2Day in #OpenGov 6/13/2012

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NEWS ROUNDUP

Campaign Finance

  • Gingrich: Reform election finance laws: In a televised conversation with Al Sharpton, Newt Gingrich condemned the current election process as “rigged…for the wealthy” and offered his own take on potential election law reforms, which would eliminate all donation limits but would require near-instant public disclosure. (Politico)
  • Updated campaign finance laws in New Jersey? The New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission has a few changes in mind for gubernatorial election funding, allowing the candidates for lieutenant governor to be eligible for public funding, for example, and enabling this funding to be used for campaign endeavours online. (North Jersey)

Government

  • DATA Act not popular with OMB: The Office of Management and Budget criticized the DATA Act provision that would create a commissions to review reports from federal grantees. The commission would also write guidance for the grant-receivers, which the OMB claims it already does sufficiently well. (Government Executive)
  • White House hopeful about innovation contests: The White House’s assistant director for grand challenges is highly supportive of the incentive prize model for solving problems, which allows solvers new and old to enter federally sponsored contests to find solutions to problems for which it would normally provide grants or procurements. (Federal Computer Weekly)
  • House members want names of donors to ACA-suing group: The heads of the Congressional Progressive Caucus have doubted that the National Federation of Independent Business, a group challenging the healthcare law, is actually serving the interests of small businesses. They, for example, are curious about a $3.7 million dollar grant the group received in 2010 from super PAC Crossroads GPS. (The Hill)
  • Minimal fraud of Recovery Act money attributed to transparency: The former chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board said that without the increased attention given by citizens, politicians, and the media to where the Recovery Act’s money was spent, there would have been much more waste and abuse of these funds. (Federal Computer Weekly)

RELEVANT BILLS INTRODUCED

  • H.R. 5913: To create an independent advisory panel to comprehensively assess the management structure and capabilities related to the Department of Homeland Security and make recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the management of the Department. Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.

HAPPENING TODAY 6/13

SCHEDULED TOMORROW

  • None.
Job Opportunities: 
  • None.

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