The Sunlight Foundation

By Nancy Watzman, consultant for the Sunlight Foundation.

Days after receiving several campaign checks from the food lobby last May, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who is up for re-election this year, sent a letter raising concerns about the Federal Trade Commission's efforts to develop voluntary guidelines...

This post was written by Lisa Rosenberg, government affairs consultant for the Sunlight Foundation.

Senate Democrats unveiled their version of the DISCLOSE Act today. (We wrote about the House bill, introduced last month, here.) Senator Whitehouse was joined by approximately 35 of his Democratic colleagues on legislation...

This post was written by Lisa Rosenberg, government affairs consultant for the Sunlight Foundation.

"What we're seeing here is the opening phase of what will turn into being the largest scandal in American history ... because it involves foreigners being directly involved in the American political system [and] the...

This post was written by Lee Drutman, senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation

The revolving door is alive and well in Washington. In less than three years, at least 378 House staffers employed in personal and committee offices have left Capitol Hill to become registered lobbyists, a Sunlight...

This post was written by Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation.

Billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, who have reportedly given a combined $10 million to Winning Our Future, the super PAC that supports and is run by former staffers of Republican presidential candidate...

This post was written by Daniel Schuman, policy counsel for the Sunlight Foundation.

Recent calls for technologists to hire lobbyists to educate Washington on internet issues miss a significant part of the big picture. Congress makes bad technology decisions because it has dismantled its ability to evaluate policy issues....

This post was written by Nancy Watzman, consultant for the Sunlight Foundation.

A major lobbying push by a powerful group of food and media companies appears to be working, with a federal agency indicating it would back off on parts of proposed voluntary guidelines for marketing food to children....

This post was written by Lee Drutman, data fellow at the Sunlight Foundation. He is also an adjunct professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University, the University of California, and Smith College.

On Sunday, Bloomberg News reported on an estimated $13 billion worth of income that banks...

The Canadian oil sands, one of the most carbon-intensive fuel sources in the world, is spurring a flurry of global lobbying activity, from encouraging President Obama to approve an extension to a transnational pipeline pressuring Europe to ease its tax on the sands-produced oil.

TransCanada Lobbying in Keystone XL States

This post was written by Nancy Watzman, consultant for the Sunlight Foundation.

Late last year MF Global -- the failed investment firm headed by Democratic heavyweight Jon S. Corzine that can't account for as much as $900 million of its clients' money -- urged a federal...

This post was written by John Wonderlich, policy director of the Sunlight Foundation.

One way or another, the Super Committee is going to fail.

If 7 of the 12 members of the joint committee don't approve a plan by November 23, then they will fail in...

This post was written by Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation. Second in a series about Solyndra investor George Kaiser. Read the first story here.

It's unlikely that President Barack Obama will be naming any tax proposals after George B. Kaiser. An...

This post was written by Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation.

George B. Kaiser, the Obama campaign bundler and Tulsa oilman whose foundation's investment in Solyndra has raised questions of whether political influence played a role in the now-bankrupt solar panel company's winning $535...

This post was originally written by Sunlight Foundation reporter Keenan Steiner.

In the past two years, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have donated tens of thousands of dollars to a Florida nonprofit where congresswoman Corrine Brown, D-Fla., serves on the board of directors. Yet JPMorgan...

This post was written by Nancy Watzman of the Sunlight Foundation.

Throughout his career as a broker-dealer, Anthony Gerard Manaia has been fired twice. He's been the subject of 18 complaints by disgruntled investors, most of whom accused him of putting their money in risky investments...

This post was originally written by John Wonderlich, policy director for the Sunlight Foundation.

Well, here we are.

Details of the budget deal negotiated last week have finally been posted online, and e-government programs are likely to be deeply cut. The bill...

One year ago today, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. The legislative process that led to the bill's enactment proved to be a boon to lobbyists, including former aides to key members. Industry exerted influence on the...

Sunshine Week starts with a new report from the National Security Archive and the Knight Foundation that finds only 49 of 90 agencies have adopted 'concrete steps' to improve their responsiveness to Freedom of Information Act requests. This is incredibly disheartening, though an improvement...

After launching Sunshine Week with yesterday's successful Advisory Committee on Transparency event, it's a good time to reflect on positive transparency developments around the country (as opposed to yesterday's disheartening news).

Among the inspiring stories that we came across recently, Sunlight was particularly struck by the...

Facing a battle with the Peruvian government over a smelting operation that has caused severe environmental damage to a town in the Andean mountains, the Renco Group and its owner, billionaire Ira Rennert, assembled a formidable lobbying team in a matter of months that includes eight former government...