Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

1. Business community has its guns aimed at the environment, financial reforms

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Feb 9, 2011 12:51 p.m.

   In a bid to roll back laws and regulations, some passed and some proposed, in the last two years, business conglomerates have targeted a handful of federal agencies -- with the Environmental Protection Agency receiving the bulk of the attention -- in reply to a request by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., calling for industry feedback on which rules the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee should investigate.

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2. OCE report on financial reform shows nexus between fundraising and legislating

   By Keenan Steiner and Anupama Narayanswamy Feb 7, 2011 2:41 p.m.

   On Nov. 24, 2009, Sara Conrad, the fundraising consultant for Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., sent an email to Michael Stein, head of government relations for financial services giant Morgan Stanley, inviting him to attend a Dec. 10 fundraising reception for Crowley’s campaign. The email was a follow-up to a prior conversation he had with Crowley’s chief of staff, Kate Winkler, about the Ways and Means Committee member's upcoming campaign events. 

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3. International influence: Agents of foreign clients report thousands of lobbying contacts, millions in fees

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Dec 2, 2010 12:45 p.m.

   In 2009, lobbying, public relations and other firms that represent some 328 clients —foreign governments, political parties and government-controlled entities including some for-profit corporations—reported receiving more than $60 million in fees—down by about $25 million from the total in the previous year, an analysis of disclosures required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) shows. The Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group has digitized and made searchable data from FARA disclosures. 

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4. Coups, nuclear deals and Gitmo detainees featured in 2009 FARA filings

   By Lindsay Young Dec 2, 2010 12:36 p.m.

   Denounced by their Latin American neighbors, the Obama administration and world opinion following the removal from power and immediate exile of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, the acting Honduran government turned to Washington lobbyists to launch a media and lobbying campaign on Sept. 19, 2009, to regain legitimacy in the United States.

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5. Big spenders: How candidates backed by outside groups fared

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Nov 3, 2010 5:59 p.m.

   Yesterday’s big win for the Republicans was also a major victory for some the outside groups that have spent liberally on the election.

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6. Dark money groups spend $110 million in 168 races

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Oct 28, 2010 3:53 p.m.

   Outside groups that have not disclosed their donors have dumped more than $1 million into each of 14 Senate and 18 House races. As much as $110 million has been pumped into the elections so far by political groups that have yet to disclose their donors, reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission show, and this "dark money" from unknown contributors has impacted 168 congressional races across the country.

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7. Dems narrow the outside spending margin

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Oct 22, 2010 3:06 p.m.

   Ten days before the mid-term elections, and left leaning outside groups still lag behind their conservative counterparts, and are being outspent by $43 million. But spending by the two Democratic party committees--the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee--have narrowed the gap, leaving them $23 million behind all Republican spending. Just five days ago, Democrats trailed overall by $37.6 million. 

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8. Right-leaning outside groups outspending opposition by $40.8 million

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Oct 18, 2010 2:16 p.m.

   Republican-leaning Super PACs and non-party political organizations have reported spending $40.8 million more on mid-term elections than those supporting Democrats, an analysis of Federal Election Commission data shows. 

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9. More cash spent on attack ads than ones supporting candidates

   By Anupama Narayanswamy Oct 15, 2010 3:37 p.m.

   When all the independent influence is added up, Republicans have a $21 million advantage so far over Democrats, a review of Federal Election Commission data shows.

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10. Outside spending hits the $200 million mark

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Oct 14, 2010 1:12 p.m.

    Spending by outside groups trying to influence the mid-term elections increased by a staggering $78 million in the last week, pushing the total spent by non-profits, labor unions and party committees to more than $200 million this cycle. That's an 80 percent increase from 2006, the last mid-term election.

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11. Outside groups spend $13 million in the last six days

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Oct 4, 2010 3:56 p.m.

    In the past six days--Wednesday through today--outside groups have spent more than $13 million to influence the mid-term congressional elections, including broadcast ads, robo-calls, get out the vote campaigns and mailings.

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12. Beyond Super PACs: Political groups up electioneering spending as mid-terms approach

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Sep 30, 2010 2:43 p.m.

    Outside organizations have so far reported spending more than $18 million to run issue ads mentioning candidates within 30 days of primaries and 60 days of the general election--a 31 percent increase over the last mid-term election cycle. Corporate trade associations, labor unions, environmental groups, proponents of traditional values and even a group that opposes big money in politics have run ads in the run up to November 2, reports from the Federal Election Commission show.

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13. Researching Shelby's earmarks using Poligraft

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Aug 6, 2010 12:45 p.m.

    Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., requested earmarks for at least ten companies that have been donors to the lawmaker in this election cycle. Five of those companies have been long-term contributors to Shelby.

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14. House disbursement data for 2010 now online

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Jul 14, 2010 12:13 p.m.

    We’ve released a cleaned up version of the House disbursements data that covers the first quarter of 2010, during which the House spent more than $339 million on salaries, expenses and equipment.

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Investigations by Sunlight Foundation reporter Anupama Narayanswamy