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Tag Archive: Investigations

House panel tries to open the (financial) books of presidential libraries

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As President Obama faces choosing between Hawaii and Chicago as the site of his presidential library, a House committee today greenlighted a bill that would make donors to the institution public.

The next step will be a vote in the full House.

The bill would require future presidential library foundations to report donors to the National Archives on a quarterly basis. The Archives would then post them online in a searchable, downloadable database. The Sunlight Foundation's policy counsel, Daniel Schuman, testified in favor of the measure last week.

The state of Hawaii wants the library near this spot in ...

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Donor in Menendez probe hoped for riches from government contracts

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Securiforce International America Logo

Salomon Melgen, the Florida eye doctor whose relationship with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez, D-N.J., is now the subject of a grand jury investigation, has left a trail of lawsuits over bad investments, including one involving a government contract in which he had attempted to tie his money to the coattails of another prominent Hispanic official.

Melgen, who has a port security firm in the Dominican Republic that Menendez denies he tried to help and a medical practice in Florida that the senator admitted he aided, has filed numerous lawsuits over other business dealings that went sour ...

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In South Carolina special election full of characters, donors are just as colorful

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As voters go to the polls in today's primary contests for a South Carolina special congressional election that has garnered attention for its share of colorful candidates, the donors appear just as just as worthy of a second look.

That's not just because the donors are, in most cases -- the candidates themselves. They also include a diverse range of out-of-staters from infamous dark money man David Koch to comedian Stephen Colbert's wife, as Sunlight has reported.

In the final days before polls opened, donations continued to pour in. We're keeping tabs using our Follow the Unlimited Money alert service that sends us emails every time one of the committee's we're watching files with the Federal Election Commission.

Most of the late cash has gone to former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who is trying to make the political comeback of a lifetime just two years after departing office in disgrace. Revelations of Sanford's extra-marital affair with his Argentine lover (now fiance) ended his marriage but not, it now appears, his once-promising political career. By late last month, Sanford was already the dollar frontrunner in the contest to replace Tim Scott, a Republican appointed to the Senate this year. That financial momentum has only continued to build with more late contributors jumping on the frontrunner's bandwagon.

In the 20-day period before today's primary, Sanford raked in $80,050 in contributions of $1,000 or more, bringing him to a total of at least $414,447, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Combined, the six leading Republicans and the Democrat most likely to win her primary, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, have raised over $3 million so far in the race.

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New Labor nominee Perez an active political giver and getter

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Secretary of Labor nominee Thomas Perez

Tom Perez, tapped today by President Barack Obama as his next labor secretary, has a national network of friends in Democratic donor circles and has shown a knack for both getting and giving campaign donations.

Records compiled by the National Institute on Money and State Politics and available via Sunlight's Influence Explorer show that Perez attracted more than $800,000 in campaign contributions from labor unions, members of Congress and a Cabinet member during a short-lived run six years ago for Maryland state attorney general.

For a complete list of donations to Perez in the 2006 campaign cycle, see ...

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California group targets McCain on immigration

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Californians for Population Stabilization, a Santa Barbara, Calif.-based nonprofit, is running ads in Arizona against the state's senior senator, Republican John McCain, asking his constituents to call him and tell him to change his stance on immigration reform.

The ad buy, which cost more than $22,000, is scheduled to air through March 29 on the ABC network during prime time and the morning news slot. The group has run similar ads in the past, attacking Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., during the 2012 campaign, calling them out for supporting increased immigration instead of ...

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McConnell fires back in early campaign air wars

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On the defensive and trying to wade off a Tea Party challenge, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has hit the airwaves with ads 20 months before Election Day.

His campaign is dropping at least $21,000 to run its first ads of the 2014 campaign, in the Louisville TV market over the next week during the Today Show, the nightly news, Dancing with the Stars and Americas Funniest Home videos, new ad buys disclosed on Political Ad Sleuth show. The Associated Press quoted a McConnell's spokesman as saying the total ad buy will run into six figures. (Only ...

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As earmark lobbyist gets out of jail, former colleagues still on the trail

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PMA Group logo

Paul J. Magliocchetti, the former House Appropriations staffer who went on to be a top lobbyist for earmarks, got out of prison today. Magliocchetti pled guilty to charges that he made illegal campaign donations. He was served a 27-month sentence for admitting to funneling more than $380,000 to House and Senate campaigns through straw donors.

PMA Group, Magliocchetti's firm, boasted a stable of lobbyists who had gone through the revolving door, some 33 in all, including 7 who worked for the congressional appropriations committees or their members. Of those, 28 are still registered to lobby the federal government ...

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