Clik here to view.
Is 'dark money' boosting Bernie Sanders?
Bernie Sanders may decry how big money influences political elections, but that isn’t stopping groups independent of the Democratic presidential candidate from spending significant cash in his name.The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Commentary: The consequences of our secret elections
It was six years ago this week that the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically altered the American political landscape with its landmark ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, essentially...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Federal Trade Commission seeks $1.3 billion in damages against former...
A federal judge who already ruled that former race-car driver Scott Tucker violated U.S. lending laws must now decide whether to order him to pay $1.3 billion for operating an illegal payday-lending...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Conservative national groups battle in the states over Constitution redo
It’s only a short phrase buried in the U.S. Constitution, but it enables an unprecedented avenue to change the law of the land: If two-thirds of the states demand it, Congress “shall call a convention”...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Commentary: The deeper meaning of Flint
What began as a tainted-water story out of Flint, Michigan, has blown up into a much broader discussion of environmental justice in the United States: Did Gov. Rick Snyder and the U.S. Environmental...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Trade groups to top corporations: Resist political disclosure
Three of the nation’s leading trade associations have a message for their member corporations: Resist activists who demand you disclose more details about your politicking than the law requires.“The...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Giant auto title loan firms fight to keep financial data secret
RICHMOND, Virginia — As the auto title-loan industry faces mounting criticism from Virginia lawmakers, state officials heard arguments today from three of the nation’s biggest lenders fighting to keep...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Koch-linked group blasts Kasich in ad buy
An infamous “dark money” group took its first shot in the presidential TV ad wars with a six-figure ad buy attacking ascendant Republican candidate John Kasich.The Iowa-based American Future Fund is a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kool & the Gang won't celebrate Republican National Convention
So much for cherished hopes: Republicans won’t be celebrating good times with Kool & the Gang when they nominate their presidential candidate this summer.Organizers originally billed the 1980s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
State Integrity Investigation spurs proposals for reform
As state legislative sessions shift into high gear, lawmakers are proposing significant new ethics and transparency laws in nearly a dozen states, in part as a result of the Center’s State Integrity...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sarah Palin's PAC burning through cash
In a blaze of rhyming, rambling glory, Sarah Palin this month glommed onto Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.Trump beamed. Comedyshows rejoiced. And Palin, who's belly-up online channel, kaput Fox...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Democratic super PAC aided by secret money
A super PAC leading Democratic efforts to retake the U.S. Senate is sharing resources with a new, allied nonprofit group that will not have to reveal its donors.In a campaign finance disclosure report...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What's hiding in presidential campaign finance disclosures
More than a few curiosities, oddities and abnormalities arose when presidential campaigns and super PACs filed their 2015 end-of-year campaign finance disclosures Sunday night.Among the notable numbers...
View ArticleClik here to view.
White House race nearing $1 billion
The 2016 White House race is well on its way to being the most expensive in history.Presidential candidates and the political groups supporting them combined to raise more than $837 million during...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bill seeks to increase D.C.’s judicial transparency
A new congressional bill is calling for greater transparency in how District of Columbia judges report their financial ties, a response to a 2013 Center for Public Integrity investigation that gave the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Super PACs super charge 2016 presidential election spending
If you want to run for president in the U.S. — particularly if you are a Republican —you better have a super PAC on your side. Or be a billionaire. Since the 2010 Citizens United decision, special...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Big U.S. foreign policy initiatives unlikely this year
President Obama’s final year in office isn’t likely to be marked by major new U.S. foreign policy initiatives, if a list of policy priorities offered recently by White House chief of staff Denis...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Workers threw out U.S. nuclear secrets with common rubbish for 20 years
In June 2014, a worker at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee was surprised to find U.S. nuclear secrets inside a trash bag marked for disposal along with standard rubbish. Taking a closer...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nice is right in Iowa caucuses
For six months, candidates and outside groups assailed Iowa TV viewers with a nonstop barrage of political ads.They aired thousands of spots on morning shows. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie...
View ArticleClik here to view.
HUD loan investment program draws scrutiny
Two U.S. congressmen have asked the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to address concerns that a program to sell mortgages to investors in bulk auctions is harming homeowners.Sen....
View Article