Archive for the ‘Sunlight Foundation’ Category

Obama’s second Inaugural funded by big corporate donors; less transparent

Monday, January 21, 2013 by:jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com (Joe Garofoli)
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Four years ago, President Obama banned corporate and union donations from funding his first Inauguration. Not this time.

This time, the man who railed on how Citizens United would “open the floodgates for special interests” by allowing unlimited contributions from corporations and “America’s most powerful interests” ….is accepting unlimited donations to his inaugural committee from corporations. So far 20 corporations and nine unions have dropped cash on the shindig says The Hill.

Not only are the doors wide open, but the curtains are shut — from transparency, that is. Four years ago, Team Obama listed all its inaugural donors AND the amount they coughed up in a searchable database.

But this year, says the Sunlight Foundation, they only showed WHO gave. Not how much. And it’s not searchable — just a massive list.

Four years ago, inaugural contributions were capped at $50,000. This time? Oh, don’t stop. Please don’t stop. The Presidential Inaugural Committee was offering packages for between $10,000 and $1 million — check out the invites here.

Here’s Obama railing on Citizens United during 2010. Go to about the 2:15 minute mark in the speech for the reference:

It’s not just rich Republicans — unions also giving millions to SuperPACs

Monday, October 29, 2012 by:richard.dunham@chron.com (Richard Dunham)
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Graphic by the Sunlight Foundation

The vast majority of the media coverage of this year’s SuperPAC phenomenon has focused on conservative billionaires who’ve given millions to Republican-leaning or anti-Obama SuperPACs.

But it’d be a mistake to forget about the multi-million dollar investment American unions have made in Democratic-leaning SuperPACs.

The Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan group committed to transparency in government and politics, has put together an impressive graphic showing the web of union money in 2012 SuperPACs. It examines the role of four leading labor organizations, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the AFL-CIO and the National Education Association (NEA).

Among the findings in the Sunlight report:

– AFSCME has given nearly $1 million to the super PAC Workers’ Voice, founded by the big union umbrella organization — and AFSCME’s parent — the AFL-CIO. In the first two weeks of October, the union gave another $471,254 to the super PAC.

– Both AFSCME and the SEIU have given to Working for Us, a super PAC run by longtime labor strategist Steve Rosenthal. The super PAC has been helping Democrats in several House races and the Connecticut Senate race.

– Both AFSCME and SEIU have given a combined $1.25 million to Majority PAC, a super PAC that’s helping to elect Democratic Senate candidates.

– In October, AFSCME and SEIU also joined forces to back the Sierra Club Independent Action, which has also been involved in several congressional and Senate races.

– All four unions have contributed thousands to American Bridge 21st Century, a super PAC founded by David Brock, a conservative turned liberal activist who founded media watchdog Media Matters. AFSCME contributed the most with $575,000.

For the complete report, click here.