Public Accountability Initiative

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| homepage = {{URL|littlesis.org}}

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The Public Accountability Initiative (PAI) is an American nonprofit watchdog organization investigating corporate and government accountability.{{cite news |last1=Woodall |first1=Candy |title=Wolf administration says new study on pipeline task force is 'way off' |url=https://www.pennlive.com/midstate/2015/10/wolf_administration_says_new_s.html |work=PennLive |date=October 28, 2015 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Begos |first1=Kevin |title=Report faults Heinz Endowments head for gas ties |url=https://www.wtae.com/article/report-faults-heinz-endowments-head-for-gas-ties/7461731 |work=WTAE |agency=Associated Press |date=June 16, 2013 |language=en}}{{cite news |last1=Summerson |first1=Mia |title=Public accountability report takes aim at National Fuel |url=https://www.niagara-gazette.com/news/local_news/public-accountability-report-takes-aim-at-national-fuel/article_30dbb94e-6dee-57ca-992e-05873090e826.html |work=Niagara Gazette |date=March 25, 2017 |language=en}} Founded in 2008 and based in Buffalo, New York, it operates the volunteer-run online database LittleSis, described by its co-founder "an involuntary Facebook for influential people".{{cite news |last1=Watson |first1=Stephen T. |title=LittleSis keeps Big Brother in his place. Web site exposes ties among the powerful |url=https://buffalonews.com/news/littlesis-keeps-big-brother-in-his-place-web-site-exposes-ties-among-the-powerful/article_5d921719-93de-5faa-aae5-015d717e77dd.html |work=The Buffalo News |date=August 30, 2009 |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Estes |first1=Adam Clark |date=July 13, 2009 |title=How do health care lobby dollars match influence in Congress? |url=https://bigboards.io/ |access-date=November 27, 2021 |website=Center for Public Integrity |language=en-us}}{{cite news |last1=Jaffe |first1=Sarah |title=LittleSis is Watching the One Percent |url=https://thebaffler.com/interviews-for-resistance/littlesis-watching-the-one-percent |work=The Baffler |date=September 1, 2017}} LittleSis, a play on the authoritarian Big Brother from George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, was funded by a grant from the Sunlight Foundation and launched in January 2009.{{cite web |last1=Klonick |first1=Kate |title=Profiles of Power |url=https://archives.cjr.org/campaign_desk/profiles_of_power.php |website=Columbia Journalism Review |language=en |date=March 19, 2009}} By August of that year it included profiles and financial information on over 28,000 individuals and 10,000 organizations.