Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

Pesticide industry would benefit from farm bill provisions

Tucked within the 1,234-page House farm bill expected to come up for debate next week are two controversial provisions benefitting the pesticide industry by reversing court-ordered federal agency policies designed to protect water and wildlife.

Verizon lobbyists host fundraisers for Intelligence Committee members

Lobbyists for Verizon Communications, which is refusing comment on a now-confirmed report that the telecommunications giant turned millions of its customers' records over to the National Security Agency, have thrown fundraisers for members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, records compiled by the Sunlight Foundation show. According to the Political Party Time database, which tracks candidate fundraising events, lobbyists for Verizon Communications have hosted at least five fundraising events for Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. Louis Dupart, of the lobbying firm The Normandy Group, hosted at least three events, two for Mikulski and one for Collins, while Wayne Berman hosted two more for Collins, including a birthday reception in 2010. Both senators voted in 2008 in favor of  the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which shielded telecom companies, including Verizon, from lawsuits related to an earlier wiretapping controversy.  Lobbyists for Verizon have also hosted a fundraiser for Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., an ex officio member of the Senate committee, and Rep. Thomas Rooney, R-Fla., a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. 

Apple lobbies on taxes more than any other subject

What's wrong with this picture? Greenhouse gas at all-time high

Carbon dioxide levels are going up. So are campaign contributions by fossil fuels interests.

Whom Mark Sanford owes

In the Kentucky Derby of political giving, one horse laps the field

While bettors will be spending big on the 20 thoroughbreds racing to win Saturday's 139th Kentucky Derby, many of the horses' owners have been making their own high-stakes bets -- the kind that could pay off in much more than roses.

Stanley Cup runneth over with political cash: NHL owners scored big for GOP

The puck drops tonight for the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and while hockey's bigwigs will be watching from afar in their box suites, they certainly took the ice during last year's election -- scoring big for the GOP. According to data from Sunlight's Influence Explorer, National Hockey League owners provided more than $3 million to politicians, PACs and independent expenditure groups during the 2012 election cycle.

As summer growing season starts, produce safety rules delayed

As the nation's farmers enter a new growing season two years after 33 people died and 147 people were sickened in 28 states after eating listeria-infested canteloupe from a Colorado farm, the produce industry has effectively delayed implementation of a law intended to improve food safety.

Big tech, big oil and defense help underwrite Obama inaugural

President Barack Obama raised more than $43 million for his second inaugural, including seven-figure donations from some of the nation's biggest tech, defense and energy companies, a report filed on Saturday with the Federal Election Commission shows.

In years before Waco explosion, fertilizer trade groups lobbied for lax oversight

Photo source: istockphoto

Looking back at mega donor Bob Perry's political giving

Tax preparers lobby heavily against simple filing

As Americans struggle through complex rules and messy paperwork to meet today's deadline for filing their income taxes, it might be somewhat comforting to know that making the whole arduous process simpler and more transparent has long been a goal of President Barack Obama as well as prominent Republicans in Congress, and that it's being discussed again this year.

Obama taps Romney donors for labor board

Whether it's a sign of post-partisanship or sheer exasperation is hard to say, but two of the three nominees that President Barack Obama today tapped for seats on the National Labor Relations Board donated to the Republican who wanted to take his place.

Baseball's (political) heavy hitters

While MLB players will be taking the field for Sunday's and Monday's opening day games in hopes of winning a World Series title in October, team owners may have their sights set on winning a different sort of Fall Classic. According to data from Sunlight's Influence Explorer, MLB organizations pumped in over $24 million to politicians, PACs and independent expenditure groups throughout the 2012 election cycle. No wonder presidents like to toss out the season's first pitch; you can see President Barack Obama at right, practicing for a 2010 appearance on the mound.