Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

1. Utah sees $1.6 million in outside spending, including a corporation

   By Lindsay Young Jun 26, 2012 11:50 a.m.

   Spending by outside interest groups helped force Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, into a primary, but the veteran lawmaker, comfortably ahead in Tuesday's race according to an election eve poll, is benefiting from some home state corporate love.

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2. $12 million in the dark

   By Lindsay Young Jun 25, 2012 12:45 p.m.

   So far this year, groups that do not disclose their donors, and legally are not required to do so, have reported almost $12.4 million in political spending to the Federal Election Commission, much of it made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. 

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3. Senate hears from heavy hitters on both sides of fracking debate

   By Lindsay Young Jun 19, 2012 4:39 p.m.

   The effect on the water supply of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking -- a method for extracting heretofore hard to reach natural gas reserves -- has caught national attention, even inspiring a fiercely critical movie. Now, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is looking into the effect of fracking on the air -- and getting an earful from witnesses from organizations on both sides of the debate with long track records in Washington's influence game..

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4. Mitt Romney makes an early appearance in lobbying filings

   By Lindsay Young Jun 12, 2012 9:13 a.m.

   It's not surprising that a Republican stalwart like Bob Dole, the party's 1996 presidential candidate and, prior to that, the Senate Majority Leader, would have occasion to speak with current GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney. But the context is: Dole's firm, Alston and Bird, disclosed that he's started to lobby Mitt Romney on behalf of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office of the United States (TECRO), the diplomatic mission of Taiwan to the United States.

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5. Realtors take out big mortgage on California House race

   By Lindsay Young Jun 6, 2012 10:23 a.m.

   Tuesday's contest in California's 31st Congressional District morphed into the biggest outside money spending spree of any House primary so far, thanks a massive influx of funds by the National Association of Realtors on behalf of Rep. Gary Miller.

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6. Opposition grows to Jamie Dimon role at Federal Reserve

   By Lindsay Young May 29, 2012 1:52 p.m.

   A grassroots movement  with some big name support is calling for Washington’s favorite banker to cut his ties with the Fed. Some 30,000 signatures have been collected on a Change.org petition urging that the chief executive of embattled JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, resign or be removed from the New York Federal Reserve's board of directors. The petition creator, Simon Johnson, is the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. In the past Change.org waged successful campaigns on issues ranging form the Bank of America debit card fee, to working conditions in Apple’s Chinese factories.

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7. Despite 'unlikes' over Facebook, Morgan Stanley still has friends in high places

   By Lindsay Young May 24, 2012 1:40 p.m.
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8. JPMorgan better at hedging political bets than financial investments?

   By Lindsay Young May 15, 2012 12:42 p.m.

   JPMorgan Chase & Co. may have lost a $2 billion dollar bet on the markets, but the investment giant's campaign contributions show a much more conservative approach, featuring mega contributions to both political parties -- and both of this year's leading presidential candidates.

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9. With merger, expect airline lobbying to take off

   By Lindsay Young Apr 20, 2012 12:10 p.m.
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10. Brazil-U.S. trip part of larger PR strategy

    By Lindsay Young Apr 10, 2012 8:45 a.m.
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11. Health care lobbying groups head to the Supreme Court

    By Lindsay Young Mar 23, 2012 11 a.m.

    If war is politics by other means, so is litigation. While there will be plenty of rhetoric today about President Obama's health care law on the second anniversary of its signing -- including a new op-ed by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who was for the health care reform in Massachusetts before he was against it nationally --  the big battle begins Monday, when the Supreme Court opens an unusual three days of argument over the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

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12. Naming names: How super PAC ads might look if DISCLOSE were enacted

    By Lindsay Young Mar 21, 2012 5:47 p.m.

    If this hasn't happened yet to you, it probably will in this year of record-breaking spending by outside interest groups: You are watching TV or perusing the Internet when you are confronted by one of those ads telling you that your prospective public servant is a disgusting human being and completely incompetent. Worst of all, the ads are brought to you by a committee or organization whose vague name gives no clue as to its true identity. Then you ask, "Who is doing this to me? "

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13. Who's the web savviest presidential candidate of all?

    By Lindsay Young Mar 20, 2012 9:12 a.m.

    Running for president requires web presence. Facebook, Twitter, web videos and websites that take online donations are ubiquitous among this year's presidential contenders. Yet, in an ever-more sophisticated technical world, the basics are not enough, and each candidate is trying some unique approaches to mine the Internet for donations -- a key to President Obama's fundraising success in 2008.

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14. How super PACs fared on Super Tuesday

    By Lindsay Young Mar 7, 2012 2:02 p.m.

    We won't know how much the candidates poured into Super Tuesday races until they file disclosure forms with the Federal Election Commission next month but it's not too soon to take a look at the Super Tuesday scorecard for super PACs, using Sunlight's Super PAC tracker.

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Investigations by Sunlight Foundation reporter Lindsay Young