ProPublica Challenges U.S. Supreme Court Assertion

ProPublica decided to challenge a premise in the U.S. Supreme Court majority opinion of the Citizens United case, which overturned limits on corporate election spending . Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, "With the advent of the Internet, disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions and supporters."

ProPublica tested this assertion by looking at fundraisers held by 16 lawmakers at two Bruce Springsteen concerts last year. "While we found many records online, none of them clearly identified those who attended the fundraisers or how much money was raised. At best, we ended up with a handful of possible attendees. At worst, we were left with no clues at all," wrote Sebastian Jones of ProPublica.

For details, click here.

ProPublica Gets Blocked Plane List

ProPublica obtained a list from a Federal Aviation Administration program that allows aircraft owners to block flight information from tracking websites. Among those who have asked to be placed on the list:

• South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds - The superintendent of the state's Highway Patrol said the aircraft was placed on the list for security reasons;
• Aircrafts owned by an University of Alabama athletic booster club, the University of Florida, Penn State and the University of Mississippi;
• Coby Brooks, the CEO of Hooters - the Hooters spokesman said they use the plane to conduct unannounced checks on restaurants; and
• Televangelist Kenneth Copeland and his Eagle Mountain International Church in Newark, Texas.

For a more complete list of aircrafts on the special FAA list, click here.

ProPublica requests list of businesses trying to hide flight plans

Who other than General Motors is trying to prevent the public from tracking its corporate jets? ProPublica filed an FOIA request for a list of the companies that had requested the FAA to remove their planes' tail numbers from records. The Block Aircraft Registration Request Program allows companies to request for their flight plans to be kept private. Flight plans collected by the FAA on all planes that use public airspaces are typically public. The FAA concluded that ProPublica's requested information was public, but the National Business Aviation Association filed a motion for a temporary restraining order. Now, the FAA will withhold the list until a judge hears arguments from both sides.

Remember last fall when the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler flew on corporate jets [2] to Washington, D.C., to plead for a taxpayer bailout? The resulting bad publicity prompted GM to try to prevent the public [3] from tracking its planes in databases compiled by the Federal Aviation Administration.

That got ProPublica interested in how many other companies had asked the FAA to excise their planes' tail numbers from records tracking private flights. So in December, ProPublica filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for a complete listing.

Earlier this month, the FAA concluded that the information was public and planned to release the list on Tuesday. But on Monday, an organization representing corporate jet users went to court to block the release of the records.

More here.