PAC Money Makes Charter Schools Top Priority for NY Republicans

Last Thursday, Assemblyman Keith Wright told a meeting of Democratic leaders that Charter Schools are a top three NY Senate Republican demand in 2015.

No big surprise once you realize the single largest spender in the 2014 elections - "New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany" - was actually run by StudentsFirst NY, a pro-charter school lobby. It funneled $4.4M from hedge fund execs to eight Republican Senators.

However you feel about charter schools, ShiftSpark makes what people want transparent to counter billionaires hiding behind camouflaged PACs.

NY Legislators Spend $1 Million in Taxes To Hide Personal Assets

In New York, law makers are allowed to have other jobs. And apparently they DO NOT want people to know how they're making their money. So, to get around pesky laws requiring them to tell you, they're hiring $1 million worth of lawyers at tax-payer expense to get around it.

Here's the scoop.

Vote for CRomnibus? You Got Twice The Money From Wallstreet

There's not much else which needs to be said: Democrats who voted for the CRomnibus have received twice as much money from the finance industry as the ‘no’ voters.

Here's the full account in the Washington Post.

PACs Are Getting Smarter And Stronger

It takes less than anyone thought. In 2012, Karl Rove's #darkmoney group spent $70M to sway election and only had a 14% success rate. 

This year, it spent $26M with a 96% success rate. Check out Sunlight Foundation's in depth report.

They're learning, we should, too. ShiftSpark helps you be smart with your giving.

A Brief Break

You may have noticed, we've been spending a lot less time scouring the Internet. We have a good reason, though! We're a very small team and right now it's all hands on deck to to work on new designs based on the suggestions of our first users. We'll continue to post as we're able but, for the moment, we've got a lot on our plate.

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. You can check out what's in store with the "The New Design" link in the menu. Suffice it to say, you can expect a much nicer experience and some nifty new features such as:

• Help identifying swing vote politicians,
• The ability to measure your campaigns against real life giving from special interests,
• The ability to customize campaigns and fight for your side!

UPDATE: Attempt to Sell Congressional Seat For LESS Than Potato Salad

As a follow up to yesterday, NY State Senate too expensive for you? Apparently you can buy a Congressional seat for a quarter of a Kickstarter potato salad. The story is almost to amazing to be true.

ShiftSpark lets you crowd-lobby for issues you care about and put the politicians back in the peoples' pocket.

Democracy Costs Less Than Potato Salad

The average State Senate seat in NY cost just 7 kickstarter potato salads and had only 650 funders. If New Yorkers funded just a seventh of their representatives' campaigns it would be a totally different State.

Here's the incredible story of the potato salad worth more than most local races.