Though we can't predict the rhetorical tropes--not the thematic structure or the memorable lines or phrases that will fall flat--a look at the world of influence might tell us some of the issues President Barack Obama will touch on in his fourth State of the Union address. If a part of politics is rewarding your friends while giving your opponents good government, then the 2012 contest--which featured history's first billion-dollar presidential campaign (Obama's), first billion-dollar-plus outside spending campaign, plus oodles of special interest cash flowing to congressional candidates--leaves a lot of ground to cover.
Sunlight combed through ...
Continue readingTwo freshmen seek end to corporate personhood
Two new members of Congress, Reps. Rick Nolan, DFL-Minn., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., will introduce a resolution on Tuesday aimed at reducing corporate influence in politics through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
According to Nolan, the amendment would establish that "corporations are not people, and money is not speech." In a press conference Monday, he announced the plan along with representatives from Move to Amend (MTA), a coalition that seeks to eliminate corporate personhood rights. The organization officially launched Jan. 21, 2010, the day that the Supreme Court handed down the Citizens United decision that opened the floodgates ...
Continue readingSenior status: Three members of Congress are older than the pope
The Catholic Church may be one of the few institutions on the planet where news of an employee's retirement at age 85 is considered "shocking."
The other is the U.S. Congress.
Pope Benedict's announcement today that he will be stepping down, ceding to the infirmities of old age, got us wondering how many members of Congress are older than the pontiff, who was born April 16, 1927.
Sunlight developer Eric Mill, using an API he recently produced, came up with a quick answer: Three ...
Continue readingGun groups extend influence battle to state houses
DENVER -- A group of Democratic state legislators here had barely concluded their press conference unveiling a broad package of gun control bills when an outspoken opponent threatened to make them pay in the next election.
"I think the question for the Democrat caucus is, are you really ready to stake the 2014 elections on the gun issue?" Dudley Brown, executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, said to Colorado Public Radio last week. Brown and the group, whose motto is "don't give an inch," have been the source of $23,800 to Colorado politicians since 1996, according to a ...
Continue readingEmergency Committee for Israel keeps spending in fight against Hagel
(Updated Feb. 8, 5:52 p.m.)
The Emergency Committee for Israel has launched a new ad campaign to oppose former Sen. Chuck Hagel's nomination for secretary of defense, after the vote to confirm him was delayed in the Senate.
A decision by the Senate Armed Services Committee to postpone its vote on Hagel's nomination -- made because some committee members said they wanted more information about Hagel's speaking engagements -- gave the groups spending against him more time to place ads. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the committee, said he plans to hold the vote as soon ...
Continue readingBloomberg spending in Chicago congressional race
(Updated Feb. 7, 10:06 p.m. ET)
A super PAC founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has jumped into a special election to fill a Chicago-area congressional seat, criticizing one of the candidates for her opposition to gun control.
Independence USA PAC has purchased at least $660,000 of ad time from Chicago network stations to oppose Democrat Debbie Halvorson, one of a big field of candidates vying for the seat that ex-Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. vacated last year. Halvorson already won a House seat in 2008. In her failed 2010 reelection bid, she won the endorsement ...
Continue readingOn Wisconsin: Badger State gets no break from political air wars
(Updated Feb. 8, 2:45 p.m. ET)
Conservative outside spending group Wisconsin Club for Growth has purchased at least $111,000 in television ads in support of incumbent Justice Pat Roggensack, ramping up a political ad war in what is officially a non-partisan race for the state's Supreme Court.
The advertisements are set to start today and run at least until Feb. 18 -- the day before the primary election -- according to information gathered from Political Ad Sleuth, a Sunlight tool that tracks political ad purchases, and phone calls to local stations. Steve Scadden, a sales manager for Madison ...
Continue readingInfluence profile: Interior nominee Sally Jewell
Interior Secretary-designate Sally Jewell has donated $57,000 to political groups and candidates since 1996 -- including $2,300 to President Barack Obama, who on Wednesday nominated her to join his Cabinet.
But the man who will be her boss if the Senate confirms Jewell is not her chief beneficiary: Data downloaded from Sunlight's Influence Explorer shows that Jewell has given more to two home-state Democrats: $5,300 to Gov. Jay Inslee and $4,800 to Sen. Patty Murray.
Jewell, the chief executive of outdoor retailer REI, also gave to politically active trade groups, including the Retail Industry Leaders Assocation ...
Continue readingAnti-Hagel ad spending tops $200K
(Updated Feb. 6, 11 a.m.)
Outside groups have spent at least $212,000 on television advertisements aimed at torpedoing former Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Obama's controversial nominee to head the Pentagon, with a Senate Armed Services Committee vote on his nomination set to occur as early as Thursday.
The spending was picked up by Sunlight Foundation's Political Ad Sleuth, which tracks political ad buys. The figures almost certainly understate the amount of money being pumped into the anti-Hagel campaign: Political Ad Sleuth relies heavily on ads uploaded to the Federal Communications Commission's online database; currently only ...
Continue readingIn floor speeches, lawmakers talk about their guns
During debate on the Senate floor over the Compromise of 1850, Henry Foote of MIssissippi pulled out a pistol and waved it around, threatening another senator, Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri. Lawmakers are no longer allowed to bring guns on the floor, but plenty own them, as a survey of Congress by USA Today shows. And they are of course allowed to talk about their guns. In fact, they talk about them in speeches on the floors of the House and Senate, according to a search of Capitol Words.
Interestingly, many of the lawmakers often pull out their gun toting ...
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