Peter Overby
Peter Overby has covered Washington power, money, and influence since a foresighted NPR editor created the beat in 1994.
Overby has covered scandals involving House Speaker Newt Gingrich, President Bill Clinton, lobbyist Jack Abramoff and others. He tracked the rise of campaign finance regulation as Congress passed campaign finance reform laws, and the rise of deregulation as Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions rolled those laws back.
During President Trump's first year in office, Overby was on a team of NPR journalists covering conflicts of interest sparked by the Trump family business. He did some of the early investigations of dark money, dissecting a money network that influenced a Michigan judicial election in 2013, and — working with the Center for Investigative Reporting — surfacing below-the-radar attack groups in the 2008 presidential election.
In 2009, Overby co-reported Dollar Politics, a multimedia series on lawmakers, lobbyists and money as the Senate debated the Affordable Care Act. The series received an award for excellence from the Capitol Hill-based Radio and Television Correspondents Association. Earlier, he won an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Silver Baton for his coverage of the 2000 elections and 2001 Senate debate on campaign finance reform.
Prior to NPR, Overby was an editor/reporter for Common Cause Magazine, where he shared an Investigative Reporters and Editors award. He worked on daily newspapers for 10 years, and has freelanced for publications ranging from Utne Reader and the Congressional Quarterly Guide To Congress to the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post.
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After two days of hearings, the Federal Election Commission is a bit closer to ending anonymous funding for online pro- and anti-candidate ads. But that's just one portion of the political ads online.
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One of Pruitt's closest political allies in Congress said he would call for the EPA chief to step down if his ethical scandals don't stop.
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Federal prosecutors allege that William and Robert Tierney pocketed nearly $4 million through sham political action committees. Only $109,000 went to candidates.
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One linguistics expert said referring to "optics" was a way to offer a non-apology along the lines of "I'm sorry you were offended."
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Act Blue is a non-profit that has become a start of Democratic fundraising. The digital fundraising platform for progressive candidates and causes raised $522 million in 2017 — that's more than double its take in 2015.
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The American system of financing campaigns is changing, as post-Watergate reforms crumble beneath a crush of unregulated money.
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Several lawsuits filed last year allege Donald Trump violated the Constitution's Emoluments Clause as he entangles the presidency with his businesses. One suit has been dismissed.
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Judge George Daniels said it's up to Congress, not citizens, to enforce the Foreign Emoluments Clause. "Congress is not a potted plant," he said.
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The Donald J. Trump Foundation remains under investigation in New York. Trump says he wants to close it down, but he can't until the probe is finished.
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After three years of congressional hearings and three inspector-general audits, the scandal still ricochets around Capitol Hill.