Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Google requests AdWords service be exempted from FEC rule

Google has asked the Federal Elections Commission for an exemption from rules requiring disclaimers on campaign ads generated by its AdWords service. The marketing tool provided by Google sells tailored ads that only appear when someone has searched for designated keywords. The ads are small—only 95 characters in all—and only paid for when an internet user clicks on them. 

NIH urged to create a single website showing grantees' funding

Dr. Charles Nemeroff’s name is synonymous with what can go wrong when scientists who receive funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. government’s $31 billion a year medical research arm, fail to disclose business relationships that pose a conflict of interest.

In wake of court rulings, new political groups intervene in primaries

When Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet fended off a tough primary challenge from former State House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, he got a little bit of help from a new kind of political player, which spent $50,000 to make phone calls promoting the incumbent, according to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

States of Transparency: Alaska

The Open Government Directive encouraged states to put valuable government data online. In this series we're reviewing each state's efforts in this direction.

Bob Bauer in his own words

Robert F. Bauer, who will take on part of the responsibilities of Norm Eisen, the departing Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, has a long and storied career in Washington. He has represented the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Kerry and Obama presidential campaigns, and 527 organizations like Vote Now and America Coming Together. He’s defended Democratic politicians who ran into ethics trouble, including former Rep. Tony Coelho and former Sen. Robert Torricelli—both of whom were forced to give up their offices as ethics charges mounted against them. He's filed ethics complaints against Republican and Republican-leaning organizations, most spectacularly when he prepared a complaint alleging racketeering on the part of former Republican Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay for extortion (for his aggressive fundraising), money laundering and illegally coordinating with section 527 groups to evade campaign finance laws. The suit was later dropped.

EPA limits chemical accident data citing security concerns

It has been 20 years since Congress included provisions in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments to inform citizens of risks from factories using hazardous substances, but the data that details the potential effects of accidents at these sites is largely unavailable to the public.

Project updates on Recovery.gov lack clarity

A Texas company that received $14,675 in economic stimulus money submitted a mandatory progress report to the federal government using just two words: “door mats.” A California solar energy company went to the other extreme, using technical language that gave little insight of what it did with a half-million dollars in taxpayer money.

Researching Shelby's earmarks using Poligraft

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., requested earmarks for at least ten companies that have been donors to the lawmaker in this election cycle. Five of those companies have been long-term contributors to Shelby.

Follow the Money: What kind of wave will 2010 bring ashore?

Opinion polls and prognosticators alike suggest that Republicans are poised to make a major comeback in this year’s midterm elections. The comparison du jour is the 1994 “wave” that swept 54 Democrats in the House of Representatives out of office and the Republicans into power for the first time since 1956. A more accurate comparison, based on a Sunlight Foundation analysis of campaign finance disclosure information, would be the 2006 elections when Democrats won 31 seats and a bare majority in the House.

Citizens United: Tennessee's response

States of Transparency: Missouri

The Open Government Directive encouraged states to put valuable government data online. In this series we're reviewing each state's efforts in this direction.

Disappearmarks: How highway projects get left behind

Pennsylvania's Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge.

"It's left up to the members"

My colleague Anu Narayanswamy has written on House disbursements; interestingly, they figure in a footnote of Rep. Charles Rangel's defense against the charges leveled against him by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct:

Rangel's ethics defense, visualized