As donors and Democratic activists meet with President Obama surrogates today and tomorrow to discuss the launch of a political nonprofit group that will help advance president's agenda, new details have emerged about it. But not the list of high rollers who have been asked to pay $50,000 to dine tonight with the president.
Continue readingCruz gears up fundraising machine
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has managed to upend the adage about freshmen being seen and not heard in the less-than 10 weeks since he took his seat as the Lone Star State's junior senator, likes to portray himself as a political maverick. But when it comes to fundraising, he's playing like a classic insider.
The brash Texas Republican, who this week is trying to defund President Barack Obama's signature health care law, earlier this month registered the Cruz Victory Committee, a joint fundraising arm. By creating the group, Cruz eases the way for big givers to ...
Continue readingSince Newtown, full employment for gun lobbyists
Since the Dec. 14 shooting that left 26 people dead at a Connecticut elementary school, at least 22 lobbyists have registered to influence Congress on gun-related issues, and several have been holding fundraisers for Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who is a potential swing vote in the legislative battle on Capitol Hill.
Continue readingConyers deletes Rand Paul shoutout
(Updated 12:15 p.m. 3/11)
When Sen. Rand Paul tied the Senate up in knots for a day last week to make a point about the Obama administration's controversial use of drones to assassinate enemies of the U.S., the libertarian Kentucky Republican was hitting on one of those rare issues that unites activists on the political left and right.
Evidence came when veteran Rep. John Conyers, who ranks as one of the most liberal Democrats in the House, tweeted out a "you go" about the Paul filibuster. The 83-year-old Detroit lawmaker was sufficiently hip to use ...
Continue readingWith court case looming, FEC has trouble deciding how to say it can’t decide
The issue at the Federal Election Commission Thursday: Deciding how to say "we can't decide."
Not coming to a decision on the issue of how to regulate political speech has become commonplace at an agency divided between two Democratic commissioners in favor of increasing disclosure of the funders behind political ads and three Republicans opposing reform. With four votes needed to take any action, there are a lot of no decisions.
But on Thursday, things got a bit more frustrating than usual.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., who is suing the FEC over donor disclosure
There was a brief ...
Continue readingKoch brother among donors to Mark Sanford redemption run
Updated 1:44 p.m. 3/8
David Koch, one of the nation's most generous underwriters of conservative causes, is among more than 250 donors chipping in to help disgraced former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford get his political career on track. So is Foster Friess, a conservative millionaire who bet heavily last year on former Sen. Rick Santorum's failed bid for the Republican nomination and made headlines with his unorthodox views on contraception.
Both gave $2,500 each to Sanford's campaign to win back the House seat that that he held in the 1990s, according to ...
Continue readingPresidential campaign 2016 off and running
A group based in his home state is airing ads against Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell in Iowa and New Hampshire to preempt a potential 2016 presidential campaign by the term-limited Republican.
Continue readingAnti-immigration lobby runs first ad targeting Lindsey Graham
The first issue ad of the immigration reform battle hit the airwaves in South Carolina last week, targeting Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who is up for reelection in 2014. NumbersUSA, one of the leading groups opposing comprehensive immigration reform paid for the ads, reports filed with the Federal Communication Commission show. The group, headed by long time advocate Roy Beck, has been around since the late '90s and argues that increased immigration will deplete the country’s resources, leading to sprawl, congestion and restrictions on individual liberties.
The new ad targets two key elements of the immigration debate, granting ...
Continue readingMark Sanford drops third ad in special election
Ahead of the primary in South Carolina's special congressional election later this month, former Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican who's trying to make a comeback after a particularly public scandal, released a new TV ad Thursday.
What Jon Kyl won’t be lobbying on
Jon Kyl, the number two Senate Republican leader before retiring in January, has quickly become an advisor to influence powerhouse Covington & Burlington, a firm that has spent nearly $100 million lobbying in the nation's capital, Sunlight's Influence Explorer shows. Kyl will be joining a bipartisan stable of heavy hitters that includes Stuart Eizenstat, a top official in the Carter and Clinton administrations, and Senate parliamentary wizard Marty Gold.
Technically, the powerful Arizonan will of course not be "lobbying." U.S. statute (relevant section here) prohibits former senators from lobbying their ex-colleagues for two years.
As Sunlight has documented ...
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