lfang@republicreport.org
Lee Fang, a freelance journalist, is the former Senior Investigator for United Republic and a former investigative blogger for ThinkProgress.org. He has broken stories that include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s foreign funding, the attendance of U.S. Supreme Court justices at secretive political fundraisers and the stealth efforts by lobbyists to orchestrate and control the Tea Party. Lee’s work has resulted in multiple calls for hearings in Congress and the Federal Election Commission. His book on the campaign to block Obama’s domestic priorities is slated for publication in late 2012.
Last night, Campaign for Liberty, an organization set up to promote Ron Paul and his political goals, sent out an e-mail to its list urging members to contact the Senate and urge the defeat of the DISCLOSE Act. The bill would force secret money groups to reveal donor information in the same way PACs or Super PACs must report their funds to the public. The legislation would curb crony capitalism by allowing the American people to know which wealthy individuals, unions, or corporations are trying to buy favor with powerful politicians.
But the Campaign for Liberty, ostensibly a nonprofit set up …
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Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) has faced years upon years of scandal: FBI investigations over corrupt land deals, ties to the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal, pay-to-play earmarks, and even a small controversy over his attempt to solicit lobbyists to finance his official portrait.
Later this month, American League of Lobbyists is hosting an event on “Effecitve and Ethical Lobbying.” The lecture is led by none other than Jerry Lewis and his colleague Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA).
The invitation makes no mention of Lewis’ scandal-plagued history. The website touts him as a top appropriator who has been “active …
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Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent using undisclosed front groups to influence political campaigns and elections. This trend has been aggravated by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, with many corporations preferring undisclosed nonprofits as the vehicle to deliver hard-hitting, and often deceptive, television advertisements against lawmakers. But a simple measure to allow the public to know who is buying these advertisements keeps getting filibustered in the U.S. Senate.
On Monday, the Senate plans to vote on whether to even debate the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that would in no way limit campaign expenditures, but simply …
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According to Crossroads GPS, politicians who supported President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the economic stimulus program, were “cheerleader[s] for massive spending.” Crossroads GPS, the anonymously funded Republican attack ad group, launched a new ad earlier this week accusing Democratic candidates of supporting a stimulus that “failed miserably.” The ad, which is targeting U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine (D-VA) and potentially others, cost $2.5 million.
The ad suggests the stimulus was spent carelessly; the narrator claims the money was “wasted money studying ants in Africa.” Just three years ago, the shoe was on …
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As House Republican again prepare to repeal every single provision of health reform, industry-funded fronts are on the warpath to provide political attacks in key districts across the country. Yesterday, American Action Network, a 501(c)(4) front that does not disclose its donors, uploaded a series of ads to its YouTube page that showcase the type of television spots the group is airing across the country.
The ads, which target Democratic candidates for Congress, call for a repeal of health reform. The narrator intones: “A trillion dollar debacle, billions in new job-killing taxes. They cut $500 billion from Medicare for our …
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The Countrywide VIP scandal has rocked Capitol Hill. Initial reports showed that Senators Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Chris Dodd (D-CT) were the most high profile politicians to accept special cut-rate mortgages from the troubled subprime lender. Now, it has become clear that dozens of lawmakersand high-ranking officials were recipients of these bribes.
The scandal has been centered on the efforts by now-disgraced Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo, who courted the influence of lawmakers using these preferential loan deals. In most cases, Countrywide waived fees and provided reduced interest rates and “no doc” mortgages to powerful senators and congressman. Mozilo, however, has …
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Polls show an overwhelming majority of Americans view lobbyist and big money influence as the main problem in our politics today. But the two major political parties, on both the state and federal level, have done little to substantively reform the system.
Republic Report interns Nick Lyell and Mehrad Yazdi took a look at the state party chairs of all fifty states, and found that a surprising number of both Democrats and Republican party chairs are themselves lobbyists:
– In Delaware, the Democratic and Republican Party chairs are registered lobbyists. Democratic Party chairman John D. Daniello is registered to lobby …
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With little debate, lobbyists slipped language into an FAA reauthorization bill earlier this year that will allow some 30,000 drones to fly over domestic airspace in coming years. While the shift may lead to a marked loss of privacy for millions of Americans, one congressman is bragging about carrying the drone industry’s water.
Congressman Rick Berg (R-ND), a first-term lawmaker now running for U.S. Senate, recorded a message for the Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVS), touting his efforts to insert language into legislation that would allow drones to share airspace and runways for domestic test flights. “It’s clear …
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