A computer-assisted analysis by Bloomberg News reporter Jonathan D. Salant of Federal Election Commission data found corporate political action committees siding with vulnerable Democratic incumbents, the candidates that Republicans need to beat if they are to take back control of the House of Representatives this fall.
Archive for the ‘Campaign Finance’ Category
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Loophole in Hawaii’s pay-to-play law exploited by donors
March 9th, 2010 
Beth An investigation by the Honolulu Advertiser found that donors linked to city and state contractors are giving money to candidates for Hawaii’s gubernatorial races.
NFL has ramped up campaign donations, lobbying efforts
February 2nd, 2010 Beth An investigation by Scripps Howard News Service sports editor John Lindsay found the National Football League has ramped up its campaign contributions and lobbying efforts, mainly trying to affect legislation on broadcasting rights and trying to preempt any move by Congress to intervene in a potential player lockout in 2011.
Lobbyist investigated for ‘straw donor’ scam
January 12th, 2010 Beth Chuck Neubauer of The Washington Times reports that “superlobbyist” Paul Magliocchetti “is now the focus of a federal investigation into whether he made illegal campaign contributions by reimbursing people, or ‘straw donors,’ who made contributions in their names to his favored candidates – helping the lobbyist avoid federal limits on his personal donations.“
Local parties in California avoid campaign contribution limits
January 3rd, 2010 Mark Horvit Politicians and their supporters in California have routinely funneled money through county-level political party committees around the state, avoiding strict limits on campaign giving and hiding the source of millions in donations, a California Watch analysis shows. By using county parties as middlemen, both Democrat and Republican donors can contribute far more money than the [...]
Democratic donors rewarded with White House access
October 29th, 2009 Beth “During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings,” reports Mathew Mosk of The Washington Times.
A look at the influence of foreign lobbyists on Capitol Hill
August 18th, 2009 Beth Analysis of foreign lobbying disclosure records by ProPublica and the Sunlight Foundation provide insight into foreign influence on Capitol Hill. “More than 280 lobbying firms collected $87 million in fees for representing 340 foreign clients, including governments, government-controlled organizations, political parties, separatist groups and a handful of for-profit firms.”
Propriety of campaign fund donations questioned
June 22nd, 2009 Beth Companies that received multimillion-dollar deals with CalPERS, California’s giant public pension fund, pumped more than $300,000 into a union campaign fund overseen by Sean Harrigan while the long-time California labor leader was one of the giant pension fund’s board members from 2000-2004, The Sacramento Bee’s Andrew McIntosh reported in an examination of the deals.
Top campaign contributors given plum positions by Obama
June 3rd, 2009 Beth President Obama has nominated several top campaign contributors for ambassadorships, according to a report by Jonathan D. Salant and Julianna Goldman of Bloomberg.com. “Even with his pledges to change government, Obama is following the tradition of his predecessors by offering some ambassadorships to top campaign backers, including four of the 12 nominations this week. The [...]
Teachers supported Prop 8 while their union opposed the measure
February 20th, 2009 Beth A report by NPR’s Robert Benincasa shows that California’s teachers’ union was giving money to oppose Proposition 8 while members of the union were making donations to support the ban on gay marriage.
