Last week, we reported on the undisclosed funding and conflicts of interest behind the pro-regulatory “research” being peddled by The Sunlight Foundation and picked up by the New York Times.  Following that Big Government report, Sunlight scurried to put up a post mentioning that pro-net neutrality companies also hire government officials and spend money on lobbying and disclosing that “Google senior manager Kim Scott sits on the Advisory Board of the Sunlight Foundation.”

The most interesting aspect of this story is not really about Internet regulation, though.

The real issue is how the Sunlight Foundation, which says it exists to push “transparency in government,” actually has a stunningly hypocritical stance with its own funding and self-interest.

All you have to do is to look at its Board of Directors and major donors (often one and the same).  Start with Craig Newmark, founder of the eponymous Craig’s List. His foundations gave Sunlight $10,000 in 2009 (Craig Newmark Philanthropic Fund) and $50,000 in 2010 (Craigslist Charitable Fund).  Craig Newmark sits on the Board of the Sunlight Foundation, and has been one of the leaders in lobbying for heightened government regulations on broadband.

Next, you have Google, which has joined Newmark in financing pro-Net neutrality lobbying for years and which has a senior executive on Sunlight’s Advisory Board.  It wasn’t until our post that the Sunlight Foundation thought it relevant to mention that their Advisory Board and major donors contain people with a direct financial interest in regulation for which Sunlight is providing helpful “transparency research”.  The New York Times didn’t mention that, either.

Apparently transparency is only for those on the other side of the political aisle.

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The Left is far more organized than you might imagine, but a little investigation can turn up some fascinating examples of how they coordinate with front groups and the media to advance their policies.  Consider this New York Times editorial. The FCC is attempting to play musical chairs with regulatory authority until they find one that will let them regulate the Internet. A lot of Congressional Republicans and Democrats–in fact, a majority of them–have questioned that move.

On Tuesday, the Sunlight Foundation, which promotes itself as an organization working “to make government transparent and accountable”, released a strange bit of “research” showing that a few of the pro-net neutrality organizations didn’t spend as much money on lobbying the federal government as the companies who were being threatened with regulation.  They didn’t even attempt to figure out whether the money was being spent on net neutrality, or how much was spent by relevant organizations that weren’t at one particular meeting.  They didn’t mention, or calculate the value of, all the “behind closed door” lobbying that is being done by activist front-groups like Free Press.

Of course, the New York Times just regurgitated their sloppy advocacy. Sunlight used numbers! With decimals! So it must be facts!

But there is something else that the New York Times did not bother to check before writing this editorial about the influence of money in politics.

Who funds the Sunlight Foundation?

It turns out, the Sunlight Foundation’s “research” is funded by organizations who just happen to have a direct interest in net neutrality regulations.

Look at record:

Google, which strongly favors government “neutrality” regulation, has given Sunlight nearly $100,000 during the past two years. And Google executive Kim Scott sits on Sunlight’s board of directors.

But when Big Government exposed ethics violations by Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin, who came to the White House from Google and yet continued private email coordination with them about policies effecting the company – possibly violating federal archiving rules – did the Sunlight Foundation investigate?  Or even call for more transparency from the White House to prevent such abuses?

Sunlight did not say a word.

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