Democrats want transparency on political contributions by federal contrators

With Republicans benefiting by the conservative Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to make unlimited anonymous donations to interest groups to run political ads, Democrats are concerned that Obama has not issued an executive order requiring contractors for the federal government to disclose their campaign contributions. Conservatives are concerned that requiring disclosure could result in retaliation [...]

Business lobby opposed to order requiring government contractors to disclose political donations

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce made it known to the Obama administration that they oppose its plan to require government contractors to disclose their political donations. The Chamber argued that disclosures would chill the free speech rights of businesses and cited the case of Target which suffered boycotts and protests after the revelation that the [...]

11th Circuit blocks extra funds for Fla. governor hopeful

A federal appeals court’s decision late last week effectively blocked Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum from receiving matching public funds for every dollar beyond $24.9 million spent by his self-financed opponent. News August 2, 2010 By The Associated Press ATLANTA —The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on July 30 issued a [...]

Judge rules against millionaire candidate running for governor in FL

A Federal judge threw out Rick Scott’s request for an injunction against Florida’s public campaign finance law. -SMD The Miami Herald July 15, 2010 By Mary Ellen Klas TALLAHASSEE — Saying there is a greater public interest in preventing corruption than protecting Rick Scott’s First Amendment rights, a federal judge threw out the insurgent Republican’s [...]

Taxpayers Going Postal Over Public Employee Pensions, Perks. Unions’ miscalculation: Opting for secrecy.

BY PETER SCHEER—For public employee unions–those representing police, firefighters, teachers, prison guards and agency workers of all kinds at the state and local level–these are the worst of times. Despite record high membership and dues, and years of unparalleled clout in state capitols, public sector unions find themselves on the defensive, desperately trying to hold [...]

Settlement in Database Access Suit Announced

BERKELEY, CA, June 16 —The California First Amendment Coalition (CFAC) and MAPLight.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization that shows the connection between money and politics, announced today that they have settled their freedom of information lawsuit against the Office of Legislative Counsel of California, having gained the object of their suit: a machine-readable database of [...]