MapLight - Money and Politics: MetLife News

House Passes Bill to Revise Time Off Rules for Non-Union Employees

Donny Shaw — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:11:36 +0000

By a vote of 223-204, the House of Representatives on Wednesday passed H.R. 1406, a bill that would allow private-sector workers to trade in overtime hours for requests for unpaid time off.

Under the bill, employers would have flexibility to decide whether to allow nonunion employees to trade overtime hours for time off, and they would have final say in providing time off to workers who have echewed their overtime hours. The bill text states that time off would be permitted to an employee who has accrued time and put in a written request if the employer determines that "the use of the compensatory time does not unduly disrupt the operations of the employer."

Data: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to members of the House between January 1, 2011—December 31, 2012 from interests that have taken a public position on the bill. Contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org

House Republicans have received 10 times as much money from groups supporting the bill (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Retail Federation, etc.) than from groups opposing it (AFL-CIO, National Council of La Raza, etc.).
House Democrats have received 5.7 times as much money from groups opposing the bill than from groups supporting it.
House members voting 'YES' received, on average, $40,495 from groups supporting the bill, 115% more than those voting 'NO.'
House members voting 'NO' received, on average, $102,508 from groups opposing the bill, 24 times as much as those voting 'YES.'
Speaker John Boehner, who controls the House's legislative agenda, has received more money from supporting groups than any other member of the House ($409,098).

Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from interest groups that have taken a position on H.R. 1406 to current members of the House, from January 1, 2011—December 31, 2012. Contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org

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Internet Sales Tax Bill Passes Senate - Contributions from Key Stakeholders

Donny Shaw — Tue, 07 May 2013 16:06:58 +0000

By a vote of 69-27, the Senate passed a bill on Monday that would require online retailers to collect and distribute sales taxes according to the tax laws of the fifty states.

Under current law, retailers are only required to collect sales taxes for online purchases originating in states where they have a physical presence. The Senate's bill is supported by national brick-and-mortar chains and Amazon, both of whom would gain a competitive advantage by the increased burden the bill would place on small and mid-size retailers that sell online (the bill exempts businesses with less than $1 million in annual sales). Opposition to the bill is being led by eBay, which has organized a coalition of small online retailers and activated its sellers to lobby Congress on the bill.

Data: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from interest groups that have taken a position on S. 743 (Marketplace Fairness Act) to members of the Senate from January 1, 2007—December 31, 2012. Contributions data source: Center for Responsive Politics

Amazon contributions to the Senate total $208,428.
eBay contributions to the Senate total $177,900.
Interest groups supporting the bill (including Amazon, Walmart, AFL-CIO) have given 40 times as much money to senators than interest groups opposing (including eBay, TechNet, FreedomWorks).
Senators voting "YES" received, on average, 53% more money from Amazon than from eBay.
Senators voting "YES" received, on average, 44% more money from Amazon than senators voting "NO."
Senators voting "NO" received, on average, 62% more money from eBay than senators voting "YES."
Senators voting "YES" received 29% more money, on average, from interest groups supporting the bill than senators voting "NO."

Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from interest groups that have taken a position on S. 743 to current members of the Senate, from January 1, 2007—December 31, 2012. Contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org

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Obama's Pick to Oversee Fannie and Freddie Has Deep Ties to Banks

Donny Shaw — Thu, 02 May 2013 17:48:17 +0000

Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., has been nominated by President Obama to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees the quasi-governmental mortage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If confirmed for the position, Watt would be responsible for making decisions regarding the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were taken into conservatorship in 2009. One key question facing the FHFA right now is whether to allow struggling mortgage borrowers in the private market to refinance with a reduced principal through Fannie and Freddie.

Watt's congressional district includes the headquarters of Bank of America, and he has raised large sums for his campaign from BofA and other banks with interests in the mortgage market, including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup.

Data: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to House member Melvin Watt from January 1, 2007—December 31, 2012. Contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org.

The banks and credit industry, which includes commercial banks and bank holding companies, has given $227,750 to Melvin Watt, more than any other industry.

Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to Melvin Watt from January 1, 2007—December 31, 2012. Contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org.

Photo Credit: Northfoto / Shutterstock.com

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California Secretary of State Won't Release Campaign Finance Data as Bulk Download

Rosie Cima — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:23:54 +0000

California Secretary of State Deborah Bowen rejected a request to make California campaign finance data more easily accessible in bulk, in a letter dated April 19, 2013.

The request was co-authored by MapLight's Daniel G. Newman and Kathay Feng of the grassroots organization Common Cause. Feng and Newman asked that Bowen “upload a copy of the Cal-Access [campaign finance] database [daily] to a publicly accessible website where data can be downloaded as a single file by members of the public and the media."

Cal-Access, the office's campaign finance database, currently only allows users to download data for one committee at a time. A question like, "How much, if any, money has corporation X given candidate Y over the course of his career?" can take hours of searching and combining spreadsheets to answer. Signatories to the request included the Los Angeles Times, the Sacramento Bee, the Sunlight Foundation, and Senator Leland Yee.

In her response, Bowen wrote that a more comprehensive download is prevented by the fact that the current dataset includes fields like street addresses and bank account numbers, which would be illegal to post online and which she claimed her office lacked the resources to filter out. She also pointed out that the data was "readily available" on a $5 mail-order CD-ROM, which Newman dismissed as "so 1980s."

He also argued there was a "low cost and automated" solution to the filtration problem, offering the technical assistance of MapLight's data team, and called the current presentation of data "inefficient and unacceptable." "The internet has been part of citizens' daily lives for more than 15 years," he said, "and it's time to post the database on the internet for the public to download."

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Gun Control Bill Pulled from the Senate Floor

Donny Shaw — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:48:31 +0000

Facing opposition from Republicans, today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pulled gun legislation from the Senate floor indefinitely. "The best way to pass a background check bill is to hit pause," Reid said.

The bill's chances at passing lost steam on Thursday when 46* senators—primarily Republicans—voted to uphold a filibuster of a bipartisan amendment from Sen. Joe Manchin and Sen. Pat Toomey that would have required background checks for all commercial gun sales, including those made on the internet and at gun shows. Gun sales from individuals would have been exempted under the amendment. Supporters of the gun bill considered the Manchin-Toomey amendment their best chance to bring enough Republicans on board to overcome a filibuster of the larger bill.

An original state-by-state visualization from Maplight of contributions to and from the NRA and Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence can be viewed here.

Data: Maplight analysis of contributions from the NRA PAC to 113th Congress.

NRA PAC has contributed $1,435,687 to members of the 113th Congress from 2009-2012.

Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from the NRA political action committee to committees associated with members of the 113th Congress during the 2010 and 2012 election cycles (2009-2012) based on latest available data from the FEC as of February 4, 2013.

*Reid voted "No" for procedural reasons.

Photo credit: spirit of america / Shutterstock

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CISPA's 36 New Co-Sponsors Have Raised More Money from Pro-CISPA Interests

Donny Shaw — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:08:20 +0000

On Monday, the same day that IBM flew nearly 200 executives to Washington D.C. to lobby Congress in support of CISPA, 36 members of the House signed onto the bill as new co-sponsors. Prior to Monday, CISPA had only 2 co-sponsors since being introduced in February.

On Tuesday, the Obama administration issued a veto threat against the bill in its current form citing privacy concerns.

Data: MapLight analysis of reported contributions to the 36 new CISPA co-sponsors and the entire House from interest groups supporting and opposing CISPA.

New co-sponsors have received 38 times as much money ($7,626,081) from interests supporting CISPA than from interests opposing ($200,362).
Members of the House in total have received 16 times as much money ($67,665,694) from interests supporting CISPA than from interests opposing ($4,164,596).

Methdology: Includes reported contributions to congressional campaigns of selected legislators in office during the 113th U.S. Congress, from interest groups invested in the vote according to MapLight, July 1, 2010 – June 30, 2012. Contributions data source: OpenSecrets.org.

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"Too Big to Jail" Contributions from Top 9 Banks Bankrolling Congress

Pamela Behrsin — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:05:54 +0000

April 3, 2013—Attorney General Eric Holder recently told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the size of big banks has “an inhibiting influence” on the government’s ability to prosecute their criminal activity. “I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy," he said

It’s unclear just how big a bank has to be to be considered un-prosecutable, but HSBC’s recent settlement for enabling drug cartels and rogue states to launder money suggests that even they—the ninth largest U.S. bank by assets and many times smaller than the biggest banks—are too big to prosecute, by facilitating deregulation (Gramm-Leach-Biley Act), bailing out insolvent institutions (TARP) and voting against limits on bank size, Congress has allowed these banks to grow as big as they currently are.

Data: MapLight has analyzed reported campaign contributions from the political action commitees (PACs) of the nine largest banks, by total assets, to current members of Congress since Jan. 1, 2003.

In total, the PACs of the top 9 banks have given $17,019,505 to current members of the 113th Congress.
Bank of America has given the most, at $3,381,157.
HSBC has given $1,141,211.
House member Spencer Bachus* has received $399,500 from the PACs of the top 9 banks, more than any other current member of Congress. Bachus is also the top recipient of money from HSBC, with $34,000 in contributions.

To download a spreadsheet of this data, click here.

*Spencer Bachus is the Chairman Emeritus of the House Committee on Financial Services.

Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions from the political action committees of the nine largest banks, by total assets, to current members of Congress since Jan. 1, 2003, based on latest available data from FEC as of 4/1/2013.

A link to this report can be found here.

If you use photo please credit: Michel Fleshman / Flickr

MapLight is a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan research organization that tracks money's influence on politics.

Media Contact:
Pamela Behrsin
c: 415-299-0898
e: pamela@maplight.org

MapLight Launches Voter's Edge Los Angeles and Voter's Edge Redondo Beach

Pamela Behrsin — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 22:03:04 +0000

MapLight Launches Voter's Edge Los Angeles and Voter's Edge Redondo Beach

$1.3M Raised for Measure A (Sales Tax) in Los Angeles; $426K raised for Measure A (Power Plant) in Redondo Beach

March 1, 2013—MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization that reveals money's influence on politics, announces the launch of Voter's Edge Los Angeles and Voter's Edge Redondo Beach. The Voter's Edge project was made possible in part by funders including the Kaphan Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation.

Voter's Edge, a nonpartisan guide to ballot measures, shows each ballot measure's Funding Data—a top 10 list of contributors on the Yes and No side; Summary Information—what a "YES" or a "NO" vote would mean; the projected financial impact of the proposition; campaign arguments by proponents and opponents; Endorsements; News; Editorials; and Advertisements. The purpose of MapLight Voter's Edge is to provide voters with a reliable, nonpartisan source for information about ballot measures.

Voter's Edge Los Angeles Measure A Funding Page:
(To download a spreadsheet of contributions click on "Download all contributions.")

Voter's Edge Redondo Beach Measure A Funding Page
Measure A would rezone power plant property to phase out the power plant and replace it with industrial/recreational use.

Top funders on the NO side include AES (power plant) Redondo Beach ($327K) and Edison International ($6.7K)
$426K has been raised for YES and NO on Measure A

Voter's Edge Embeddable Widgets:

Embed code for Los Angeles Measure A Widget: <iframe src="http://votersedge.org/los-angeles-city/ballot-measures/2013/march/measure-a/widget?style=&position=1&slideshow=&alternate_position=1" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="180" height="326"></iframe>

Embed code for Redondo Beach Measure A Widget: <iframe src="http://votersedge.org/redondo-beach/ballot-measures/2013/march/measure-a/widget?style=&position=1&slideshow=1&alternate_position=1" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="180" height="326"></iframe>

Widgets can be customized to show a slideshow of propositions or a single proposition, and they include the largest contributor and total amount of contributions in support of and in opposition to a ballot measure. Each widget links to the ballot measure page. If you need technical assistance, please let us know: 510-868-0894.

Editor's note: Our next update to Voter's Edge Los Angeles and Voter's Edge Redondo Beach will be on March 4. For Los Angeles, contributions > $1,000 must be reported to the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission within 24 hours of being made or received. If the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission updates its website over the weekend PDF's of the filings can be found here.

MapLight is a nonpartisan research organization that tracks money's influence on politics.

Partners: MapLight will be expanding Voter's Edge to additional states and cities in partnership with state and local media outlets and community groups across the country. If you are interested in working with MapLight to bring Voter's Edge to your state, county, or city, please contact Jay Costa: jay@maplight.org.

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CA State Senator Michael Rubio Leaves Senate to Join Chevron

Chad Outler — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:31:00 +0000

CA State Senator Michael Rubio is leaving the state legislature for Chevron Corporation to direct governmental affairs in California. Rubio had been serving as chair of the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality and had also been a member of the Committee on Natural Resources and Water.

Data: A MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to Senator Michael Rubio shows:

Contributions from Chevron Corporation to Rubio total $7,800.
Contributions from Oil & Gas interests to Rubio total $42,600.

Top 10 Interests Funding	Contributions
General Trade Unions	$150,300
Health Professionals	$109,999
Insurance	$66,332
Real Estate	$64,058
Public Sector Unions	$60,892
Tribal Governments	$45,400
Oil & Gas	$42,600
Lawyers & Lobbyists	$35,390
Pharmaceuticals & Health Products	$32,700
Telecom Services & Equipment	$31,200

Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to CA State Senator Michael Rubio from May 20, 2008-May 19, 2012. Data source: National Institute on Money in State Politics.

Photo: Denis Kuvaevi/Shutterstock.com

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Op Ed: California can shine a light on national 'dark money' in campaigns

Daniel Newman — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 19:32:28 +0000

The disastrous Citizens United Supreme Court decision three years ago unleashed a flood of political money unprecedented in U.S. history. Organizations can now raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections, without disclosing where that money came from. These "dark money" groups spent hundreds of millions of dollars nationally to influence November's elections.

In California, this dark money poured into campaigns for California's congressional representatives, and for state ballot measures. Most notably, a group called Americans for Responsible Leadership spent $11 million to influence Propositions 30 and 32 -- without disclosing its donors. Chairwoman Ann Ravel led California's Fair Political Practices Commission in a lawsuit against the group to pry free the basic civic information of who was funding their efforts to influence California elections.

The state's suit was successful, but only up to a point. Americans for Responsible Leadership was forced to reveal that it received the $11 million from a second group, the Center to Protect Patient Rights, which in turn received it from a third group, Americans for Job Security.

The donors to this third group are still secret today -- and the current law allows them to remain that way. Voters now know the nondescript names of three secret groups that funneled money -- but are still in the dark about who really influenced California's ballot measures.

Citizens United also freed corporations to spend unlimited amounts to influence elections. The public doesn't know the extent of corporate spending on elections, because the law currently allows corporations to keep their spending secret. Consumer-facing corporations, sensitive to public perceptions of political influence, are able to hide their political spending by financing trade associations, like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, that do not have to disclose their donors.

And we certainly can't rely on corporations to voluntarily self-disclose. In a public statement to its shareholders, the insurance giant Aetna promised to be transparent about its political spending. Then, it accidentally revealed in a year-end regulatory filing that it contributed $4.5 million to the Chamber of Commerce to influence elections -- a mistaken disclosure that it promptly deleted from its public filing.

Congress will not be acting to reveal this secret money anytime soon. Republicans in Congress will continue to block the DISCLOSE Act and similar sunshine attempts, because the dark money overwhelmingly benefits them.

In November's elections, 85 percent of dark money supported Republicans, according to research from the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

In California, we can ourselves take major steps that will unmask some of this secret money nationally, leveraging our position as the nation's most populous and most influential state. These three California proposals, if implemented at the state level, would reveal dark money across the nation:

First, the state could make use of its tremendous purchasing power to require that companies contracting with the state disclose all their political contributions -- national, state, and local. It's bad enough that government contractors contribute to politicians who can help them win contracts. We citizens should at least know what these contributions are.

Second, California could require that all companies doing business in the state disclose all their political contributions -- national, state, and local. As the eighth largest economy in the world, California can use our economic size to leverage the political transparency that is critical for our democracy.

Third, California could require disclosure of every entity making major contributions to the type of "pass-through" dark money groups implicated in the $11 million political money-laundering case. California could require the disclosure not just of the generic name of an organization, but of all the organization's major donors, if the organization's money was spent on California elections. This change would mean that, in the case of the laundered $11 million, all three dark money groups that touched the funds would have to disclose all their major donors, opening up a window into these groups' funding sources nationally.

Reforms such as these are well within our grasp. In both chambers of the California Legislature, there have been proposals for legislation, such as the California Disclose Act (SB 52) in the current session, which would bring greater accountability to our elections. What we need now, though, is to move beyond mere proposals.

The California public is disgusted with our broken system of money-dominated politics. Any or all of these three changes made by Sacramento lawmakers would shine a bright light on dark money nationally, while endearing their legislative champions to the California public.

Daniel G. Newman is co-founder and president of MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization revealing money's influence on politics. He is a 2011-13 network fellow at the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.

Link to this article at: http://www.mercurynews.com/top-stories/ci_22457593/daniel-g-newman-california-can-shine-light-national

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