Sunlight Foundation

  1. Another Bonner Earmark, another lobbying link

    By Bill Allison Feb 23, 2008 4:27 p.m.

    Going for the low hanging fruit first (earmarks in EarmarkWatch.org). So let's look at the $141,000 that the Alabama School of Math and Science in Mobile, Ala., got in the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Act.

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  2. Aderholt's bio: record levels, responsibility

    By Bill Allison Feb 23, 2008 3:13 a.m.

    I'm still looking mostly at the earmarks that Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., has sponsored, but while I was looking at them, I came across the official biography that Rep. Robert B. Aderholt, another Alabama Republican, has on his Web site. The language is instructive:

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  3. Following Bonner's earmarks

    By Bill Allison Feb 22, 2008 10:23 p.m.

    Let's start with this earmark, because it's already in EarmarkWatch.org, and hence easy to research. A few interesting notes...

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  4. Bonner & earmarks

    By Bill Allison Feb 20, 2008 10:41 p.m.

    Last week, our friends in the Porkbusting movement expressed their dismay that the Republican House leadership chose Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., over Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., for an open slot on the House Appropriations Committee.

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  5. Inspector General launches probe of Traffic.com contracts

    By Bill Allison Feb 5, 2008 4:55 a.m.

    Transportation's Inspector General has launched an investigation of the Transportation Technology Innovation and Demonstration program--at the request of a pair of members of Congress, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.--to determine whether the program, as administered by the Federal Highway Administration, fulfilled the goals set for it by Congress and whether FHWA met competitive procurement requirements that "intended to expand the number of firms providing surveillance services."

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  6. Working the phones for Where Are They Now?

    By Anupama Narayanswamy Jan 29, 2008 9:42 p.m.

    Since we've not had too many volunteers making phone calls to verify if the information collected as part of our distributed research project is accurate, I'm making calls this afternoon.

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  7. Investing in "US Inc."

    By Bill Allison Jan 12, 2008 3:41 a.m.

    Citigroup reportedly is looking to raise additional foreign capital:

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  8. Congress to meet new patrons?

    By Bill Allison Jan 11, 2008 9:45 p.m.

    The New York Times reports that Merrill Lynch and several other big financial firms are seeking foreign investment to offset their losses brought on by their heavy betting on the subprime mortgage market, a development that may be troubling some in Congress:

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  9. Planning for every contingency...

    By Bill Allison Jan 3, 2008 8:56 p.m.

    ...is what can make crafting a distributed research project, like Teresa DeRoco used to work for Sen. George Allen. However, DeRoco no longer works for Tew Cardenas LLP. Page 13 of this lobbyist disclosure report filed in August 2007 by the National Association of Manufacturers lists a Teresa DeRoco Cupit; this wedding announcement seems to confirm it's the same Teresa DeRoco who worked in Sen. George Allen's office:

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  10. New, improved Senate lobbying disclosure site is up and running

    By Bill Allison Jan 2, 2008 10:19 p.m.

    As I noted here, the Senate Office of Public Records lobbying disclosure site is officially up and running (and had been since New Year's Eve--apparently my browsers kept showing the cached version of the old site--which, for diehard fans of it, is still available here). Pam Gavin, the superintendent of public records, told me that about 90 percent of the 2007 midyear reports in the lobbying database were filed electronically, so much of the year's records will be searchable. And, going forward in 2008, all forms will have to be filed that way, greatly enhancing the value of the database.

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  11. Better Online Lobbyist Disclosure -- update

    By Bill Allison Jan 2, 2008 3:32 a.m.

    Last night, I came across an enhanced site for looking up lobbying records posted online by the Senate Office of Public Records. To give an idea of how much better it is, I can tell you that with one search that 22 organizations--including top political donors Citigroup, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, Exxon Mobil and PricewaterhouseCoopers, explicitly mention S. 681, the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act. (Perhaps it should be expected that the Swiss Bankers Association also has an interest in the legislation, although one thing I learned some years back when I was researching taxes is that Switzerland is no longer favored by the international tax avoiding, let alone evading, crowd.)

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  12. Senate Lobbyist Disclosure Enhanced

    By Bill Allison Jan 1, 2008 4:50 a.m.

    Okay, I'm a total geek -- looking up lobbying records at 15 minutes to midnight on New Year's Eve. (The nine-year-old made it to about 11:15 this year, then conked out...) But I hope I'm the first to report that the Senate Office of Public Records has introduced a greatly enhanced search interface for lobbying records -- one that allows users to search specific lobbying issues.

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  13. McCain & Lobbyists

    By Bill Allison Dec 31, 2007 3:18 p.m.

    The Washington Post's Jeffrey H. Birnbaum and John Solomon report on Sen. John McCain's ties to lobbyists--especially the 32 lobbyists who are designated fundraisers (the preferred term is bundlers, but there are more colorful terms available to us) for his campaign.

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  14. Tidbits for Iowans

    By Bill Allison Dec 31, 2007 3:56 a.m.

    DLA Piper, the most generous backer of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, lobbies for defense giant Lockheed Martin on environmental issues (perchlorate, and this bill in particular), for First Kuwaiti

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