About: Lee Fang
Bio: Lee Fang is a reporter for The Intercept. He has a longstanding interest in how public policy is influenced by organized interest groups and money. He was the first to uncover and detail the role of the billionaire Koch brothers in financing the Tea Party movement. His interviews and research on the Koch brothers have been featured on HBO’s “The Newsroom,” the documentaries “Merchants of Doubt” and “Citizen Koch,” as well as in multiple media outlets. He was an investigative blogger for ThinkProgress (2009-2011) and then a fellow at the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute and contributing writer for The Nation. In 2012, he co-founded RepublicReport.org, a blog to cover political corruption that syndicates content with TheNation.com, Salon, National Memo, BillMoyers.com, TruthOut, and other media outlets. His work has been published by VICE, The Baffler, The Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Progressive, NPR, In These Times, and The Huffington Post. His first book, “The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right,” published by The New Press, explores how the conservative right rebuilt the Republican Party and its political clout in the aftermath of President Obama’s 2008 election victory. He is based in San Francisco.
Facebook: People Who Work In Congress “Like” Lobbying
Last month, Gawker’s Adrian Chen toyed around with Facebook’s new targeted advertising tool to reveal broad information about Facebook users. We we tried as well, and found some interesting results. Around 1,750 people in Washington D.C. “Like” lobbying. For Facebook users who currently work in Congress (staffers in both the House and Senate), 140 people
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Romney Promotes For-Profit College Owned By A Private Equity Firm That Does Business With Romney’s Son Tagg
When asked about his plan for higher education, Mitt Romney has taken to endorsing the for-profit higher education industry, even singling out a specific college business, Full Sail University. When speaking with a local newspaper before the Iowa caucus, he volunteered Full Sail and other for-profit colleges as an answer to the rising costs of
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Rep. McKeon Traded Corinthian Colleges Stock While Shifting Billions To For-Profit College Industry
Congressman Buck McKeon (R-CA), the Armed Services Committee chairman best known today for his unapologetic support for pork spending for military contractors, has faced a recent wave of stories concerning evidence that suggests that he has used his elected office to directly benefit himself and his family. First, the Wall Street Journal last month reported
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David Koch Admits His Goal Is To Weaken Labor Rights, ‘Spend More’ In Elections
The Palm Beach Post secured a rare interview with David Koch. The petrochemical billionaire opened up on a number of topics, including his recent political spending. Koch told reporter Stacey Singer that he would “spend more” to oppose the recall of Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor who busted the public sector unions in his state.
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Supreme Court Justices Breyer And Ginsburg Want The Court To Reconsider Citizens United
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court moved to block a ruling from the Montana Supreme Court that upheld a century-long ban on corporate money in politics. In overruling Montana’s law, the court may be setting itself up to revisit the Citizens United decision. If the Court decides to hear a full appeal of the Montana
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One Day After Obama’s SuperPAC Reversal, His Campaign Manager Privately Reassured Wall St Obama Won’t Be Populist
Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols reports that on February 7, one day after Obama’s promise-breaking announcement to embrace unlimited corporate donations for his campaign, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina held a private meeting with top executives from Wall Street. According to Nichols’ sources, Messina told the donors that Obama would not demonize Wall Street during the campaign:
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Senators Call For Investigation Of 100% Undisclosed Political Attack Groups
The Huffington Post’s Paul Blumenthal reports that Senators Al Franken and Check Schumer are pursuing an investigation into the new array of 501(c)(4) political nonprofits that are raising and spending hundreds of millions of dollars in elections: The letter came amid rising concerns that nonprofit groups are acting primarily as political vehicles after the Supreme
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GRAPHIC: Drop In The Bucket, Settlement Provides $25 Billion In Help For $700 Billion Problem
The recently announced mortgage settlement has set off a debate about the conditions of the deal, who benefits, and if the amount for homeowners is sufficient. To help visualize the deal, the Republic Report has produced the following infographic: Look to money in politics to understand the disparity between aid to homeowners and the numbers
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