Companies, associations and the lobbyists employed by them contributed almost $19 million to charities in honor of federal officials last year, the vast majority of it for members of Congress. You can read the full report on 2011's honorary giving here.
To find out which lawmakers and cabinet members were honored most, or to see which interests paid the most in honorary expenses last year, search the interactive graphic below. You can even filter the graphic for lawmakers from your home state.
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Continue readingBroadcasters put political ad buy files online today
With the 2012 election three months away, stations in some of the nation's biggest television markets will start uploading information on political ad buys to the Internet for the first time today, bringing out of the dark ages at least some information on who's behind political ads.
The move represents a major victory for open government groups that have been fighting for more than a decade to get the information contained in television filing cabinets on the Internet, but it does come with considerable limitations. The Sunlight Foundation, along with the Free Press and other partners, is seeking ...
Continue readingA matter of trust? Mystery groups write big checks to super PACs
They may not be the biggest givers of this campaign cycle but they could be the shadiest: So far in this campaign cycle,12 trusts have given super PACs a total of $3.2 million.
Though that amounts to a sliver of the $314 million flowing to super PACs, it represents an extreme in one sense: Trusts are a highly opaque way to facilitate political spending. Trusts act as separate entities that manage assets on behalf of people, corporations, charities, and other entities. They can serve as tax shelters and generally, are more private than traditional charities and corporations because ...
Continue readingSuper PAC Profile: Workers’ Voices the super PAC of the average citizen?
Just four months after the AFL-CIO announced the formation of its super PAC, Workers' Voice, the group has emerged as a major force, ranking No. 10 among super PACs in terms of money collected as of the end of July, with more than $7 million already spent, and the backing of the House of Labor's treasury.
However, the union super PAC weathered a major disappointment in its first outing: It was formed as part of an unsuccessful effort to unseat Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wisc., in a June 2012 recall election.
Since its inception, Workers’ Voice has branded itself the ...
Continue readingCourt to broadcasters: Put political ad files online
Television stations in the nation's top 50 markets will have to begin putting information about political ad buys online next week under a court order issued late Friday by a panel of federal judges.
In a terse three-sentence order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied an the National Association of Broadcasters' effort to block a Federal Communications Commission order that requires the stations to begin posting the ad information on Thursday.
UPDATE: The NAB will continue to fight the decision in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, though it seems they will ...
Continue readingPoliticians win Olympic gold too
All eyes are on London for Friday's official opening of the 2012 Olympic Games, but the medal stands won't be the only place you'll find Olympic gold.
Since 1997, Olympic organizing groups in the United States have spent more than $10 million lobbying Congress. Some members of U.S. Olympic Committee's 15-member board of directors have also been generous political donors. Here's Sunlight's look at some of the top finishers in the influence Olympics:
- The US Olympic Committee (USOC) spent more than $2.7 million on lobbying since 1997, according to Sunlight's Influence ...
Put brakes on political nonprofits? Not so fast, taxman says
Today a federal tax official provided House Ways and Means Committee members some details about how the Internal Revenue Service will review whether the political activities of shadowy nonprofit groups conflict with their exempt status.
The answer: slowly, according to the IRS Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement Steven Miller, one of the witnesses at the hearing.
He said the IRS has decided to consider whether it would issue new guidance to the groups. And if the agency investigates groups, it looks at an entire year's worth of activity before determining whether an organization has violated tax laws, Miller ...
Continue readingColorado politicians magnets for gun contributions
Despite suffering two of the worst gun killings in the nation's history--Columbine and now the "Batman" shootings--Colorado, with its cowboy swagger and reputation for independence, has long been home to supporters of gun rights. And its politicians, mostly Republicans, but some Democrats as well, have been magnets for contributions from gun rights groups, benefiting from more than $3.8 million in political spending since 1989, according to a search on Influence Explorer.
In contrast, gun control groups have spent $140,342 in the state for federal and state campaigns. Of that amount, $48,000 came from the ...
Continue readingUN agency releases controversial draft on treaty revising Internet regulation
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency charged with information and communications policy, last Friday released a batch of proposals--some quite controversial--submitted by member organizations and states in an attempt, the organization says, to become more transparent as it demands a bigger role in governing the Internet.
Collectively known as TD64, the proposals will be reviewed at the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT-12) in December. The conference is a rare event that will update the telecommunications treaty that outlines ITU's responsibilities based on these approved proposals. The treaty, called the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR), hasn ...
Continue readingSunlight Live to cover Senate hearing on Super PACs and Citizens United
Join us on Sunlight Live as we cover the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing examining the impact that Super PACs and the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision are having on elections. The hearing, called "Taking Back Our Democracy: Responding to Citizens United and the Rise of Super PACs," will be held by the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights and will be covered live today at 2:30p.m. today.
Chariman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., will lead the subcommittee as two panels of witnesses testify to the state of our democracy and the influence of Super PACs ...
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