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Tag Archive: Investigations

Feds order online posting of political ad info next month

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Information about political TV ads must be posted online by Aug. 2 under an order published this morning in the Federal Register.

Sunlight Foundation learned of the order as soon as it was published early this morning from Scout, our new online alert service.Image of file with magnifying glass

The order ratifies a May ruling by the Federal Communications Commission that requires TV stations affiliated with the four major broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox -- in the nation's 50 largest television markets to make the information available via the Internet. The National Association of Broadcasters is suing to block the order.

Today's ...

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Congressional ad campaigns poised for big fall blitz

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While super PACs, seven-figure checks and the heated Republican presidential nomination fight that Mitt Romney eventually won dominated the news the first half of this election year, congressional campaigns quietly have been pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the political economy -- and the real avalanche of congressional campaign expenditures and campaign ads is yet to begin.

Outside spending groups like the Campaign for Primary Accountability and Freedomworks for America have gotten most of the spotlight for running ads attacking incumbents in primaries. But congressional candidates themselves have had far more to spend to get their message out. As of ...

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Told you so: Democrats voting against Holder got gun money

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All 17 Democrats who sided with Republicans in Thursday's House vote to cite Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress have received contributions at some point in their careers from the political action committee of the National Rifle Association, which was lobbying hard to pass the resolution.Rep. Mike Michaud

The Democrats who receive the most money from the NRA's PAC and also face competitive races were even more likely to side with the NRA. Of the eight Democrats in tight races in November that have received the most from NRA's PAC (see a chart of these lawmakers in ...

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“Big Data” good for global competitiveness and government decisions…and transparency?

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IBM and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory this week announced the broadening of their high performance computing collaboration to boost U.S. competitiveness in the global economy.

The collaboration, known as Deep Computing Solutions, will bring a new dimension to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's High Performance Computing Innovation Center, combining both entities' computational science expertise to benefit clients,  according to a press release. Building on IBM and Lawrence Livermore's 20-year relationship, this new agreement between the two companies is currently planned to last five years, but with intentions to make it permanent, according to IBM. IBM corporate logo

Sequoia, an IBM supercomputer ...

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Could the United Nations squelch freedom on the Internet?

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Activists expressed concern this week that several United Nations proposals to regulate the Internet would undermine freedom and give too much control over the World Wide Web.United Nations flag

Proposals to centralize Internet regulation will be discussed at the two upcoming U.N. winter conferences -- the Internet Governance Forum in November and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meeting in December.

But panelists at “Clear and Present Danger: Attempts to Change Internet Governance and Implications for Press Freedom,” a National Endowment for Democracy forum in Washington argued for maintaining a more decentralized Internet.

“We see the potential to shift Internet governance away from ...

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After health care, what will happen to Dodd-Frank?

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While the U.S. Supreme Court has now upheld the health care reform law as constitutional, conservative groups still are on a legal attack on the constitutionality of one of the other signature achievements of President Barack Obama’s term in office: the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

Last week, C. Boyden Gray, an eminence grise of conservative Washington, along with the Competitiveness Enterprise Institute and the 60 Plus Association, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to challenge the constitutionality of Dodd-Frank, joining the Texas-based community bank, State National Bank of Big Spring. While the Dodd-Frank has been under ...

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House members delete tweets echoing Supreme mistweet

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The general mayhem following mistaken all-too-instant analyses of Thursday's nearly 200-page Supreme Court package of opinions on the health care law included several members of Congress eating their words – or tweets, rather – according to Sunlight Foundation’s Politwoops.

“Individual Mandate ruled unconstitutional. Let Freedom Ring,” posted Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., in an immediate response to news stories that erroneously indicated that the high court had overturned health care law.  Ross deleted the inaccurate tweet, moments later, when it became clear that two networks often watched in congressional offices -- CNN and Fox -- had blown the call. Gannett News Service has ...

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Gun money pushing some Democrats to vote against Holder?

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Three Democrats who have said they plan to break party ranks in a historic rebuke of Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday are among the members of their party in tight races who have received the most money from the National Rifle Association's political action committee (PAC) over the course of their careers.

The National Journal reported Wednesday that Democratic Reps. Jim Matheson of Utah, John Barrow of Georgia and Nick Rahall of West Virginia have said they will vote with Republicans to find Holder in contempt of Congress because the attorney general has not released all the documents ...

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What’s in a name? A look at how ‘health reform’ became ‘Obamacare’

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The political backdrop for Thursday's Supreme Court ruling on President Obama's health care law is vividly illustrated in the way rhetoric about the controversial measure has changed. The orange line indicates frequency of mentions for "Obamacare." The pink line is for "health reform."

In the graphic above, created by Capitol Words -- Sunlight's tool for tracking the language used on the floor of Congress -- you can see how the derogatory term "Obamacare," invented and mostly used by Republicans, as seen below. The red line indicates Republican mentions of the term, the blue, Democrats.

If winning a debate means ...

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Following the Chamber of Commerce down the campaign finance rabbit hole

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US Chamber of Commerce LogoA New York Times report that New York’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is subpoenaing records of tax-exempt groups involved in politics underscores the difficulty of tracking campaign spending to its source following the 2010 Citizens United decision, a ruling that the Supreme Court reaffirmed this week. 

According to the Times story, Schneiderman is seeking emails and bank records to determine the legality of financial transactions made between the National Chamber Foundation and one of its donors, the Starr Foundation, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The business trade association received $18 million from the Chamber Foundation in 2003 ...

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