A new type of Super PAC has filed registration papers with the Federal Election Commission, saying it plans both to accept unlimited contributions for independent expenditures and, using a separate bank account, to take in limited donations to be used for direct contributions to candidates.
Until now, Super PACs and traditional PACs have been separate. Super PACs, or independent-expenditure-only committees, can accept contributions of unlimited amounts from individuals, corporations and labor unions as long as the Super PAC does not make contributions to candidates. Traditional PACs are subject to limits on the amounts and sources of contributions, but they can ...
Continue readingSuspicions of mortgage fraud on the rise
In 2006 and 2007, at least 12 Riverside, Calif., residents with good credit found a real estate investment that seemed too good to be true. All they had to do was fill out a few forms and in return they could expect to receive checks of up to $50,000. The only problem was, the plan was a sham.
And earlier this year, Riverside county authorities finally caught up with the ploy and arrested Jose Ochoa and others accusing them with grand theft for the purported mortgage fraud. He was accused of misusing information from people with good credit to ...
Continue reading“Super Congress”: industry ties to some possible picks
With President Obama’s signature on the bill to raise the debt ceiling, congressional leaders now have 14 days to select the lawmakers who will quickly become the most lobbied politicians in town: the “Super Congress” of twelve lawmakers, six Democrats and six Republicans from both chambers who will be charged with the task of finding $1.5 trillion in cuts or revenue to lower the deficit. Nobody knows yet who will take on this task, but it’s a sure bet that whoever it is will already be in debt themselves -- to the lobbyists and industries who fund their ...
Continue readingPostponed! — Sunlight Live to cover House Hearing on Energy Tax Policy, Tax Reform on Wednesday
Editor's note: This hearing has been indefinitely postponed. Once we have a new date, we'll be sure to cover it live. Until then, mark your calendars for August 11, when we'll cover the next Republican presidential debate, this one from Iowa.
Lawmakers from two House Ways and Means subcommittees will come together Wednesday to consider where energy policy and tax policy intersect, focusing on the nation's need for both comprehensive tax reform and sustainable energy policies to create jobs and develop the economy.
During the hearing, members will discuss whether energy policies should be created through ...
Continue readingSuper PACs raise a combined $26 million in first half of year
Six months in to the first full election cycle in which Super PACs will play a role, the groups have combined to raise more than $26 million and are entering the second half of the year with about $23 million on hand.
Ninety-one Super PACs reported their receipts and disbursements to the FEC for all or part of the first six months of 2011. But the fundraising among the committees was dominated by a handful of groups, with the top five accounting for $22 million -- about 83 percent -- of the total.
One Super PAC alone -- Restore Our Future, which supports ...
Continue readingDodd-Frank: How investment banks contributed to the financial crisis
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, passed in response to the financial crisis of 2008, added new regulations and new regulators for some—but not all—of the institutions whose actions led to the crisis. Over the next several days, we’ll be taking a look at each of the major groups of contributors to the economic crisis, who the major players were, what political influence they brought to bear on Congress and regulators, how Dodd-Frank intends to regulate them, and, using our new Dodd-Frank Meeting Logs tool, what rules these groups are trying to influence as ...
Continue readingVendor blamed in outage paid $1.4 million last year for services
Fireside21, a web services company fingered as a possible culprit behind the mass outage of congressional sites in the wake of Monday's televised presidential address, received over $1.4 million from House offices for web services last year, disbursement data shows. The total highlights the dominance of just a few companies providing congressional web services, a category in which five companies received 79 percent of the $5.5 million pie.
On Monday, speaking during a prime-time address, President Barack Obama asked viewers who favor a balanced deficit reduction approach to contact Congress. Several members' websites stopped responding to requests ...
Continue readingSunlight Live bets it all with casino hearing
This Thursday, when the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs examines the National Indian Gaming Commission, Sunlight Live will be on hand to show the connections between the committee members and the industry it oversees. The committee's members have received thousands, and in the case of Sen. John McCain, R- Ariz., millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the casino and gaming industry, and drawn interest from the Native American tribes many of the committee's members represent. During the hearing, we'll work to untangle the strings that tie legislators, witnesses and special interests in real time ...
Continue readingNew Sunlight Health App points to problems at an Illinois nursing home
On October 19, 2010, a Rockford, Illinois man was admitted to a local hospital. Emergency room staff found seven large bed sores on his body; some spanned several inches and had advanced to stage IV, the most severe. One wound, according to emergency room notes, was infected and covered his entire tailbone.
The man, identified in inspection reports only as "R1," had developed all of his wounds since arriving at Rockford Nursing & Rehab Center, a 67-bed facility in Rockford, Illinois. Bed sores -- also known as pressure ulcers -- are lesions that typically form when a patient has limited mobility, and her ...
Special interests lobby on the debt ceiling
As Congress and the White House continue to search for a mechanism to raise the debt ceiling (the Senate "gang of six" have offered a new plan to end the deadlock), some of the biggest spending-special interests in the country are weighing in on the issue, according to a search of new lobbying disclosure records that are being released today.
So far, at least 141 lobbying entities have cited the term "debt ceiling" in lobbying disclosure forms filed, a search of filings from the House and Senate websites show, compared to just three in the first quarter of the year ...
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