Want to know what dark money is and what it can do? Here's a classic example.
Continue readingAmerican Crossroads targeting vulnerable Senate Democrats — and passing the hat
American Crossroads, the big-spending Republican super PAC that's been relatively quiescent since posting a less-than-impressive return on investment in the last election cycle, has resurfaced with some advertisements targeting some of the Senate's most vulnerable Democrats -- and an ask for money.
The ads, which surfaced on Political Ad Hawk, Sunlight's mobile app for linking political advertisements with the sources of their funding, are nearly identical and attempt to discredit three Democrats up for reelection next year -- Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana -- over the controversial new health care law ...
Continue readingSenate incumbents already seeing an uptick in campaign cash
A little more than a year before the next round of congressional elections, at least 25 Senate incumbents and challengers have raised $1 million or more for their campaign war chests, second quarter reports now available at the Federal Election Commission show.
The filings are a testament to the power of incumbency: All but one of the 25 members of the million-dollar club are either incumbent senators or House members seeking a promotion to the upper chamber of Congress.
At the top of the heap are two early-bird candidates: Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who just won a special election to ...
Pesticide industry would benefit from farm bill provisions
Tucked within the 1,234-page House farm bill expected to come up for debate next week are two controversial provisions benefitting the pesticide industry by reversing court-ordered federal agency policies designed to protect water and wildlife.
Continue readingAg, chemical interests lobby for farm bill to reverse pesticide rules
A host of pesticide and agricultural interests is lobbying for a farm bill amendment that would permit farmers and others to spray pesticides near U.S. waters without seeking a Clean Water Act permit first.
The Pesticide Policy Coalition, CropLife America, Syngenta Corp. and Dow AgroSciences are among the organizations listed as clients in new lobbyist registrations last month by John H. Thorne, according to Sunlight's lobbying registration tracker. Thorne recently joined the firm Bergeson & Campbell, which describes itself as an environmental law firm that helps "companies that make and use chemicals commercialize their products, maintain compliance, and achieve ...
Continue readingBanking money fuels senators who want to slow down Volcker
The six senators who introduced legislation Thursday to slow down implementation of the "Volcker rule," designed to prohibit banks from profiting from trading on their own accounts, are the recipients of ample amounts of campaign cash from the financial industry.
Three Democrats and three Republicans are cosponsoring the effort to push back the effective date of a rule that has provoked bitter complaints from the banking industry. The Dodd-Frank law mandated that it go into effect July 21, the second anniversary of the financial regulatory overhaul. More than 17,000 comments have flooded into federal financial agencies. The proposed legislation ...
Continue readingSimmons-controlled company fights for protectionist measures
When Titanium Metals Corp., a defense contractor that's part of Harold Simmons's business empire, lobbied for protectionist policies designed to shield it from foreign competition, the fight allied the Texas billionaire and Republican mega-donor with some unlikely political bedfellows, including Sen. Sherrod Brown, a liberal Democrat from Ohio, and a union that overwhelmingly gives to Democrats.
Of the more than $34 million that Harold Simmons, his wife and daughters have contributed to politicians, parties and political organizations, just $520,000 has benefited Democrats.
Digital Democracy Contest
Today we launch the Digital Democracy Contest -- a free web-based game for high school social studies classes. Students compete in teams to investigate Congress using OpenSecrets.org and OpenCongress.org.
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