Citizens United architect and campaign finance law foe James Bopp Jr. has seconded a request by Democratic campaign finance experts Perkins Coie for the Federal Election Commission to allow politicians and party committee officials to solicit corporations and labor unions for unlimited funds to be spent by independent expenditure-only committees, also known as Super PACs. Bopp's new client, the Republican Super PAC, has already outlined such a fundraising strategy to Republican party officials.
If approved, the Perkins Coie request, made on behalf of the Majority PAC and the House Majority PAC, would give FEC approval for a politician to ...
Continue readingPowerful financial council could deny or delay public information
A newly created powerful federal financial council will have broad latitude to deny or delay Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests if it adopts proposed rules, charges a financial watchdog group.
Under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, the new Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), is explicity made subject to the Freedom of Information Act. The Council, whose members are representatives of major financial agencies, has authority to collect wide-ranging information about financial institutions, such as internal company documents, in its mission to ensure the stability of the financial system. In late March, the Council published proposed rules on how the ...
Continue readingEgypt’s PR shop terminates their US operation
A few weeks after Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in response to the public outrage against his 30 year rule, the Egyptian government’s PR outfit in Washington terminated their operation, records show. Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter and Associates ended their representation of the Egyptian press office on February 28, 2011, shortly after Mubarak resigned on February 11.
From November 2010 to March 2011, the Egypt Press and Information Bureau paid the lobbying group $200,000 in fees and expenses. The lobby shop was hired in April 2009 and was paid a total of $985,000 during that period ...
Continue readingLobbyists for Morocco go on a meeting spree soon after political upheaval
A nonprofit established by the government of Morocco went on a lobbying frenzy earlier this year, coinciding with the time when pro-democracy demonstrations in the country took an ugly turn. The Moroccan-American Policy Council, which is the registered agent of the Moroccan government met with 130 congressional offices on February 23, 24 and 25 just days after the riots broke out, FARA records show.
Protests in the country started on February 1, when a protestor lit himself on fire, immitating the incident that sparked the Tunisian revolt and in a few weeks turned violent with riots on February 21. A ...
Continue readingMeet the fellows
Thanks to a generous grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies, Sunlight will be inaugurating on June 1 the John E. Moss Fellowships, an intensive, hands-on training experience designed to better prepare young journalists for the opportunities and demands of the digital news environment.
This first class of Fellows was competitively selected from applicants across the country and will work on a range of projects, from producing Sunlight Live events, to reporting on the 2012 presidential campaign; from daily blogging on issues of transparency to developing a curriculum and producing lessons to help other journalists better learn how to find, use and ...
Continue readingMajor banks use one lobbyist to team up on Dodd-Frank
The international law firm, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton LLP, is lobbying Congress on behalf of three of the world’s biggest financial institutions regarding the derivatives market -- one of the major issues tackled by the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation, according to disclosure forms filed this year.
A lawyer with the firm, Edward Rosen is lobbying Congress on behalf of Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas and Wells Fargo regarding the Commodity Futures Trade Commission’s (CFTC) proposal to regulate swaps dealers, increase transparency in the derivatives market and force standardized derivatives into a clearinghouse to ultimately lower the risk incurred from ...
Continue readingChecking in on the House Oversight Committee
This Tuesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will have a doozy of a doubleheader. In the morning, the full committee will tackle the issue of rising gas prices, asking the question, how are government actions and regulations driving the price at the pump?
In the afternoon, the subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs will check in on the Consumer Protection Financial Bureau, a new controversial agency designed to help consumers as they deal with the financial products and services industry.
At Sunlight, we plan to cover both hearings on Sunlight Live ...
Continue readingDemocratic Super PACs ask FEC to OK candidate fundraising
Following on the heels of the new fundraising strategy laid out by James Bopp Jr. for Republican Super PAC, a pair of similar Democratic groups -- also known as independent expenditure-only committees -- have asked the Federal Election Commission to rule on whether party committee officials and candidates for federal office can permissibly raise unlimited funds from any source for these outside organizations.
The letter, sent on behalf of the House Majority PAC and the Majority PAC by Marc E. Elias, Ezra W. Reese and Jonathan S. Berkon of the Perkins Coie law firm, also asks whether candidates can participate in fundraisers ...
Continue readingUpstate New York race sees the first of the outside spending this cycle
The May 24 special House election in upstate New York is attracting the first slew of outside spending in the current election cycle. Party committees and other nonprofit groups have spent more than $1.88 million on this race so far.
The three-way race between Democrat Kathleen Hochul, Republican Jane Corwin and self-described Tea Party candidate Jack Davis has attracted spending from both national party committees and some outside groups that were the most prolific spenders in the 2010 elections. The National Republican Congressional Committee that has spent more than $424,000 opposing both Hochul and Davis, which is less ...
Sunlight Live to cover Obama Middle East speech
On Thursday, May 19, President Obama will give a speech on recent events in the Middle East, from the "Arab Spring" uprisings to the lack of progress on an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact. How he addresses these issues is influenced by U.S. interests in the region, as well as lobbying efforts by foreign governments and organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC.
To try to sort out these tangled relationships, the Sunlight Foundation will live-blog the president's address on sunlightlive.com, our award-winning multimedia platform. Our reporters and researchers will work to provide ...
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