Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

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

   By Keenan Steiner Jan 25, 2013 1:47 p.m.

   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.

   Read all about it

2. Inaugural party surprise: VIP room off limits to congressional VIPs

   By Keenan Steiner Jan 22, 2013 6:01 p.m.

   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.

   Read all about it

3. Obama inaugural officials tight-lipped at press conference

   By Keenan Steiner Jan 16, 2013 5:23 p.m.

   Officials with President Obama's inaugural committee took questions from reporters Wednesday at the National Press Club but the answers were less than illuminating.  Here's the rundown:

   Read all about it

4. Eight corporations donate to Obama's inaugural so far

   By Keenan Steiner Jan 14, 2013 1:01 p.m.

   After lifting the lid on donations to his second inauguration and agreeing to accept corporate contributions, President Barack Obama only has eight corporate donors so far, according to an updated donor list posted on the inaugural committee's website over the weekend. 

   Read all about it

5. After the inaugural balls, where does the extra money go?

   By Keenan Steiner Jan 9, 2013 1:23 p.m.

   President Barack Obama's aggressive inaugural fundraising -- he's reversed the ban on corporate donors, lifted the lid on contributions and is soliciting up to $1 million for various VIP ticket packages -- raises an intriguing question: What's he planning to do with all the money? After all, the Presidential Inaugural Committee already has radically downsized the number of official balls.

   Read all about it

6. Obama discloses less about inaugural donors

   By Keenan Steiner Jan 4, 2013 7:41 p.m.

   What a difference four years makes: President Barack Obama, who began his first term with a promise to change the way Washington works, barred corporate donations to his first inauguration, capped individual contributions at $50,000 and began disclosing his donors and bundlers more than a month before his swearing-in.

   Read all about it

7. House rules package has new ethics clauses, strange wrinkles

   By Keenan Steiner Jan 3, 2013 3:14 p.m.

   Fresh off taking the oath of office earlier today, the new members of the House of Representatives are about to vote to adopt a set of rules and orders this afternoon. There are a few ethics-related changes that are significant. There are also some unusual new wrinkles.

   Read all about it

8. Incoming FEC chair's wish list for 2013

   By Keenan Steiner Dec 21, 2012 4:22 p.m.

   With the end of the year, the six federal election commissioners are preparing to play their annual game of musical chairs. That means a new chair of the commission for 2013. She has lots she wants to accomplish.

   Read all about it

9. FEC says yes to texting, no to Yamaha

   By Keenan Steiner Dec 21, 2012 12:19 p.m.

   At its last meeting of the year Thursday, the Federal Election Commission approved a new way to charge donors who want to give to political committees via text message. But it did not approve a proposed novel way for companies to bulk up their political action committees' receipts -- by soliciting independent dealers that sell their products.

   Read all about it

10. Groups ask feds to investigate mystery corporate campaign donations

    By Keenan Steiner Dec 20, 2012 11:28 p.m.

    Election watchdog groups are asking the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission to investigate a mysterious series of large campaign donation first reported by Sunlight.

    Read all about it

11. And the ads go on: 2012's big campaign spenders keep up the air wars

    By Keenan Steiner Dec 14, 2012 5:03 p.m.

    Think the campaign season was over? Since Election Day, dozens of TV, web and radio ads have been airing in political battlegrounds, many of them directly naming lawmakers. The Sunlight Foundation has been archiving them on Ad Hawk, a mobile app that allows viewers to help flag political advertising that they are seeing and learn about the funders behind ads .

    Read all about it

12. Jim DeMint's possible successors: influence profiles

    By Keenan Steiner Dec 11, 2012 6:16 p.m.

    Rep. Tim Scott, the frontrunner to replace retiring Sen. Jim DeMint, owned an AllState insurance branch before being elected to congress. His biggest campaign donor has been the conservative Club for Growth.

    Read all about it

13. FEC considers whether company can solicit PAC contributions from its dealers

    By Keenan Steiner Dec 6, 2012 6:49 p.m.

    Can Slim Jim solicit employees of 7-11 for donations to its political action committee? 

    Read all about it

14. Who benefited most from dark money in the 2012 election?

    By Keenan Steiner Dec 5, 2012 3:42 p.m.

    Eighteen incoming members of Congress each got more than $1 million in dark money donations during their recent campaigns, but many more have reason to resent the stealthiest of campaign contributions, a Sunlight Foundation analysis has found. Dark money represents campaign contributions whose sources never have to be publicly reported. That's because the money is funneled through non-profit entities organized under a section of the tax code that protects them from having to name their donors. These kind of groups -- such as the pro-GOP Crossroads GPS and the pro-Democrat League of Conservation Voters -- have increased their electoral role in the wake of a series of court rulings that opened the door for unlimited corporate and union spending on campaigns. Nonprofit groups made more than $300 million of such donations during the course of the 2012 election cycle, the vast majority to influence the fall races.

    Read all about it

Investigations by Sunlight Foundation reporter Keenan Steiner