Look familiar? You can now join a free online training to get over the hump and start using LittleSis for your power research! The real value of LittleSis is that anyone can edit and add data to keep the information accurate, current, and most importantly, growing. The more that our community of researchers, journalists, academics, …
Whitney Yax
Posts by Whitney Yax
De Blasio goes with the status quo in economic development appointments
If you caught the news sometime this fall, you probably know the story of New York City’s changing of the guard. Populist de Blasio replaces billionaire Bloomberg as mayor. Wall St. already misses its buddy Mike. Economic inequality: watch out! So why is de Blasio surrounding himself with a cast of characters that signal it’s …
Regents Research Fund UPDATE
Two weeks ago I used LittleSis to look into the NYS Education Department’s shadow government, the Regents Research Fund. The Fund’s interlocks show a clear pattern among the fellows: 13 (out of seventeen researched) had worked at Teach for America, New Leaders, College Board or the NYC Department of Education before joining the Fund. Some …
Who’s who at Cuomo’s NYC and DC fundraisers
NY Governor Andrew Cuomo celebrated his Moreland Commission’s report decrying the influence of money in politics–and his 56th birthday!–at two pricey fundraisers in the past two weeks. Some guests paid as much as $50,000 a pop to add to Cuomo’s $28 million campaign war chest. Thanks to the Buffalo News, we know the names of …
Mapping Shadow Government: Regents Research Fund
Back in August we set up a Shadow Gov Working Group on LittleSis, inspired by Obama’s Open Government Working Group established in 2009 and his administration’s hot pursuit of Edward Snowden, who worked for NSA contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. The research group investigates corporations that tend to profit from the privatization of government, first focusing …
Who’s spying on nonprofits for corporate America?
The Center for Corporate Policy recently released a report demonstrating how large corporations hire former law enforcement officials to spy on nonprofit organizations considered to be a threat to them. We added all of the firms in the report to a list in LittleSis–Corporate Espionage Firms–to take a closer look at some of the people …
Paul Tudor Jones and American public education
Forbes’s December “special philanthropy issue” features Paul Tudor Jones, among others, and his efforts fighting poverty in NYC. The glowing article about Jones poses a question with its title–“Can hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones save America’s public education system?”–that the magazine’s cover had already answered: ”Entrepreneurs Can Save the World.” I found the article …
For richer, for poorer: the revolving door between Boeing and Washington State
The State of Washington made headlines earlier this week for pledging the largest state tax subsidy in US history–$8.7 billion through 2040–to Boeing. Boeing is the country’s 30th largest company, with revenue of $81.7 billion and profit of $3.9 billion last year. CEO Jim McNerney made $27.5 million in 2012, a 20% raise from his …
On the revolving door between Wall St. and the New York State government
Last week I wrote about NY Governor Cuomo’s new hires to run StartUp NY, the new program creating tax-free zones around SUNY campuses for businesses willing to relocate, and their ties to Wall St. According to Cuomo’s press release, Leslie Whatley, StartUp NY’s new executive vice president, will be employed by the SUNY Research Foundation …
How the business community works in New York
Last week Governor Cuomo was joined by John Mack and Leslie Whatley to launch Start-Up NY, which will create zones around universities where businesses can locate tax-free for 10 years. Mack, formerly CEO and chairman and currently senior advisor of Morgan Stanley, will be an advisor to the governor and to Empire State Development’s board …
LittleSis is here to help!
We are excited to roll out a new, comprehensive help center to guide our users as they add, edit and analyze data on LittleSis. We have added lots of documentation, as well as a simple layout and a search bar that makes it quick and easy for beginner and advanced analysts to find the information …
Oh, what a tangled web CCA weaves
Last week hundreds of people gathered in Arizona to protest record-high levels of deportations from the US this year. Activists shut down Operation Streamline by chaining themselves to buses carrying detainees and to the Eloy Detention Center entrance, where detainees are held. Operation Streamline is a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy that requires …