Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

1. Clip job

   By Bill Allison May 28, 2009 5:02 a.m.

   Of the 100 projects listed in the 100 Days, 100 Projects report, 37 come from newspaper, wire service and broadcast outlets. So why is government depending on Nexis searches for its data on Recovery spending?

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2. West Virginia...

   By Bill Allison May 28, 2009 3:14 a.m.

   ...is apparently in the Midwest. Look at project numbers 56 and 57 in the 100 Days, 100 Projects report...

3. How much stimulus money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb?

   By Bill Allison May 28, 2009 1:51 a.m.

   Apparently $109.5 million. From the aforementioned 100 Days, 100 Projects report:

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4. Open Secrets of 100 Days, 100 Projects

   By Bill Allison May 27, 2009 11:26 p.m.

   Hm. The Obama Administration released a new report on Recovery spending, 100 Days, 100 Projects. "As we worked to compile the Report, all of us were struck by the very personal stories that we came across. We learned that Recovery is about more than just projects. It's about helping people who have been hit hard by the worst recession of our lifetimes," the blog post announcing the work states.

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5. Delving into Rep. Lewis' earmark requests

   By Bill Allison May 26, 2009 9:27 p.m.

   Ben Goad reports for the Press Enterprise that Rep. Jerry Lewis, former chair and now ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, earmarked $96 million for firms represented by Innovative Federal Strategies, which was once under federal investigation:

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6. Links to Senate earmark disclosure requests in a database

   By Bill Allison May 20, 2009 3:13 p.m.

   They labeled them as funding priorities, programs and project requests, investments in their states and, in just one case, earmarks. They posted image files that can't be cut and pasted, tables, single files with every item or dozens of files for each individual item. Still, 96 members of the Senate have, for the very first time, posted their earmark requests for appropriations bills online"and you can find all the links to those disclosures here.

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7. You can't go far...

   By Bill Allison May 20, 2009 12:32 p.m.

   ...without running into Chinese dominance in some form of production and Goldman Sachs. It's after midnight, so I'm researching (what else) some earmarks. I came across a company, Molycorp Minerals, that might get $3 million from taxpayers to develop metal separation techniques in the U.S. so that we're not dependent on the Chinese for magnetic ores. The taxpayer money "will be leveraged against more than $20 million in private capital to accelerate the engineering and scale of this work."

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8. Updating House transportation reauthorization database...

   By Bill Allison May 20, 2009 12:52 a.m.

   ...with this requests from Rep. Tom Perriello. Worth taking a look at -- I like the way he uses Google maps along with the requests:

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9. New Mexico Independent asks for help hunting earmarks

   By Bill Allison May 19, 2009 10:09 p.m.

   The New Mexico Independent is asking readers to delve into the earmark requests of Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, and comment on anything interesting they find. This is what's really important -- while the hide-and-go-seek disclosure methods of Congress make for an amusing diversion, it's the substance of the disclosures should command our attention.

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10. Pressure building on Murtha?

    By Bill Allison May 19, 2009 12:16 p.m.

    Justin Rood reports on the ABC News Investigative blog on the several different investigations of Rep. John Murtha, the defunct PMA Group which funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions to Murtha from its PAC, employees and its clients, many of which were the beneficiaries of Murtha earmarks. Rood notes that these investigations are all distinct inquiries:

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11. Journal-Gazette finds Lugar earmark disclosures

    By Bill Allison May 18, 2009 10:09 p.m.

    Sylvia A. Smith, finds, to the best of my knowledge, the first online disclosure of earmark requests by a member of the Senate: Sen. Richard Lugar:

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12. Whither stimulus contracts?

    By Bill Allison May 18, 2009 9:52 p.m.

    The Washington Post's Kimberly Kindy reports that the Dept. of Energy is awarding stimulus funds to companies specializing in nuclear clean-ups that have a mixed track record:

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13. More transportation reauthorization earmark requests

    By Bill Allison May 18, 2009 4:37 p.m.

    A couple of staffers have emailed links to postings that their members have put online; I've updated our little Dabble database of earmark requests (I love Dabble, by the way -- fast becoming one of my favorite tools). So I've added requests for Rep. Zack Space and for Rep. Joe Wilson.

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14. Requirements matter: Just 83 members disclosed transportation earmark requests

    By Bill Allison May 15, 2009 6:48 p.m.

    Apparently, deadlines do matter. Just 83 House members disclosed their earmark requests for the upcoming transportation reauthorization bill (that last version, SAFETEA-LU, was loaded with Prairie Parkway and Bridge to Nowhere--both of which were earmarks) on the same day that they submitted them to the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.

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Investigations by Sunlight Foundation reporter Bill Allison