Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Gun lobby has some chits to collect on Judiciary Committee

Another delay in ethics probes of Reps. Schock, Owens

Thanks to a parliamentary quirk and a slow start getting organized, the House Ethics Committee will not be releasing information today about the ethics probes into two members of Congress.

New members of the 113th: What they own and whom they owe

Even before he was elected last November to represent Chicago's southern exurbs in the House, Illinois Democrat Bill Foster decided to sell his stake in Electronic Theatre Controls, a company he founded with his brother. Foster jettisoned the shares -- worth at least $5 million -- "to minimize potential conflicts of interest when voting on legislation that might impact his personal finances," according to his press secretary. 

Shadow lobbyists, ex-lobbyists, give to Obama inaugural committee

Lucky for longtime lobbyist Mickey Ibarra, the president of his own lobbying and strategy shop, he could buy that champagne flute with the presidential inaugural seal.

Biden pitches gun control in NRA country

When Vice President Joe Biden travels to Richmond, Va. today to participate in a roundtable about gun violence, he'll be visiting a state where the legislature largely has beaten back proposals to regulate guns, and where politicians have gotten $2.2 million in support from gun rights groups over the past two decades.

Gabrielle Giffords: From gun victim to gun control lobbyist?

As the debate over President Barack Obama's proposed gun legislation heats up on Capitol Hill, gun control advocates have a potential ace in the hole: Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., the victim of a horrific incident of gun violence that interrupted a once-promising political career, is about to become eligible to lobby.

NRA gives more than $2 million to support politicians in Texas, New Mexico

During the past two decades, the National Rifle Association has contributed more than $2 million to support politicians in New Mexico and Texas, where the nation's latest outbreaks of gun violence occurred this week.

Roe v. Wade at 40: Abortion debate fuels multi-million-dollar influence effort

Inside spending: super PACs, dark money groups dominated by political insiders

By suppressing the speech of manifold corporations, both for-profit and nonprofit, the Government prevents their voices and viewpoints from reaching the public and advising voters on which persons or entities are hostile to their interests.

Inaugural party surprise: VIP room off limits to congressional VIPs

Celebrities from John Leguizamo to Marlon Wayans were bused to Washington D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre Monday night for a gala to celebrate with the second inauguration of President Barack Obama but in an odd reversal of their usual good fortune, members of Congress found themselves shut out of the Creative Coalition's VIP party-within-a-party.

Majority of states prohibit access to gun records

(Updated 1/19 7:25 a.m.)

Corporations pony up for inauguration bashes

President Obama may have downsized the number of official inaugural balls, but everybody knows that the real party goes on at the more than 100 unofficial galas and late-night parties, often sponsored by corporations, interest groups and state societies.

Political war profiteers: 20 consulting firms churn 80 percent of super PAC cash

In the three years since the Supreme Court's Jan. 21, 2010 ruling in Citizens United, the super PACs that decision helped to spawn have largely been seen as advertising machines. But an anniversary-eve analysis by the Sunlight Foundation show that they have created a class of super consultants.

Ad site snafu raises questions about FCC oversight

For the first time last year, the Federal Communications Commission began requiring certain TV stations to post political ad buy contracts online. Yet an apparent snafu at a Florida station that kept all buys made in the final month of the election offline until earlier this month raises questions about just how well that system is working.