Center for Responsive Politics
Senior Fellow at the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics; co-author of After the Revolution: PACs Lobbies, and the Republican Congress and Risky Business?: PAC Decision-making in Congressional Elections; former staffer at the Federal Election Commission for 30 years
'Dark Money' in the 2012 Presidential Campaign With billions of dollars flowing more freely than ever before into the nation's political process, has the US reached the point where money is all that matters when it comes to elections?
Big Money and Secret Money in the 2012 Campaign It's a game-changing year in the election business. This is the first presidential campaign season operating under new rules about donations, which allow unlimited funds to flow in from corporations, unions and individuals. It's being called "dark" money, because much of it remains anonymous.
Could agave become Santa Barbara’s next major crop? In many ways, growing agave in Santa Barbara makes a lot of sense. Not only does it use very little water and thrive on generally inhospitable land, but it can act as a fuel break for wildfires. Now, local farmers and distillers are experimenting with the crop.
One year later, the threat of more mudslides still exists One year ago, torrential rain pelted the hillside community of Montecito, which was scorched a month earlier by the Thomas Fire. It unleashed a flow of mud and boulders the size of cars and killed 23 people. We check in with the community one year later and talk about what’s being done to prevent another debris flow.
What are charter schools? LAUSD teachers were picket lines for a second day Tuesday. And this morning the teachers union organized a march to the California Charter Schools Association office downtown, to draw attention to their criticisms of local charter schools. But what are charter schools anyway?