Paul Blumenthal

Recent Articles

• The Citizens United Effect
• Nov 10, 2010
• The Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling allowed this election to be the costliest and least transparent midterm in recent history.
• 7 Comments

• Rahm Emanuel's White House Visitor Trail
• Oct 6, 2010
• White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel left the White House to pursue a bid to be the next Mayor of Chicago. Who visited Emanuel while in the White House, and what could that meant for his future -- and the White House's?

• Post-Citizens United Disclosure Down Significantly
• Sep 29, 2010
• The Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling opened up a massive hole in the disclosure regime governing campaign spending. And it affected the number of independent groups disclosing to the Federal Election Commission.

• Less of a Non-Sequitur Response on Campaign Finance
• Aug 18, 2010
• If you could create your own system of campaign finance laws that encourages and prioritizes transparency and disclosure, what would they look like?

• It's Not Easy Being Non-Partisan
• Aug 13, 2010
• Being a non-partisan organization may seem ambiguous, but Sunlight Foundation maintains that transparency is something both political sides can agree on and fight for.

• Earmark Transparency Still Makes More Sense than a Ban
• Jul 9, 2010
• The Sunlight Foundation recently sent a letter seeking cosponsors for H.R. 5258 and S. 3335, which would require the creation of a centralized database of earmarks and earmark requests.

• Labor Groups Use Ark. Primary As Citizens United Testing Ground
• Jun 14, 2010
• The Arkansas Senate primary between Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter is acting as a testing ground for express advocacy advertisements allowed under the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling.

• Introducing the Cycle of Transparency
• May 6, 2010
• The "Cycle of Transparency" demonstrates the specific actions and the variety of actors that need to work together to create the open, transparent government we seek--a useful tool in thinking about how to make governments more transparent.

• Why Apply Transparency to Lobbying?
• May 6, 2010
• The one significant change in disclosure that goes to the root of the public fears of lobbying would be immediate disclosure of lobbyist contact with lawmakers, government officials and government offices. There an informational valley here that creates extreme distrust and fear.

• What You Can Do with TransparencyData.com
• May 6, 2010
• Sunlight Labs announced the release of TransparencyData.com in April. The site makes searching, obtaining and downloading government data so much easier than it has ever been.