As stated in the note from the Sunlight Foundation′s Board Chair, as of September 2020 the Sunlight Foundation is no longer active. This site is maintained as a static archive only.

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Tag Archive: Investigations

‘Grassroots’ group grows mainly in offices of D.C. law and PR firms

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A political committee called Citizens for Strength and Security Action Fund--usually abbreviated as CSS Action Fund--claims to be active across the country promoting the best solutions to America's problems, but the limited disclosures available about the group suggest that it's a creature of the beltway. The organization, which made its first noise in the 2010 mid-term elections by spending $640,000 supporting Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash in late September, shares a Washington, D.C. address with similar advocacy groups and lists political pros as its main players.*

CSS Action Fund lists a Southeast Washington, D.C., address ...

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Crossroads connections visualized

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Crossroads Media has a slew of conservative leaning political organizations as their clients spending millions in the run up to mid-term elections on ad buys. The company has processed more than $10.6 million worth of ad placements this election cycle (not all that money ends up with Crossroads Media--the bulk goes to the television, radio, cable and other outlets that run the advertisements it places).

All but one of their clients – the Susan B. Anthony List -- are connected to two high profile Republican operatives, Karl Rove and Mary Cheney. Rove helps to raise money for American Crossroads, Crossroads GPS ...

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Outside groups spend $13 million in the last six days

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In the past six days--Wednesday through today--outside groups have spent more than $13 million to influence the mid-term congressional elections, including broadcast ads, robo-calls, get out the vote campaigns and mailings.

Data in the Reporting Group's tool -- Follow the Unlimited Money -- shows that groups not aligned to any specific candidate have spent more than $122 million in this cycle with committees registering to receive unlimited contributions -- the Super PACs -- totaling $12 million.

The National Association of Realtors spent more than $2.4 million over the last four days, supporting both Democratic and Republican candidates across the country; Americans for ...

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NRCC spends big, flexes power

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The National Republican Congressional Committee reported spending more than $800,000 on one day, Friday Oct. 1, in opposition to 30 Democrats. The NRCC has spent almost $13.7 million in independent expenditures to oppose Democrats so far this election cycle, tops among all groups as of this writing.

Though Super PACs or independent expenditure-only committees--groups set up to take unlimited funds from any source in order to influence elections--have garnered a great deal of media attention of late, it's worth noting that the traditional players like the NRCC are still very powerful when it comes to influencing elections ...

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Republicans Ask Watchdogs to Review FOIA Request Process

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Inspectors general at the Energy Department and Social Security Administration say their review of FOIA procedures at the request of senior Republican lawmakers showed no signs of meddling by political appointees.

Two dozen other agency and department watchdogs have yet to respond to a letter from Rep. Darrell Issa of California and Sen. Grassley of Iowa asking for a quick check of FOIA procedures. The two Republicans sent the letters about a month ago after media reports that the Homeland Security Department subjected FOIA requests from lawmakers, journalists and activist groups to a new “political review” process. Such requests were ...

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Beyond Super PACs: Political groups up electioneering spending as mid-terms approach

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Outside organizations have so far reported spending more than $18 million to run issue ads mentioning candidates within 30 days of primaries and 60 days of the general election--a 31 percent increase over the last mid-term election cycle. Corporate trade associations, labor unions, environmental groups, proponents of traditional values and even a group that opposes big money in politics have run ads in the run up to November 2, reports from the Federal Election Commission show.

In the 2006 election cycle, the total organizations reported spending on electioneering communications in a comparable period was $13.7 million, according to ...

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Re-Named Offshore Energy Agency Urged to Publish Production Data

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The scandal-wrecked Minerals Management Services changed its name to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) as part of a promised wave of reforms, but consumer advocacy groups say more transparency is what is really needed at the offshore energy agency.

The agency should provide online access to more data about crude oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico and other offshore areas, as well as energy companies’ royalty payments to the U.S. government.

“The kind of data we want to see is on production numbers, so we can have better calculations to ensure ...

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Sunlight tools helps connect the dots between independent expenditures and ads

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Just over a month away from the midterm elections political ads are mustering strength and each advertisement is only one small piece of a larger network of money, power and influence. The Sunlight Foundation has two new tools to help track this political influence: Follow the Unlimited Money, a user friendly way to track advertising and other kinds of electioneering, and Sunlight Campaign Ad Monitor that tracks the end result of some of the political spending powered by citizens reporting.

Using both these tools together, we've picked a few ads reported by citizens and looked up more details ...

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Abortion issues dominate independent expenditures in California Senate race

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In the Senate race between Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina of California, 87 percent of the independent expenditures relates to abortion issues. Among these two candidates, pro-life groups so far have spent $186,000, while pro-choice spending amounts to $41,000, according to a review of our independent expenditures database.

The pro-life group, the Susan B. Anthony List, has spent the most money on this issue in that race so far. They’ve invested $166,100 in buying web ads and paying for phone calls in support of Fiorina. They’ve also campaigned against Boxer with Google advertisements ...

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Outside groups spending record amounts on mid-term elections

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Since January 2010, spending by outside organizations to influence congressional elections totals some $57 million--up more than $20 million from a comparable time period in 2006, the most recent non-presidential election cycle--according to reports collected by the Federal Election Commission. 

Though the rising independent expenditures--money spent by outside groups on anything from phone banks and mailing lists to negative political ads to influence a federal election--come after the Supreme Court decisions that weakened campaign finance laws, it's unclear whether those rulings are fueling the boom.

While some labor unions have taken advantage of the rulings to directly make independent ...

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