From the Center's Executive Director |  Henry We are seeing an explosion of lobbying around major legislation now moving through Congress. Thousands of lobbyists and millions of dollars are pouring into Washington to influence the outcomes on bank regulation, health care reform, global warming legislation and climate policy, and the future of transportation. The Center for Public Integrity is busy tracking and digging into the extraordinary level of influence being exerted by special interests. As executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, I am often asked what difference does this make? What is the impact of your work? I know that transparency helps change behavior. What happens in the dark is dangerous for our democracy. I have seen over and over again how investigative reporting, widely distributed, forces accountability onto the powerful interests seeking to shape our laws. Our States of Disclosure investigation is behind dramatic changes in dozens of states’ ethics laws. Earlier this month, I gave you an inside look at this work and how we do it. We know that disclosure of conflicts of interest affects the candidates who seek public office. But States of Disclosure is just one of our many current investigations — including an update to our award-winning Financial Meltdown series. Our Transportation Lobby project has the potential to transform the debate about the nation’s hodge-podge transportation policy that Congress will take on in the months ahead. You can help us flesh out this story by using our interactive map to identify the lobbying taking place around projects in your community, and using our handy primer to dig into the specifics of these construction and infrastructure projects. We really do need the support of subscribers like you to continue the kind of reporting that the rest of the media is increasingly unable to proivide. Please support the Center today. You are an integral part of our projects in so many ways, through your support, your ideas, and your input. Thanks for all you do. 
Bill Buzenberg
Executive Director | Top Investigation |  The Transportation Lobby Almost 1,800 special interest groups of all kinds are trying to influence Congress, as it races against time to enact a giant new transportation bill. Notorious for earmarks like Alaska’s “Bridge to Nowhere,” Congress’s funding of transportation has become a broken process influenced by special interests, according to the investigation. Interest groups employed 2,100 lobbyists and spent an estimated $45 million to lobby lawmakers on transportation in the first half of 2009 — a spending pace on par with the amount spent lobbying on climate change, the Center found. The Transportation Lobby features an interactive map tracking exactly who’s hired the lobbyists nationwide — ranging from cities, counties, and planning agencies to universities, real estate firms, and construction companies. The project also includes a crowd-sourcing initiative asking readers like you to help us find projects in your area. Additional components to the project are The TranspoBlog keeping you updated on our findings as we continue to report on this important legislation and the Center’s transportation Twitter feed, where readers can follow the conversation around the bill and our reporting. Read the entire project. | | |  | | | Latest from the Center |  The Murtha Method reveals that fully three-quarters of the U.S. Representatives on the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee members have been involved in controversial patterns of behavior — in circles of relationships fraught with potential conflicts of interest, involving former congressional staffers-turned lobbyists, earmarks, and campaign cash. Read the full story.
| |  | | |  | September 04, 2009, 11:54 am By Marianne Lavelle With its hefty bankroll and polished messaging, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity looked like a juggernaut going into the climate change debate on Capitol Hill. But ever since the House narrowly passed a measure in late June to set the country on a path to addressing global warming — a measure with plenty of concessions to coal but still lacking ACCCE’s support — the advocacy group has been beset by struggles. 
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Keep a civil tongue.