Josh Stewart
Sunlight Foundation
Washington, DC, United States
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Past articles by Josh:
Report finds delays and delinquencies in foreign lobbying disclosure
Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's former campaign manager, lobbied on behalf of foreign interests and resigned over his involvement with pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine. (Photo credit: ABC—Ida Mae Astute/Flickr) The inspector general of the Department of Justice released a detailed report and audit on the “enforcement and administration” of the government's ... → Read More
NRA's influence comes from $14 million in spending — not just campaign contributions
The NRA is known for its wide-ranging campaign contributions — but its spending on ads is arguably even more powerful. (Photo credit: Democracy Chronicles/Flickr) When people talk about money in politics, they often point to the money that a candidate receives from a special interest (regardless of the amount of ... → Read More
McCutcheon decision has allowed at least $39 million more in presidential election so far
(Graphic credit: Sunlight Foundation) In 2014, the Supreme Court’s decision in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) eliminated the so-called aggregate limits on political contributions, that placed a ceiling on the total amount a single donor could give across campaigns, PACs and federal and state party committees. This, combined with ... → Read More
Influence at the DNC: More than 60 superdelegates are registered lobbyists
(Graphic credit: Sunlight Foundation) Lobbyists wield enormous influence and, depending on your point of view, can bring positive or negative changes to our government. From reptile keepers to balloon enthusiasts, everyone has a constitutional right to petition government. The power some lobbyists hold over both parties in Congress and the ... → Read More
Political Party Time takeover: Sunlight at the 2016 Democratic National Convention
As you saw last week with our coverage of the Republican National Convention, we here at Political Party Time are temporarily taking over the Sunlight blog in honor of one of our favorite times of the year: convention season! Why, you ask? Because these massive political carnivals are prime spots ... → Read More
Navigating the special interest solar system at the 2016 RNC
Cleveland, the site of the 2016 Republican National Convention. (Photo credit: Sunlight Foundation/Instagram) There are subtle layers of influence that exist beyond the convention hall. If the convention hall at Quicken Loans Arena is the Sun — the center of the RNC solar system — then the planets that surround ... → Read More
Following the money behind the nearly $500 million 2016 Democratic primary
Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley at a Democratic primary debate in 2016. (Photo credit: ABC-Ida Mae Astute/Flickr) So far, the 2016 presidential election has racked up more than $1.09 billion dollars in spending by candidates and outside groups. Sunlight estimates that the Democratic primary resulted in about $445 ... → Read More
House makes spending data available in easy-to-use format
You no longer have to rely on paper statements or PDFs from the House! (Photo credit: Archive.org) Great news for open and accessible government: The U.S. House of Representatives has decided to release a machine-readable CSV file of the quarterly “Statement of Disbursements.” This report details how the House and ... → Read More
Dark money group’s spending tops $714,000 against Puerto Rico debt relief bill
Screen shot from Center for Individual Freedom YouTube page The debate over a deal to help Puerto Rico handle its crippling debt obligations continues to rage in Congress — and on the airwaves. As we reported in April, the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF), a 501(c)(4) dark money group, is ... → Read More
Poll: Public supports disclosure of tax returns for presidential candidates
Graphic by Sunlight Foundation A New York Times/CBS News national poll released yesterday found that nearly 6 in 10 registered voters think it is necessary that presidential candidates release their tax returns. Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has so far refused to release his own returns, telling ABC’s Good ... → Read More
Was GOP primary spending against Trump really that ‘yuge’?
(Graphic credit: The Sunlight Foundation) We are constantly asking ourselves: How much of a role does big money play in our elections? The numbers can sometimes get overwhelming and difficult to put in perspective, especially when you’re describing millions, if not billions, of dollars spent. In short, it really depends ... → Read More
Battleground 2016: 25 top-spending House races to watch
Notable 2016 House races based on spending. (Graphic credit: Sunlight Foundation) There are 435 members of the House of Representatives up for re-election this year, but how many of those races will actually be competitive — and how many will see an influx of money in an effort to influence ... → Read More
Dark money group spends $200,000 on ads opposing Puerto Rico debt relief bill
Image via Center for Individual Freedom YouTube channel According to Sunlight Foundation’s Political Ad Sleuth tool, a 501(c)(4) dark money group called the Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) has purchased at least $200,000 in ads in the Washington, D.C., market, an attempt to influence lawmakers crafting economic legislation to assist ... → Read More
John Oliver's 'Last Week Tonight' dives into congressional partying with Sunlight data
Segment on congressional fundraising begins at 3:06. This past Sunday, the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Party Time database was featured on HBO’s → Read More
The top 10 big-money Senate races in 2016 — so far
Early money is like yeast, or so goes the saying, implying that when you raise and spend big money early, it leads to more campaign cash. Since the fate of the Senate is at stake in November, we examined the campaign finance data around the most expensive contests using Sunlight's ... → Read More
Credit card abuse, open records and the U.S. Virgin Islands “black hole” government
Screenshot of The Virgin Islands Daily News We too often hear stories of government officials’ misuse of taxpayer funds and lavish spending on themselves or pet projects. Open records or freedom of information requests can be powerful tools for the public to combat financial abuses, hold government accountable and spur ... → Read More
January and February reporting powered by Sunlight tools and data
538 used Sunlight’s Capitol Words, which scrapes the text of the congressional record, to report on how often congress discusses the debt or the deficit. As the presidential election heats up, there is more and more data — and noise — to sift through. Sunlight is here to filter through ... → Read More
Dozens of groups lobby heavily on criminal justice reform bill
(Photo caption: AlexVan/Pixabay) With a Supreme Court vacancy and a heated election season, the issue of criminal justice remains front and center with candidates, voters, activists and, of course, Congress. Over the past year, Congress has been debating a number of bills related to reforming the criminal justice system. This ... → Read More
Outside groups raise big money to influence 2016 congressional elections
A screenshot of an ad from the Senate Majority PAC YouTube channel. Now that 2015 is over and voting in the presidential contests has begun, we shouldn't forget about the members of Congress — you know, the ones in charge of making the laws — who are up for re-election. ... → Read More
Sunlight launches Hall of Justice, a massive data inventory on criminal justice across the U.S.
Hall of Justice, a project of the Sunlight Foundation, is a searchable repository of publicly available criminal justice datasets and research. Today, Sunlight is launching Hall of Justice, a robust, searchable data inventory of nearly 10,000 datasets and research documents from across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and ... → Read More