Fighting net neutrality, telecom companies, outside lobbyists, cluster contributions to members of Congress
While the Federal Communications Commission considers the first steps toward ensuring net neutrality--making certain that broadband providers do not discriminate against high traffic sites--the telecom firms that would be affected by the rules and their trade groups have been swamping Congress with a one-two punch of campaign contributions from the companies and their registered lobbyists. Some 244 members of Congress were the beneficiaries of these contribution clusters--totaling more than $9.4 million--from January 2007 to June 2009, an investigative collaboration of the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Responsive Politics has found. Telecom interests and their lobbyists engaged in more ...
Continue readingWhy the U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported spending so much on lobbying
Scaled-down missile defense system comes after ramped-up lobbying effort
Recovery.gov recipient schema
Foster, now facing Hastert’s son, still dipping into personal wealth
A bid by the son of longtime House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert to defeat the man who replaced his father is far from a sure thing, but if nothing else, a respectable showing by the younger Hastert could keep the incumbent, Bill Foster, from replenishing his personal bank account.
The abrupt resignation of the elder Hastert in 2008 triggered a special election that was characterized by the exceptional reliance on personal funds: Businessman and scientist Bill Foster loaned his campaign two million dollars to defeat Jim Oberweis, a dairy-products magnate who blew through $3.8 million in personal funds vying ...
Continue readingBaucus Bill now available
Read all 1,502 pages of it here (the members of the Senate Finance Committee who voted for it didn't bother to, but don't let that stop you).
Hat tip Politico (though, truth be told, I came across it via Drudge).
Continue readingMurtha challenger trounces incumbent in fundraising; outraises Boehner and Pelosi too
While the ethics scandals that have multiplied around top fundraisers and earmark recipients of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., have yet to involve him directly, he now faces a challenge from a different direction: A well-financed opponent.
William Russell, the Republican aiming to do battle with Murtha in the general election, trounced the longtime legislator with an astonishing $2 million in campaign contributions raised--more than House leaders John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi, more than double that of the next-highest grossing challenger, and nearly three times that of Murtha's haul of $712,000, the most recent campaign finance disclosures filed with ...
Continue readingBailout beneficiaries give hidden ‘bundles’ to House Committee overseeing industry reform
As the House Financial Services Committee begins to consider financial industry reform legislation (discussion drafts started appearing on the committee's Web site on Sept. 25), will we see the same kind of hidden "bundles" flowing to members that we saw going to key members of the Senate Finance Committee from health care interests and their lobbyists? That one-two punch flooded Sen. Max Baucus' campaign coffers with more than $450,000 from 11 health care interests--and 109 lobbyists who represented them--from Jan. 2007 through the end of June, 2009.
To date, we 've found far fewer of these contribution clusters--in ...
Continue readingRecovery.gov recipient data just in
Recovery.gov posted information today showing that 30,383 jobs have been created or saved by the federal contracts that have been awarded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. So far, $16 billion has been disbursed by 9,100 contracts. The federal government is spending more than $525,000 spent on every job they saved or created.
The release covers just a sliver of stimulus spending: Most recovery money is in the form of grants and loans to the states; data from that spending--including recipient and jobs data--will be available at the end of October. So far, federal contracts ...
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