The Supreme Court on Thursday handed a setback -- and an ominous warning -- to a labor giant that has been one of the most generous bankrollers of the super PACs backing President Obama and other Democratic candidates.
At issue in the case: tactics that the Service Employees International Union, which has bankrolled a constellation of Democratic super PACs to the tune of more than $3 million, used to beef up its political warchest in California during 2005. SEIU imposed a special assessment on its members to fight a pair of ballot initiatives aimed at public service unions. The high court ruled ...
Continue readingDid mystery Romney donors also play in Texas?
A subsidiary of the Reynolds and Reynolds Company--which was apparently behind $1 million in contributions to the super PAC backing Mitt Romney through three shell companies last month--also gave at least $250,000 to super PACs earlier this election cycle through another subsidiary.
Yesterday we noted that three contributions for about a third of a million dollars each that originated from the same post office box in Dayton, Ohio on May 22 all seemed to be related to Reynolds and Reynolds. The company provides software and other services to car dealerships and related businesses. Chief Executive Officer Robert T ...
Continue readingMusic giant Universal and EMI owner lavish contributions on Senate anti-trust panel
(Clarification: This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the timing of Citigroup's donations)
At least half of the members of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, which Thursday will hold a hearing on Universal Music Group’s proposed merger with EMI music, have received contributions from the two music giants or from rival firm, Warner Music.
In the months leading up to and following last November's announcement of proposed merger -- which must win approval from both the U.S. government and the European Union -- the record companies and their corporate ownwers have made a stream of contributions ...
Continue readingWho’s behind $1 million in corporate donations to Romney-aligned super PAC?
Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, accepted three donations totaling $1 million from three different corporate entities at the same Dayton, Ohio post office box, according to campaign finance reports filed Wednesday. The checks--two for $333,333 and one for $333,334--were all dated May 22.
The checks came from "Waterbury Properties, LLC", "Fairbanks Properties LLC" and "CRC Information Systems, Inc." all with a return address of P.O. Box 2608, Dayton, Ohio 45401. CRC Information Systems was bought by The Reynolds and Reynolds Company in 2008--which has listed the same P.O. Box as a return ...
Continue readingHouse committee restores funding for political ad disclosure
A key member of Congress bowed to pressure Wednesday and withdrew a measure aimed at blocking online disclosure of political advertisements.
At a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., announced she was pulling a measure she introduced two weeks ago to defund a new rule that the Federal Communications Commission approved in April. The rule, now awaiting final approval by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would require the nation's biggest broadcast networks to put information about who is buying political ads on the Internet. The National Association of Broadcasters is suing ...
Continue readingScouting expedition: How Sunlight’s newest tool can make you a better watchdog
Got an issue you care about? A bill you need to track? Can't afford to hire your own team of lobbyists? No problem.
Sunlight Foundation's newest tool, Scout, allows you to keep tabs on Congress, the federal government's regulators and (drum roll, please) all 50 state legislatures at once. It's as easy as entering a search term and pushing a button. Want to keep tabs on future activities? Just enter your email address and Scout will send you alerts every time your term is mentioned in Congress, state legislation or the Federal Register. There's a ...
Continue readingSenate hears from heavy hitters on both sides of fracking debate
The effect on the water supply of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking -- a method for extracting heretofore hard to reach natural gas reserves -- has caught national attention, even inspiring a fiercely critical movie. Now, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is looking into the effect of fracking on the air -- and getting an earful from witnesses from organizations on both sides of the debate with long track records in Washington's influence game..
The panel's Clean Air and Nuclear Safety subcommittee held a hearing Tuesday on recently issued Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) performance standards for reducing ...
Continue readingCFPB launches public consumer complaint database
Despite opposition from the financial industry, the newly minted Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today launched a public database of consumer complaints about credit cards--including the name of the company issuing the card--received since June 1. The beta version of the database is available for viewing and downloading on the agency's website. The Bureau plans to add to and tweak it in the months ahead with complaints about other financial products, such as mortgages, student and other types of loans, and banking charges and fees.
"No longer will consumer complaints only be known to the individual complainant, bank, regulator ...
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 readingTime Warner Cable posts its political file online, so why the fuss, NAB?
If posting already-public information on political ad spending is so damaging to broadcasters, as the National Association of Broadcasters argues, then why has one of the country's biggest cable providers been doing it since 2010?
Back then, Time Warner Cable created an online portal to search information regarding political ads sold on its system. Initially the portal served only the east coast, but has since provided data nationwide since 2011, according to a Time Warner spokesman. The ad buy records are available as downloadable PDFs.
Current law requires TV stations to keep political ad purchase orders on file at ...
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