IRS releasing electronically-filed nonprofit tax data

June 20, 2016

The IRS has broken new ground in nonprofit data transparency Last week, the IRS released more than one million electronically-filed tax forms in bulk, open, machine-readable form. There is still, however, work to be done. Read more about what this means and how the Center for Responsive Politics in building on this concept to expand access … More IRS releasing electronically-filed nonprofit tax data

Can the Internet Help Bridge the Justice Gap?

June 11, 2016

I had the pleasure of writing a piece about the Justice Index for Lawyerist. Can the Internet Help Bridge the Justice Gap?  The Justice Index is an amazing project of the National Center for Access to Justice at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law which chronicles the impact of emerging technologies and access to justice.   Each … More Can the Internet Help Bridge the Justice Gap?

New tax forms reveal strong ties between pro-Rubio group and campaign

May 25, 2016

I had the opportunity to co-author a new OpenSecretsBlog post at the Center for Responsive Politics. The post outlines how recent tax filings we obtained reveal new ties between Conservative Solutions Project and a network of groups connected to Rubio’s campaign. Here’s a few highlights from the report: One secret $13.5 million donor gave 97% of CSP’s reported … More New tax forms reveal strong ties between pro-Rubio group and campaign

New Wesleyan Media Project Report with the Center for Responsive Politics

May 12, 2016

A new report released by the Wesleyan Media Project in partnership with the Center for Responsive Politics hows that 2016 presidential advertising is more than twice what it was at the same point in 2012. Advertising Volume Up 122% Over 2012 Levels; Spending in Presidential Race Over $400 million The Center for Responsive Politics has a … More New Wesleyan Media Project Report with the Center for Responsive Politics

Bringing dark money out of the shadows

April 27, 2016

  At the Center for Responsive Politics, we officially launched our newly redesigned Dark Money section, tracking the activities of politically active nonprofits that don’t disclose their wealthy corporate and individual donors to the voters they seek to influence. This is the first phase of our Knight News Challenge project, Inside the 990 Treasure Trove, aimed at … More Bringing dark money out of the shadows

What happens when you try to discover who’s behind dark money ads

April 26, 2016

Libby Watson’s new blog post for the Sunlight Foundation follows her account of attempting to discover who’s behind dark money ads as a part of a fascinating larger investigation into Protect America’s Consumers, and also includes a blurb about my own attempt to find more about ads being run by a super PAC on Fox Business Network … More What happens when you try to discover who’s behind dark money ads