Thursday, September 07, 2006

Sunlight Foundation Funds CT Local Politics

I am pleased and honored to announce that CT Local Politics has been chosen to receive a minigrant from the Sunlight Foundation, an organization dedicated to fostering communication between Congress and constituents. The text of their release is here.

We will be using the funds to upgrade the site, purchase video and audio equipment, and gain access to polling data. It's my hope that the site will be greatly enriched and enhanced, and that you will all see a tangible difference in our content soon enough.

Our thanks to the Sunlight Foundation!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The money would be much better spent on happy hour....

Genghis Conn said...

For those interested in where Sunlight gets it's money, here is a quote from an April 26, 2006 Washington Post article called "Aiming to Shed Light on Lawmakers":

"A new nonprofit group called the Sunlight Foundation plans to spend big money this year to connect voters to a wide range of information about candidates for Congress via the Internet.

The District-based group, which opens its doors today, is underwritten by securities lawyer Michael R. Klein, whose clients have included the patriarch of Washington's famously feuding Haft family, the founder of Dart Drug Stores. Its executive director, Ellen S. Miller, is a longtime advocate for disclosure of campaign finances.
...
Klein, 64, made a fortune by starting a firm called CoStar Group Inc. in the 1980s that for the first time gave wide dissemination to information about commercial real estate. These days he is president of the PEN/Faulkner Award's board of directors and an owner of an art gallery and a high-end D.C. restaurant, Le Paradou. He identifies himself "primarily a Democrat" and has funded the Sunlight Foundation with $3.5 million to start.
"

So there you go.