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Dear friend of OpenSecrets,
Underlying the drama surrounding the impeachment hearings and calls between Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, there is newfound attention to issues involving the decades-old Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and the information it discloses.
Consider these developments the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) uncovered in recent months involving Ukrainian actors:
- Networks of shell companies, limited liability companies and other secretive entities reported millions of dollars in U.S. lobbying and influence spending on interests tied to Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko.
- On the eve of the Ukraine 2019 presidential election, a delegation of Zelensky campaign representatives orchestrated a secretive influence campaign during which they reportedly paid Trump International Hotel’s BLT restaurant $1,912 to dine with “around a dozen unknown others.”
- A little known U.S.-based attorney quietly poured six figures into foreign influence operations for President Zelensky, hoping to be rewarded with a job in his administration.
The breadth and scale of conflicts of interest make it more vital than ever to expose the connections between money, governance and policy. Moreover, the escalation in FARA-related activity –– and enforcement –– is unprecedented. In the past fifty years there were only seven FARA prosecutions. In 2018 alone, more than 20 individuals were charged with criminal prosecutions. Investigations and reports that draw on CRP's Foreign Lobby Watch data—by OpenSecrets, the press and civil society—are revealing the relationships and activities of people wielding inordinate influence over policy, and bringing transparency to these networks.
Foreign Lobby Watch (FLW) is the essential resource for exploring these patterns. FLW digitizes and curates the FARA data into an accurate and easily accessible format. And CRP is adding features to make it the most comprehensive tool available. By integrating the data with CRP's domestic lobbying archive FLW provides deeper access into who is in these networks of influence, donations to lawmakers made by lobbyists, details about their political ad spending and the lobbying activities of foreign companies.
Americans have a right to know –– and CRP's work couldn't be timelier. With your help, we can ensure that the public has the best access possible by adding new search features, connecting existing information to data from new sources, and fostering factual, data-driven discussions of foreign influence in the media.
Please help us make information on foreign influence on our government accessible to all.
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