Special interests drive Iowa education reforms
By Tushar Rae | Iowa Watchdog contributor
DES MOINES – Good intentions aren’t the only driving force behind Iowa’s education reform efforts.
State education agencies, special interest groups and for-profit education companies have spent thousands in 2012 and 2013 to hire lobbyists and pad the pockets of lawmakers who sit on key committees.
Read More →PA liquor store union give to Democrats, key Republicans
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — The labor union that forms the backbone of opposition to Republican plans to privatize Pennsylvania’s liquor store system gave more than $140,000 to state-level candidates in 2012, including plenty of campaign cash to some high-ranking Republicans.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, which counts about 3,000 state liquor store [...]
PA: Pennsylvania Society honors filmmaker who scored big in subsidies from state
By Eric Boehm | PA Independent
HARRISBURG — A filmmaker who received more than $48 million in subsidies from the taxpayers of Pennsylvania will be the honoree at this weekend’s Pennsylvania Society dinner in New York City.
The annual gathering in New York is one of the oldest and grandest political events of the year, attracting Pennsylvania’s most [...]
MO: Lawmakers proposing gift caps enjoy plenty of handouts
By Johnny Kampis | Missouri Watchdog
ST. LOUIS — A top Missouri Democrat is pushing a bill aimed at restricting gifts from lobbyists, but that same lawmaker would have violated those proposed spending limits every year he’s been in office.
Legislation proposed Tuesday by state House Democrats would bar lawmakers and their families from accepting more than $1,000 in lobbyist expenditures each [...]
MO: Voters won’t get chance to lower payday loan interest rates
By Johnny Kampis | Missouri Watchdog
ST. LOUIS — The fight to cap the interest rates charged by the payday lending industry will have to wait another year.
Not that state lawmakers — whose campaign coffers are lined with donations from the industry — are eager to join in the fray.
Missourians for Responsible Lending circulated petitions trying [...]
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