republicans and Democrats alike.
With $22 million contributed this election cycle alone, according to Influence Explorer, top recipients look like a who's who of powerful politicians. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., have collected large amounts, along with Sen. Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat who recently served as chairman for his party's senatorial campaign committee and is himself facing ...
Continue readingSuper donors provide bulk of money to super PACs
Super PACs have broken the $200 million mark in donations and $100 million in spending, with much of the money coming from a few donors with deep pockets whose largesse has changed the dynamics of political campaigning.
Some of the big players in the current cycle, many of whom have been big donors for decades, made their first super PAC contributions to support one of the major presidential candidates, then shifted focus to Congressional contests, with some pledging millions for tight races.
Harold Simmons, a major contributor to conservative super PACs, has been in the spotlight for his $13.5 ...
SpaceX blasts off literally and politically
The private rocket that made history early this morning when it blasted the first commercially-launched payload for the international space station into orbit also was fuelled by a decade-long, multi-million-dollar political effort to pry funding from a sometimes skeptical Congress.
Since its inception in 2002, SpaceX, the company behind Tuesday's successful launch, has spent more than $4 million lobbying Congress and given more than $800,000 in political contributions, according to data compiled from Sunlight's Influence Explorer. Many of the company's campaign donations went to key members of Congress in charge of the budget for NASA, which ...
Continue readingDangerous medical device ‘loophole’ still wide open
Consumer groups are crying foul over bipartisan legislation to extend user fees for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. They say that the bill, which the Senate hopes to pass this week, is missing a provision that would close a dangerous loophole in medical device safety.
Right now, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have the power to require medical device manufacturers to prove they've fixed known safety flaws before they put a new device on the market. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., both introduced bills earlier this year that would give the FDA this ...
Continue readingMillion dollar check club: Who’s writing big checks to super PACs
There's always been ways for big money to find its way into politics, but one of the changes ushered in by the super PAC era is the opportunity to flaunt it.
Instead of having to spread their influence around in donations to various committees, deep-pocketed donors can now show their influence with a flourish, writing seven figure checks -- like the $1 million one, filings with Federal Election Commission made over the weekend show, that the National Air Traffic Controllers union gave last month to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC backing President Obama's reelection bid, or the $2 ...
Continue readingFacebook in Washington: Baby steps of a giant
Facebook, which has set off a frenzy of market speculation with its plans go public as early as Friday, isn't just raising its profile on Wall Street. As the social networking giant prepares for its initial stock offering, Sunlight decided to take a look at how Facebook is doing when it comes to political networking. Our finding: The company with the famously hoodied CEO is beginning to grow up, at least in the ways of Washington.
In the first quarter of this year, Facebook spent $650,000 lobbying Congress, according to a report filed with the Senate Office of ...
Continue readingJPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon met with Treasury Secretary on Volcker in March
Newly published meeting logs from the Treasury Department show that Jamie Dimon, CEO of embattled JPMorgan & Chase, had a private audience with Secretary Timothy Geithner to discuss the Volcker rule and other issues on March 6.
The logs also show that JPMorgan executives attended two other meetings that same month. Volcker was also on the table at another Treasury session the same day, this one a larger meeting with Deputy Assistant Secretary Lance Auer that also included representatives with other groups such as Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs.
The day before, JPMorgan representatives were also present at another group meeting ...
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