-
Saddle Road funding update
By Bill Allison Aug 5, 2008 5:54 p.m.In this post and this post, we looked at an earmark Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, secured for the Saddle Road project on Big Island. I sent a query along to Dave Gedeon, the project manager for the Central Federal Lands Highway Division of the Federal Highway Administration, asking how the project was funded--whether these were military, Dept. of Transportation, or state funds, and which agency was managing the project. He was kind enough to respond and clarify:
Read all about it -
A long winding partially underwater earmarked road?
By Bill Allison Aug 1, 2008 7:26 p.m.Commenter Archie Mead points out something I didn't know about the discrepancy between Rep. Neil Abercrombie's description of an earmark and the description of what I believe is the same earmark in the House Appropriations Committee report:
Read all about it -
More on Stevens' earmarks
By Bill Allison Jul 31, 2008 3:16 p.m.The Washington Post notes that Alaskans are fretting the potential fallout of the indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, for not disclosing more than $250,000 in gifts from VECO Corp. Taxpayers for Common Sense sums it up more succinctly:
Read all about it -
FedSpending.org updated
By Bill Allison Jul 30, 2008 7:31 p.m.Our friend Adam Hughes of OMB Watch writes:
Read all about it -
How confusing are earmark disclosures?
By Bill Allison Jul 30, 2008 4:53 p.m.When Rep. Neil Abercrombie requested an earmark in the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill to fund "Saddle Road Phase 5," he listed (on page two of that mega file courtesy of Taxpayers for Common Sense), the "U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, located at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii" as the entity that was the recipient of the funds. Search the spread sheet Taxpayers compile for the list of earmarks in that bill, and only one Abercrombie request turns up: a $9 million earmark for "Access Road, Ph 1" in Pohakuloa TA.
Read all about it -
TCS makes Milcon letters available
By Bill Allison Jul 29, 2008 6:32 p.m.Last Friday, Taxpayers for Common Sense updates us on where the House is on the Appropriations process (a few weeks back the process could best be described as "nyah nyah nyah," and "I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you,", to use the parliamentary terms favored by most members of Congress).
Read all about it -
$1,000 to the Jerry Lewis Portrait Committee
By Bill Allison Jul 14, 2008 9:46 p.m.LD-203 forms--on which lobbyists disclose their contributions to lawmakers' campaigns, to presidential libraries, and to nonprofits honoring members of Congress, is available online. The disclosure that prompted the headline of this post is here. Lots of other interesting stuff, but there are a little less than 3,917 records in the entire database, which makes me think that the data isn't yet complete. There are also all the usual issues with inaccurate federal data -- here's a a $200,000 contribution to Sen. Barbara Boxer's leadership PAC. That's a bit more than the $5,000 FEC limit.
Read all about it -
A little digging into FEC disclosures
By Bill Allison Jun 20, 2008 3:41 p.m.A while back, Jim Geraghty of the Campaign Spot wrote a pair of interesting posts, the first noting that, during his 2000 campaign to unseat Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., Barack Obama took "on credit card debt to finance his effort," while the second raised additional questions but seemed to put the credit card issue to rest, by quoting a New York Times article that looked at the campaign committee's finances:
Read all about it -
CRP lists Countrywide's big campaign cash recipients
By Bill Allison Jun 19, 2008 4:47 p.m.The excellent post by Irene Kan, along with a list of all the members in the 110th Congress who've taken campaign cash from Countrywide's PAC, employees and their family members, is online here. Note that Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., is number two on the list. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., is tied for 23d place, by my count.
-
Subprime 6, 60...well, at least 13...
By Bill Allison Jun 18, 2008 11:02 p.m.Glenn Reynolds notes that the Politico reports that Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, called for a wider investigation than the one ongoing into the burgeoning Countrywide preferential loan scandal. Politico notes that, "no other Republican leader jumped on Hensarling's bandwagon Monday, and aides said they were reluctant to push forward with a probe because they didn't know what it might reveal," prompting Reynolds to write, "That's because it'll probably turn out to be more like the subprime sixty" (as opposed to the six figures currently implicated).
Read all about it -
More tidbits from trainings
By Bill Allison Apr 25, 2008 6:44 p.m.American Express says that they'll start disclosing information on their donations to 501(c) groups (trade associations, political 501(c)4s and so on) that engage in political activity, provided that the groups disclose this info to Amex:
Read all about it -
Bonner earmark #13
By Bill Allison Feb 28, 2008 5:25 a.m.Rep. Jo Bonner joined Sen. Richard Shelby in securing a $9,089,000 earmark for the University of Alabama "for construction, renovation, and equipment" in the Labor, HHS and Education appropriations bill, according to our good friends at Taxpayers for Common Sense. The earmark originated with Sen. Shelby--employees and family members of the University of Alabama collectively are his 11th most generous career patron, having contributed $$62,769 to his campaign committee. In the course of his House career, Bonner has taken in roughly a third of that -- $21,150 -- from University of Alabama employees, making them the 19th most generous contributor on his career list.
Read all about it -
Bonner earmark #s 11 & 12
By Bill Allison Feb 28, 2008 3:56 a.m.The next two earmarks are went to the same recipient. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala., secured a $352,500 earmark for Team Focus, a Mobile, Ala.-based nonprofit which aims to "provide young men that do have a father figure in their life, ages 10 18 with leadership skills, guidance, Godly values, and a continual relationship with a mentor," according to its Web site. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., joined Bonner in sponsoring the earmark in the Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill. Team Focus got another earmark in the same bill for $517,000--this one sponsored by Sens. Shelby and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and joined by Bonner. The first earmark is for mentoring and education, while the second is for youth education and mentoring. (This information comes from Taxpayers for Common Sense, something I haven't pointed out as I should.)
Read all about it -
Bonner earmark #10
By Bill Allison Feb 26, 2008 10:09 p.m.Rep. Jo Bonner and Sen. Richard Shelby joined President George W. Bush in requesting an earmark for the Mobile Tensaw Delta; the final value of the earmark, in the Interior, Environment, and related agencies appropriations bill, was $1,969,000.
Read all about it
Search the Blog
Real Time Ticker
Recent Posts
- Mayors Against Illegal Guns runs ad backing Nevada background checks
- Thanks to lobbying, farm bill yields crop insurance funds
- Surge of immigration lobbyists fueled by push for high-skilled foreign workers
- Health group airs ad backing Obama EPA nominee
- Apple lobbies on taxes more than any other subject
Reporting we're watching
- OpenSecrets: Millionaire Freshmen Make Congress Even Wealthier
- OpenSecrets: Wall Street Shaped Bill Easing Oversight, and Kept Contributions Coming
- Sunlight Foundation: House's Legislative Data and Transparency Conference a Success
- Sunlight Foundation: OpenGov Voices: Data.gov relaunches on open source platform CKAN
- Sunlight Foundation: 2Day in #OpenGov 5/24/2013
