A friend and colleague passes along the following email the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is sending out, signed by the widow of the late Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., Joyce Murtha:
It is bittersweet to write this e-mail so soon after Jack's passing. While nobody can ever fill Jack's shoes, I am heartened to see Mark Critz, Jack's former Director for Economic Development, running for the seat my husband proudly held for 36 years. With the polls neck and neck heading into the final stretch, I am asking for your support so Mark can win this ...Continue reading
Case study in trying to analyze earmark data
Each year, Congress allocates billions in earmarks that come in the form of annual appropriation committee requests or are attached to various bills that become law. The Sunlight Foundation thought it would be interesting to examine which earmarks, after all the Congressional debate and bluster has dispensed, actually get spent.
We thought a good example would be the $23 billion in transportation earmarks from SAFETEA-LU, The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. The act authorized spending on highways, transit systems, port facilities, bus routes and other projects from its passage in August 2005 to what ...
From earmark to disappearmark: Bush administration policy shift cut funding for congressional projects
In 2005, Rep. David Price, D-N.C., earmarked more than $19.6 million to launch a light rail project in his district—one that he had promised to continue his “strong support for” by finding additional federal funding though his position on the House Appropriations Committee.
The light rail project was authorized by SAFETEA-LU, a law enacted in 2005 that was notable for the billions in earmarks it funded—including questionable projects like the “bridges to nowhere” in Alaska and the Prairie Parkway in Illinois.
Yet the light rail project Price sought funding for was ... Continue reading
Bad dates: ProPublica notes lack of accuracy in campaign finance data
ProPublica's Sebastian Jones notes what for us has been one of the most maddening features of campaign finance data: the dates don't mean very much at all. Campaigns report when they receive money, and political action committees report when they donate it. In theory, those dates should match, but as Jones points out, they don't:
The Federal Election Commission [3] requires politicians to disclose the dates and amounts of contributions they receive in periodic reports. Corporate and special interest political action committees (PACs) are also required to file reports with the FEC, disclosing the money they contribute ...Continue reading
Grab a shovel and help Data Mine dig
From my colleagues at the Center for Public Integrity:
The Data Mine, a project of the Center for Public Integrity and Sunlight Foundation, needs your help to excavate federal data that should be accessible to the public or easier to use. During the past week, Data Mine spotlighted how daily bids for wholesale electricity are kept secret, making it difficult for the public to know if household power prices truly reflect the market, reported on a new lawsuit demanding details about a federal immigration program that helps local police I.D. illegal immigrants for deportation and examined how a new ...
Shelby smells a rat in S. 3217
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala, doesn't believe the financial reform bill the Senate began debating today will actually regulate the large
financial organizations whose risky actions threatened the entire economy in 2008. Instead, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee sees the bill as something that will further institutionalize bank bailouts in the future.
Shelby noted that many large financial firms -- like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup -- have expressed support for the legislation.
“(Large financial firms) know that the bill will bring them and Wall Street firms like them under the Federal safety net where they will get preferential treatment ...
Consumer Group: Electricity Price-Gouging Feared Until Bids Made Public
Enron Corp.'s manipulation of the California energy market in 2000 and 2001 is notorious. Electricity bills soared and blackouts affected hundreds of thousands of people as contemptuous traders with Enron, a power wholesaler, delighted in their scheme. Tapes of traders released in 2004 contained infuriating nuggets like this: "Just cut 'em off... They should just bring back f------ horses and carriages, f------ lamps, f------ kerosene lamps."
After investigating the scandal, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) concluded that "supply-demand imbalance, flawed market design and inconsistent rules made possible significant market manipulation," and that many of Enron's trading strategies ...
Continue readingOGD: Reviewing EPA’s interactive datasets
The Environmental Protection Agency has been ahead of several other cabinet level agencies when it comes to putting data online. For several years now some of their main datasets are available with interactive features such as maps and in a downloadable format. Now according to EPA’s open government plan, the agency is planning on releasing several new data driven projects by the end of 2010, some of which are already public.
The first, managed by Horizon Systems is a suite geospatial data that compiles the features of several databases related to watershed management. This project part of which which ...
Civil rights groups want details on immigrant fingerprint program
As Arizona turns up the heat on illegal immigrants, civil rights groups are demanding the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) release details about a rapidly expanding federal program that helps local police identify illegal immigrants for potential deportation. The Center for Constitutional Rights and two other groups filed a lawsuit on April 27 attempting to force ICE to turn over data about its “Secure Communities” program after failing to get the information through a Freedom of Information Act request.
“This program has very little public scrutiny. There’s very little known about the way it operates,” said Sunita ...
Committee members grilling Goldman have recieved Wall Street giant’s money
Four of the 10 committee members on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that grilled Goldman Sachs today have received campaign contributions from the Wall Street Giant. The amounts and recipients are as follows:
• Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, is the leading recipient of money from Goldman Sachs. Employees, their family members, and the company's political action committee are his fourth largest career donor at more than $337,000. That figure includes donations to his Senate and presidential campaigns. There are no contributions recorded to McCain for the 2010 cycle.
• Sen. Susan Collins', R-Maine, campaign received almost $24,000 in 2010 ...
59063
