Hundreds of members of Congress are blasting an Obama administration plan to expand the definition of wetlands, an analysis of public comments by Sunlight's Docket Wrench shows.
Continue readingStealthy Wealthy: Jerry Perenchio speaks softly, carries a big checkbook
It may be easier to get the famously closemouthed mega-donor Jerry Perenchio to open his checkbook than to get him to talk to a reporter. The octogenerian former chairman of Univision and his wife Margaret are major players in this year's election, having underwritten American Crossroads to the tune of $2 million so far. Perenchio also gave half a million dollars to Restore America, the Super PAC that supports Mitt Romney, and $100,000 to the super PAC that supported Jon Huntsman's now-defunct presidential campaign.
That's just the latest in the more than $50 million Perenchio and ...
Continue readingFinancial Bailout: Who do McCain and Obama see at their fundraisers?
Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama are returning to Washington today to lend their legislative talents to the bailout bill working its way through Congress. So let's take a look at the biggest contributors to their presidential campaigns, courtesy of our friends at the Center for Responsive Politics.
Going in alphabetical order, we'll take McCain first. Among the top donors to the Republican nominee's presidential campaign are employees, their family members and PACs of the following players in the nation's financial meltdown: Merrill Lynch (which needed Bank of America to rescue it), Citigroup ("written off ...
Continue readingTracking Gov. Palin
Apparently, Republican presidential nominee John McCain has selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. For those looking for more information, her 2007 state personal financial disclosure form is online here (via the Center for Public Integrity). Via the excellent National Institute on Money in State Politics, here's campaign finance information from her unsuccessful 2002 race for Lieutenant Governor, her 2006 primary campaign for governor, and her 2006 general election campaign for governor. I'll update with more links as I come across them. I'm not going to dig into these myself today, but others should ...
Continue readingWashington Post: Biden’s Son Lobbied Obama’s Staff for Earmarks
The Washington Post reports that Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for President, requested $3.4 million in congressional earmarks for clients of the lobbying firm that employs the son of running mate Joe Biden. Hunter Biden, who's a registered lobbyist (see here and here for his clients), apparently lobbied Obama's Senate office directly:
Campaign spokesman David Wade also said Hunter Biden never appealed directly to Obama."Hunter Biden met with the Obama Senate office, not with Senator Obama," Wade said.
Read the whole thing. An aside: Nice to see the Washington Post use information from both Taxpayers for ...
Continue reading
59063
