Yesterday, we looked at the host committee unfurling the carpet in Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention this summer, including three locals with a number of questionable associations. Now we’re examining the Republican National Convention’s host committee chairs, most of whom are connected to an electrical equipment and car parts manufacturer called Eaton Corporation. …
The host committees for both the Republican and Democratic national conventions are composed of wealthy officials who spend their day-to-day lives representing the interests of health insurers, fracking companies, banks and other large corporations. Host committees are comprised of locals picked by party elites to represent the cities hosting each convention. This year’s Democratic National …
LittleSis is partnering with MuckRock to investigate how police across the country are monitoring, tracking, and archiving public social media posts. To plug into our work, follow this link to file a freedom of information request using MuckRock’s platform. In keeping with our mission to monitor and track the powers that be, we at LittleSis …
Several of the officials charged with regulating Texas’s prison labor program, wherein thousands of workers behind bars are compelled to produce goods and provide services for free, are connected to some of the richest and most powerful institutions and people in the state. The Texas Board of Criminal Justice, which oversees Texas Correctional Industries (TCI), …
Since announcing his $41 billion affordable housing plan in 2014, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has encountered fierce resistance from grassroots housing advocates, who have pointed out that the plan would displace thousands of low-income families and spur gentrification in neighborhoods targeted for rezoning. Until very recently, that opposition was also matched by the …
The payday loan industry has a new friend in Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee. Wasserman Schultz is co-sponsoring a piece of legislation – ironically titled the “Consumer Protection and Choice Act” – which would delay and eventually block new regulations sought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Why is …
A hedge-fund backed front group opposing bankruptcy in Puerto Rico is in disarray. Board members of the group, the 60 Plus Association, are suing the group’s president, Amy Frederick, for secretly funneling payments to companies controlled by her husband. Hedge funds recruited 60 Plus to form a group, Main Street Bondholders, that pretends to represent …
Following a long delay, things are moving quickly with the environmentally catastrophic methane leak at the Aliso Canyon gas facility in Los Angeles, first noticed in October 2015. After leaking about 94,000 metric tons of methane into the air—far and away the state’s biggest single contributor to global warming at the moment—11 different local, state, …
Since the oil exports ban was repealed on December 18th, 2015, there has been a slow trickle of news detailing the oil industry’s behind-the-scenes campaign to shape this critical policy decision. The most recent piece, from Paul Blumenthal, detailed large, direct corporate donations from oil and gas companies to the Senate Leadership Fund in the …
2016 is a big year for the Department of Homeland Security’s ability to collect, store, analyze, and share biometric information from non-citizens (and “citizens of interest”) at border crossings and airports. We took a look at the power networks behind the companies unrolling iris and facial scanning technology on the California-Mexico border and JFK airport …
Media outlets should use extra caution when publishing op-eds by former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. On at least two occasions in the past three years, Rendell has failed to disclose oil and gas industry ties in op-eds that advocated for oil and gas interests. In both cases, newspapers later had to append disclosures noting the …
Top national security officials in the United States are leveraging recent terror attacks in the West to advocate for greater surveillance at home and militarism abroad. On December 6, days after ISIS-inspired murders in San Bernardino, President Obama announced that he would “urge high-tech and law enforcement leaders to make it harder for terrorists to …