Public Campaign Action Fund - Congress

Donkeys and Elephants, Giving Together

Katie Schlieper — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:30:37 -0500

Today's Politico notes the trend among stalwart Republican lobbyists and ex-legislators of giving an increasing amount of money to Democrats as the "price of doing business" with a Democrat-controlled Congress. Among those writing checks across the aisle is lobbyist and ex-Rep. Bob Livingston (R-LA), for whom apparent contradiction is the order of day: according to the article his big clients include Northrup Grumman and the Girl Scouts. Now there's a merit badge opportunity.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Adam Smith — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:29:17 -0500

Post Office's get named after people all the time, they're just usually dead first.Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is trying to name a post office after Cyndi Taylor Krier, who just happens to be a lobbyist for financial services giant USAA.

New Reform Venture

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:43:58 -0500

Stanford law professor and noted copyright law expert Lawrence Lessig launched his new venture today, Change-Congress.org, designed to track the position of members of Congress on key reform issues, and put them on the record in support of things like the Fair Elections Now Act, which would publicly finance congressional campaigns. Read more about his project here.

One Bad Egg Rots the Whole Pork Barrel

Katie Schlieper — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:40:29 -0500

The push to eliminate earmark spending for a one year period failed spectacularly in the Senate yesterday, despite support from unlikely corners. Indeed stories of bribed legislators and Bridges to Nowhere weren't enough to dissuade Senators from the pork barrel spending that's the bread and butter of reelection. While the impetus behind the proposed moratorium was a good one, it's going at the problem the wrong way.

Outsider Ethics

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:31:04 -0500

In a move both symbolically significant and indicative of a grudging willingness to change, the House of Representatives has voted to create an independent ethics office composed of six nonpartisan officials tasked with fielding ethics allegations and reporting out to the public on what allegations have merit.

Change for Congress

Katie Schlieper — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:49:38 -0500

Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Stanford who has spent much of his career focused on copyright law is taking up the cause of cleaning up Congress. His new project, change-congress.org will track the positions of congressional candidates in this year's elections on a number of reform proposals and allow people to direct donations to candidates based on their support for these proposals.

Porky Politics

Katie Schlieper — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:59:04 -0500

March 1st may be the first hint that spring is soon upon us, with barbecue and bikini season soon to follow, but for Congress 'tis the season to raise big money -- coincidentally right about the time earmark requests come due. Roll Call asks around about connections, real or implied, between late-night fundraisers and daytime spending decisions (sub. req. to read whole article).

Subcommittee Of His Peers

Katie Schlieper — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:06:49 -0500

On the heels of Rep. Rick Renzi's (R-AZ) indictment on 35 counts of conspiracy, fraud, money-laundering and much else the House has formed an ethics subcommittee to conduct its own investigation of the Congressman's dealings.

Catch Up, Senate

Katie Schlieper — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:19:10 -0500

The Senate has some 'splaining to do for lagging behind their counterparts in the House on two important ethics bills. The New York Times chides them for dragging their heels. While the House has voted in favor of banning the use of campaign contributions to pay spouses of House candidates, and files campaign finance disclosure reports electronically the Senate has approved neither of these simple, sensible reforms.

Quid Pro Faux Pas

Katie Schlieper — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:30:02 -0500

Support for spying just doesn't pay like it used to. Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker notes that for all that several Republican members of Congress have done to protect telecommunications companies from paying the price for their role in the warrantless wiretapping brouhaha the telecoms aren't giving enough money to their campaigns. Outrageous! Don't they know how Washington works?