Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

1. Using TransparencyData.com to track Goldman's partners

   By Bill Allison Apr 22, 2010 3:34 p.m.

   We all know, thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics, that Goldman Sachs is a heavy hitter--in the 2008 presidential cycle, among the top donors to both Barack Obama and John McCain, that its employees, their family members and its PAC favor Democrats in their giving by a two to one margin (and three to one in the 2008 election cycle), and Goldman Sachs has been among the top 100 donors to 286 election campaign committees for members of Congress.

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2. Washington Post cites Russian role in Kyrgyzstan unrest

   By Bill Allison Apr 12, 2010 4:56 p.m.

   The Washington Post reports that "Kremlin-friendly television stations and newspapers" and Russian economic sanctions played a key role in the toppling of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

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3. Stupak 11 post: What we got wrong

   By Bill Allison and Anu Narayanswamy Apr 1, 2010 9 a.m.

   We set out to look at how leadership--of both parties--persuades rank and file members to vote their way. In the 111th Congress, we've seen enormous discipline on both sides of the aisle on a series of high profile votes. Our hunch is that the leadership of both parties has something to do with that, and understanding what levers they have--whether it's funding earmarks, supporting their campaigns with money, appearing at fundraisers or through other means that we still can't track with the current state of congressional disclosure--is something we want to follow in the coming months.

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4. Correction and update on our Stupak 11 Post

   By Bill Allison and Anupama Narayanswamy Mar 30, 2010 5:54 p.m.

   We have made more corrections to the report we did on the Stupak 11. First, the simpler errors. We have learned that there are additional errors in the spreadsheet we posted along with the story--there were a total of four numbers that were overstated by a factor of ten. This led to us erroneously listing Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper among the five members whose earmark request totals increased for fiscal year 2011--her earmark requests actually declined. We deeply regret the error, and thank Rep. Dahlkemper for pointing it out.

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5. Cao, two other Republicans ignore House GOP earmark moratorium

   By Bill Allison Mar 29, 2010 12:59 p.m.

   Rep. Joseph Cao, R-La., is one of at least three House Republicans to ignore his caucus's ban on requesting fiscal year 2011 earmarks. Cao requested projects totaling more than  $500 million for his district.

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6. Editor's Note: Correction to Stupak 11 post

   By Bill Allison Mar 29, 2010 11:43 a.m.

   A note about our story, "After health care vote, Stupak 11 request billions in earmarks." For Rep. Charles Wilson, D-Ohio, we had inaccurate amounts for both FY2011 and FY2010 in the Google spreadsheet, available here, that accompanied the article. Wilson has requested $84 million in earmarks for FY2011, up from $62.3 million in FY2010. The spreadsheet originally listed these numbers as higher by a factor of ten, which threw off our calculation of the total amount of earmarks requested. We rechecked that number and the rest of our other numbers, and have since corrected the post.

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7. POIA aims to make public records truly public

   By Bill Allison Mar 16, 2010 2:45 p.m.

   According to a procurement officer in the Transportation Department, SF-LLLs, a disclosure form filed by lobbyists when they help their clients pursue contract or grant awards, are filed away with other contracting documents and "kept in a secure place so no one has access to the them." This, despite the fact that, in fine print on the lower left hand side of the document are the words, "This information will be available for public inspection."

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8. Earmark Season: Republicans up the ante on Democratic for-profit ban

   By Bill Allison Mar 11, 2010 5:03 p.m.

   Following the announcement by Rep. David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, and Rep. Norm Dicks, incoming chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, that members can no longer earmark funs to for profit companies, the House Republicans have adopted a one-year moratorium on earmark requests.

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9. How a grant grew from $35,000 to almost a million

   By Bill Allison Mar 11, 2010 11:27 a.m.

   In 2004, the National Park Service gave the George Wright Society, a Hancock, Mich.-based nonprofit that promotes preservation and understanding of natural and cultural resources, a $35,000 cooperative agreement (a kind of grant in which the recipient will work closely with a federal agency to accomplish a public purpose) to host a pair of conferences. Over five years, that initial cooperative agreement grew in value to more than $800,000, and came to include such projects as coordinating the complex travel arrangements for archaeologists to visit Afghanistan (something the nonprofit has yet to do).

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10. Members, staffers on both sides of "Chinese wall" between earmarks, fundraisers?

    By Bill Allison Mar 7, 2010 8:57 a.m.

    If nothing else, Jeffrey Smith's story in the Washington Post proves that Mark Twain's critique of congressional investigations still holds: "One does not blindfold one's self in order to investigate an object." So it is in the matter of PMA Group, the lobbying group that was a top donor to members of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee who were top earmarkers for PMA Group's clients.

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11. Rangel bows out at Ways and Means

    By Bill Allison Mar 3, 2010 4:01 p.m.

    The Hill reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tapped California Democrat Rep. Pete Stark to fill in for Charles Rangel, who's taken a leave of absence from the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee after being admonished by the Select Committee on Ethics. Unlike Rangel, who was a favorite of banks, brokerages and insurers, Stark's most generous supporters are tax exempt organizations.

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12. Barney Frank deals a bill, internet poker lobby antes up

    By Bill Allison Mar 2, 2010 10:13 p.m.

    Via the Real Time Ticker, the Federal Election Commission has posted the latest form 3-L -- or bundling report -- from Rep. Barney Frank's campaign. The disclosure lists the names of lobbyists who have raised at least $16,000 from donors to give to Frank's campaign committee. Page two of the latest filing from the Frank campaign shows that John Pappas, a lobbyist for the Poker Players Alliance, bundled $51,200 for the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who also happens to be the sponsor of the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act. The Poker Players Alliance supports that bill.

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13. In Indiana, stimulus grows rainy day fund

    By Bill Allison Mar 2, 2010 5:45 p.m.

    The North West Indiana County Times recently pointed out something fascinating about how Indiana was using funds granted to it under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

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14. The top issue: unemployment

    By Bill Allison Feb 16, 2010 1:07 p.m.

    Our friend Jim Harper has written a post noting that one of the bills made available for comments on his WashingtonWatch.com site (full disclosure: Sunlight has supported it financially) has gotten more than 100,000 comments from users of the site. To me, that seems like a stupendous total for a site that tracks legislation.

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Investigations by Sunlight Foundation reporter Bill Allison