Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Political Ad Sleuth debuts: Track the money behind the campaign ads

Above Las Vegas last week, the air invisibly crackled with attacks and counter-attacks by candidates for a House and a Senate seat -- not to mention President Obama, his rival Mitt Romney and their backers. In Denver, there was a clash of political fronts:  Outside groups like Planned Parenthood and Crossroads GPS competed for airtime with each other, as well as the candidates they are supporting.

Credit in the Gilded Age

I've been reading The Gilded Age, by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner. It's amazing how little the Washington they depict--the lobbyists, the appropriators, the schemes--has changed. This passage, however, put me in mind of our current credit and banking crisis:

More Bonner earmarks...

...later tonight. Right now I'm going to the check out the PorK Fest...

Working the phones for Where Are They Now?

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.

Better Online Lobbyist Disclosure -- update

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.)

Tidbits for Iowans

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

A $471 million anomaly?

Congressional subpoena update

Via National Journal's CongressDaily:

Congressional Subpoena Watch update

Just a few notes...

Getting information during a "war-time situation"

I've been calling various Army public affairs officials to get some information about Blackhawk helicopters and was passed from one official to another. I finally reached the right department and I was asked to send an e-mail listing my questions.

Congressional Subpoena Watch

The Washington Post reports that 13 members of the House of Representatives have received subpoenas in connection with the trial of Brent Wilkes, one of the contractors alleged to be involved in the Randy "Duke" Cunningham bribery case:

Smart reforms to deter congressional conflicts

I wish I'd notice this earlier: Taxpayers for Common Sense and the National Law and Policy Center sent a joint letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell calling for better personal financial disclosure.

Thompson's FARA Filings Are Not Online

Two of the shortcomings I mentioned about the new database that the Justice Department's Foreign Agent Registration Unit recently put online are that not every form is available (especially the Short Forms that individual foreign agents must file), and that you can't link to search results.

More fun with mystery PACs

The America Forward PAC's street address (1831 Bay St. SE, Washington, DC -- see here) is the same as that of Evans & Katz LLC, a firm that specializes in campaign finance. They don't list their clients on the site, but I'll give them a call tomorrow to ask who's the leader of the America Forward Leadership PAC (that's the official name on the FEC filing)...