justin elliott

July 1, 2013 - A Florida-based nonprofit called A Better America Now spent money on mailers linking a Texas congressional candidate to "left-wing extremists" and a controversy involving an endangered spider.

March 25, 2013 - MIT physicist Ernest Moniz is an academic who has also served on boards or advisory councils of large energy companies, including BP.

February 18, 2013 - A nonprofit that paid for Republican consultants to draw new congressional district maps for North Carolina -- a gerrymander that helped flip the state's delegation to the GOP -- got most of its original funding from big corporations including Exxon, Pfizer and Time Warner.

February 4, 2013 - Critics say the president's plan for a new nonprofit group to push his second-term agenda opens the door to influence by corporations and other big donors.

October 3, 2012 - Indiana Republican Steve Buyer, who fought tobacco regulation while in the House, is now representing the North Carolina-based tobacco giant, which has been aggressively marketing smokeless tobacco products in the face of declining U.S. cigarette consumption rates.

August 15, 2012 - Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), House Aerospace Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas), Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney are among those citing an inflated figure for military budget cuts slated to take effect next year.