Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Congress' family business, Chris Dodd edition

Edmund H. Mahony and Jon Lender of the the Hartford Courant report on Sen. Christopher Dodd's wife:

Specter, unions & Blank Rome LLP

Just a thought about Sen. Arlen Specter's shift to the Democratic party:

The unbearable opacity of TARP: Government agencies can't tell us who's in charge

The new report to Congress from SIGTARP -- the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program -- begins by noting that TARP has evolved into "12 separate, but often interrelated, programs involving government and private funds of up to almost $3 trillion" of an "unprecedented scope, scale, and complexity." The report highlighted the possibilities of fraud and conflicts on interest in the bailout process and calls for better disclosure. We continue to find that even some of the most elementary details about the program -- like who is actually managing distribution of the bailout money to financial institutions -- is still shrouded in secrecy.

Tracking swine flu...

...with Google maps.

Still waiting for FOIA reforms to surface

Roger Strother writes at OMB Watch's Fine Print blog about the latest noise coming out of the Office of Information Policy about the "sea change in the way transparency is viewed across the government." That sea change is supposed to lift a lot of FOIA requests that, unlike boats, seem to sink the bottom with incredible rapidity, then burrow down into the muck at the bottom. We've found that the only way to surface those FOIA requests is the application of vigorous effort (including regularly calling FOIA officers to make sure they haven't forgotten us). Waiting--for months or years at a time--is also a necessary skill to master. In any case, Roger notes:

Political Party Time: More than 170 fundraisers for appropriators (already!) in 2009

We're just past the end of the first quarter of the current election cycle (with seven more to go before it's all over), but members of the Appropriations Committees in the House and the Senate have already had <a href="http://blog.politicalpartytime.org/2009/04/23/more-than-170-parties-with-appropriators/">more than 170 fundraisers</a>, according to my colleague Nancy Watzman.

Bailout Watch debuts from Open the Government

File this one under useful tools -- our friends at Open the Government have launched Bailout Watch, a compendium of resources on TARP, Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and other places. I like the Expert Exchange page.

Hedge fund manager hosts Dodd fundraiser

Andrew Miga of the Associated Press reports on Sen. Chris Dodd's fundraising efforts for his reelection bid, and his tendency to raise it from interests with business before his committee:

Hill: No campaign cash for Visclosky from former PMA Group clients

On April 3rd, we noted that Rep. Pete Visclosky, one of the most prolific recipients of campaign cash from and earmarker of federal dollars to PMA Group clients, had requested no earmarks--not a single one--for former clients of the firm for fiscal year FY 2010. Oddly enough, employees and PACs of former PMA Group clients donated nothing to Visclosky's reelection campaign in the first quarter of 2009, according to Roxana Tiron of the Hill.

Examiner calls for more transparency in TARP

They mention Anu's report of how difficult it was just to get the names of the folks manning the TARP desk. The editorial is here. Key passage:

Pro Publica tracks the bailout

Maybe it has something to do with today being tax day -- Pro Publica launches a very cool Eye on the Bailout

Better links to earmark requests...

...available here.

Open data

It's not just the Open Secrets that's going open data. Our Political Party Time project is making its raw data available too. Find out some of the places where contributors in Open Secrets data rub elbows with members of Congress!

$4.5 billion-dollar tariff break back