• In Georgia, Cumming Mayor Ford Gravitt removed citizen journalist Nydia Tisdale  from a recent public meeting. Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens is investigating whether Gravitt violated the state's sunshine laws. In an interview, Gravitt claimed that he was confused about the state’s Open Records Act. He thought it “only permitted people to take still pictures or video, and not both.” Check out the video of Tisdale being removed from the meeting  (around the 2:20 mark) by clicking on the image below. As she is being removed, she maintains, "This is an open and public meeting; I have a right by Georgia law to record this meeting." Ironically, this all took place on the same day that Governor Nathan Deal signed a rewrite of the state's Open Records Act into law. For more information, see Thomas Wheatly’s post on Fresh Loaf.
• After a six-year battle between open government advocates and those who opposed a new open government  bill, Iowa is getting a new state agency dedicated to enforcement of open government. The agency is meant to help solve disputes between governments and record seekers and will work as an enforcer to the state’s current open meetings laws. “The biggest benefit of having this is making sure that public records and meetings are open and available to Iowans,” said Chris Mudge, director of the Iowa Newspaper Association. For the whole story, check out Jason Clayworth’s post on the DesMoines Register.
• In 2011, more than 115 items, including  guns, drugs and money, came up  missing from the Asheville Police Department’s evidence room. Asheville City Council spent $175,000 in taxpayer money to fund an audit of the evidence room. According the the audit contract, a copy of the completed audit should have been made public to the city. The results of the audit were delivered to District Attorney Ron Moore in January. However, Moore  has ignored several open records requests and has not made the results of public. In doing so, Moore has failed to comply with state law requiring a response to open records requests “as promptly as possible.” Members of the local news media and the North Carolina Press Association are currently signing a petition to have the information made public. For the whole story, see David Forbes’ post on Mountain Xpress.
• Last week, we took a look at the aftermath of a contested mayoral election in New Mexico. The election is in the news again this week. The Doña Ana County district attorney’s office is investigating the possibility that the Sunland Park City Council violated the state's Open Meetings Act when it selected a new mayor following the election scandal. The meeting's venue was too packed to house the entire crowd. Many people – including at least two who wanted to ask for the appointment to the mayor’s job – were kept by police from entering. Though the state’s Open Meeting Act has rarely been enforced with criminal charges, it requires that anyone who tries to attend a public meeting of a government body be allowed in. For more information, see Heath Haussamen’s post on NMPoltics.
• On Tuesday, there was a public meeting in Dixon, Illinois to discuss allegation that the city comptroller embezzled $30 million dollars from the city. The meeting featured Dixon business owner and former candidate for state representative Li Arellano. Arellano focused the meeting on making city government more transparent.  A major point in the meeting was the city’s low transparency score from the Illinois Policy Institute and how the cities website failed to contain easily accessible financial information as required. According to the Illinois Policy Institute "A public posting of Dixon’s check register (expenditures) might have stopped the public corruption from happening in the first place." For Ulysses S. Arn’s take, see his post on USOFarn.

• In DC, Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) must provide the DC Auditor with quarterly financial reports. The DC Auditor audits financial information, maintains a database of the information, and ensures that the reports are in compliance. Sunlight’s own Matt Rumsey thinks they should disclose this information to the public, maintaining, “It would be a small step to also make this information readily available to the public.” Rumsey provides a clear plan for how this could be done: “The press and interested members of the public could then monitor the ANC financial reports and identify mistakes, omissions, and inconsistencies that may have been missed.” Because of their lack of financial report disclosure, it “takes extremely diligent individuals significant effort and time to uncover improper or missing information.” For his entire take, see his post on Greater Greater Washington. 
• Sunland Park, New Mexico recently had a tumultuous mayoral election that ended with a criminal investigation for voting fraud, bribery, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. After the contested election,  the Sun-News filed a public records act request to obtain a list of donors who contributed to the campaign. However, Sunland Park doesn't require campaign finance reports to be filed by candidates. Phil Banks of Common Cause of Southern New Mexico worries that the lack of disclosure will cause elected officials to “take action to advance their contributors' interests.” He maintains, “the obvious thing is just simply the fact that individuals who contribute — especially large amounts of money — to campaigns generally expect some reciprocity as a result. It doesn't necessarily mean there will be favoritism. It leads to the appearance of it being inappropriate, but it's not always." Banks confirmed that Common Cause is forming a Las Cruces-appointed panel to revise its campaign fundraising rules. The city is currently seeking two community members to serve on the panel. For more information, see Diana Alba Soular’s post on Las Cruces Sun News. 

• In January, Torrance County commissioners flirted with an Open Meetings Law violation by trying to pass a resolution banning public recording of their hearings. While this resolution was curbed, they recently introduced a proposal that will make it harder for citizens record hearings. The resolution calls for 24 hours written notice for any recording of meetings, requires cameras to be pointed only at commissioners, and requires citizens who srecord meetings to stay in a  designated area. According to commissioner Lonnie Freyburger, “We were getting interrupted and different things and there was editing being done on the YouTube and we wanted to get a true and accurate recording of what was going on.” The commissioners are discussing making a county record of all hearings available on their website. However,  Gwyneth Doland of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government  maintains, “... that does not — and should not — preclude the right of members of the public and the media from recording Torrance County commission meetings that are held in a public facility paid for with county taxpayer dollars.” For the whole story, check out Rob Nikolewski’s post on New Mexico Watchdog.
• Gainesville Citizens CARE filed a lawsuit to annul a $3 billion Power Purchase Agreement contract negotiated by Gainesville Regional Utilities  and approved by the Gainesville City Council for a 100 megawatt biomass incinerator proposed by American Renewables. The lawsuit alleges  that “the contract negotiated behind closed doors in violation of the Sunshine Law be declared void and without legal effect.” According to Josh Schlossberg, “changes allegedly made in secret, without public disclosure, include an extension of the contract from 20 to 30 years, a cost increase of 25%, and the removal of a ‘back door out clause’ that would’ve allowed ‘the contract to be cancelled after its last regulatory approval and before the commencement of construction.’” For the whole story, check out his post on No Biomass Burning.

• California Councilwoman Teresa Barth recently wrote an open letter publicizing her support for increased government transparency. In the letter, Barth maintains that Encinitas, California needs stronger transparency laws. She writes, “At the June 10, 2009 City Council meeting, I proposed a citizen’s task force to work with staff to craft a Sunshine Ordinance for Encinitas. My colleagues said the city was already in compliance with existing laws and a Sunshine Ordinance was not necessary. I believe we should set a higher goal. We should strive to do the 'Best Not the Least.'" She urges all citizens to tell the city council to support a Sunshine Ordinance. She argues, “The right of the people to know what their government is doing is fundamental to democracy.” For the whole story, check out her post on Coastal News.
• In a blog post, Gwyneth Doland, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government,  reassess the state of New Mexico transparency after Sunshine Week. Some of  the guidelines Doland wants New Mexico to adopt are having public meeting agendas available 72 hours in advance (instead of the current 24 hours) and improved access to information about about schools, roads, taxes and other public works. Doland maintains, “Being open and transparent isn’t always easy for government to do, but it’s always the right thing do.” For more information, see her post on NM Politics.
• The Kentucky attorney general has decided that the Kentucky State University Board of Regents violated the state’s Open Meetings Act earlier this year. According to the blog, “The Finance and Administration Committee and the Audit Committee jointly held a closed session meeting on Jan. 27 to discuss an external audit. Before entering the closed session, the committee failed to pass a formal motion to go into closed session and cite the reason for the session, as required by the Open Meetings Act.” Board of Regents Chairwoman Laura Douglas maintained that the meeting was not illegal and that the committee went into a closed session under an exception to requirement of public session that focuses on threats to public safety. The attorney general maintains that the exception was "clearly inapplicable and the meeting was illegal." For the entire story, see Christine de Briffault's post on the Kentucky Open Government Blog.
• The Sunshine Review recently  evaluated state websites in Kansas. The Wichita and Derby school districts and Sedgwick County were among nine Kansas governments recognized for having transparent websites. Sunshine Review uses information such as budgets, meetings, lobbying, financial audits, contracts, academic performance, public records and taxes to determine the website’s level of transparency. For the whole story, read Phillip Brownlee's post on WE Blog. 

First, the good news: The Land of Enchantment launched a new campaign finance site this month which aims to put more useful information into the hands of citizens, and I have to say it looks pretty good and works even better. Search works well, and allows New Mexicans to narrow the results to reports from a specific election or to examine all the data ever reported by a candidate. One can also search for individual contributors, companies or political action committees. Once a report is found, the site provides several options for download: Word document, PDF and HTML for starters, but more importantly for reporters and developers, XML and CSV.

The only real drawback I've found is the lack of a bulk download option or an API. Unless I'm missing something, at the moment it's very time-consuming to locate and then compile data from more than one report. For example, the largest employer from my hometown is the mining company Freeport-McMoRan. You can find it's PAC using the new reporting system, but to get a big picture of where its campaign money goes to you'd have to open each individual report, export it, and then copy all the information into one spreadsheet:

Regardless, this is leaps and bounds ahead of where citizens in New Mexico where last year, and hopefully the Secretary of State will continue to improve the site during this election cycle.

Now for the bad news: A report by the New Mexico Independent shows that many governmental bodies within the state aren't abiding by open meetings laws. How bad is it?

New Mexico’s Open Meetings Act is meant to help ensure public involvement and to prevent backroom deals in state and local government, but violations of the law are widespread, an investigation by The Independent has found. School boards, universities, town councils, county and state commissions, and boards across the state have broken the law, casting a shroud of secrecy over government officials’ deliberations and bargaining.

If my experience as a reporter in New Mexico is any indication, the problem is even more systemic than described in the report, as officials will often live up to the letter of the law but not the spirit. The main issue observed in the NMI report the executive session, where a town council or other type of commission will remove itself from a public meeting to discuss certain issues in private. Now, the scope of what can be discussed in executive discussion is pretty narrow, and the method for calling one even narrower. In New Mexico, advance notice must be given on a public agenda, and the reasons for entering the executive session must be identified.

Of the 17 New Mexico counties with closed sessions listed for recent county commission meetings, only two — Taos and Quay counties — complied with the law, listing both the legal authority for entering closed sessions and the specific topics to be discussed, The Independent found.

Ten counties had no website or did not post meeting agendas on their websites. Harding County’s website posts links to agendas, but those links were not functioning. Rio Arriba County’s web page for meeting agendas was empty.

There has to be a reasonable expectation that some government action takes place behind closed doors: when employee personnel issues are being discussed, for instance, or when national security is at stake. But this has to be coupled with the expectation that citizens must know why they're being shut out of the process.

All that said, this is one example of the many cultural issues our community faces within government, but it is also an educational opportunity for citizens. There's an old saying, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse," but many government workers—at every level—lack detailed knowledge of open government laws. Others might drag their feet, trying to avoid the release of embarrassing info. Logistical problems are prevalent as well, as open government is never a big funding priority. We, as citizens, must start demanding compliance with those laws and the creation of better laws. Otherwise, we share some of the blame.

Finally, since we haven't talked about New Mexico enough today, I wanted to bring your attention to another recent news story highlighting a list of state transparency fixes that was drafted by the Rio Grande Foundation, a non-profit based in New Mexico. Most of the items would advance the interests of state residents and would provide some needed accountability in the Santa Fe. It's a good piece to chew on as our community works to develop it's own open government checklist. If you'd like to be involved in the process, sign up to be part of the Public Equals Online campaign.

Every week I climb into the depths of the local political blogosphere to find the Sunlight. I use this series to highlight local blogs that do a great work by covering local, state, and congressional political news. This week I have highlights from New Mexico, Georgia and Illinois.

New Mexico FBIHOP has been live blogging the New Mexican legislative session.  This year is a short 30 day session covering mostly budgetary issues.  Matt is doing a great job keeping on top of what is going on, along with the live streaming action on New Mexico Independent this legislative session will be well accounted for.  In the coming weeks we will be keeping track of the up and coming transparency initiatives in the state, so stay tuned.

Peach Pundit has a post about a former candidate for Governor's PAC, which hasn't filed a campaign report in a while, but had a great deal of money left over.   The blogger wondered if they had to continue to file if they had any left over funds. Apparently they do not have to disclosure left over funds and can do whatever they wants with it.

Illinois' The Quincy Pundit has a post about strange practices in the Quincy City Hall.  The City Attorney sent out a letter to people in the community, on official letterhead, basically asking them to not vote for a particular candidate for Mayor because that candidate would fire him.  Well, isn't that special.

I also wanted to point out this awesome article by MediaShift highlighting great work by 3 local bloggers from around the country.  I think this quote by blogger Chuck Welch sums up the local political bloggersphere perfectly.

"I think there are cases now where city council or city staff might be more cognizant that just because the newspaper reporter is not in the room it doesn't mean the community is not going to learn about whatever it is they are doing."

It is widely accepted that citizen journalists doesn't replace investigative journalists, however, that doesn't discount how important they are to keep track of local government.  With the recent court decision transparency is more important than ever we need people willing to dig through disclosure data and an active political blogosphere is where we look to find them.

Today I want to send some appreciation over to New Mexico's FBIHOP.

Written by Matt Reichbach, FBIHOP keeps track of all news New Mexico related.  Matt does a great job keeping on top of the issues of the day and relating them back to New Mexico.  He also does some digging on his own from looking at earmarks to sharing ways to get muckraking resources.  One of my favorite posts was this one about how the New Mexico State Legislature is set up to exclude citizen participation.   When a system makes it harder for people, who are not employed full time as lobbyists, to have influence then how can regular people make an impact?

One way is to utilize the internet to expand your voice.   Matt has definite beliefs and writes about them day in and day out and spends time getting himself heard.  The great thing about the internet is that it makes room for regular people to influence government in their free time.

This week I have highlights from California, Hawaii, Delaware, Idaho, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Mexico.

California Progress Report has a post about two new bills that would increase public access to campaign finance reports and lobbying records.  They are being introduced by freshmen Assemblymember Alyson Huber, " AB 1181 would require all state candidate committees, ballot measure committees and slate mail organizations to file contributors online with the Secretary of State’s office."  Apparently there is already a free online form for filing campaign donations but they are not required to file that way so they don't.  Hmmm sounds familiar.  The other bill "AB 1274 would require the California Secretary of State to link reported lobbying activities to specific legislation."  I hope these bills pass because they would make California more transparent and the elected officials there more accountable. In Hawaii, ILind.net has a post about lobbying disclosure. The State of Hawaii requires lobbyist to file expenditure report every two months and January and February were due this week.  ILind observes that McDonalds Corporation, despite having an annual legislative reception, did not disclose the costs associated with it.  He goes on to discuss that this could be an ommission on McDonalds side or that the requirements for disclosing need to become more stringent.  Either way Hawaii needs to consider stronger enforcement procedures for lobbying disclosure. Delaware Watch blogs about his experience meeting with Gov. Jack Markell, who went to meet bloggers at a local Panera Café. I think it is fantastic that Gov. Markell takes time to meet with bloggers and answer questions in an informal way.  I hope this is a consistent event in all parts of the state. Idaho’s Eye on Boise reports about the unanimous vote by the state senate to expand sunshine law and add the personal financial disclosure requirements.  This bill is now onto the house, hopefully it will pass with as much support. New York’s Fighting 29th has a post about Rep. Eric Massa’s decision to fight Time-Warner Cable’s broadband cap. This despite Time-Warner being a major donor.  I like this post because it is a good example of why making campaign donations available in a timely manner can build trust with elected officials.  Rep. Massa's decision to not support Time Warner's policy even though they are a major donor means that his constituents don't see a conflict of interest and can trust him. Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Foundation has a post about PA house republican leader Sam Smith’s 12 point government reform plan.  It is a decent list of reforms that should be done to make sure elected officials are being transparent and accountable.  I look forward to see how these reforms go through the legislature. New Mexico’s Independent reports that they will soon have an online, searchable database of state government contracts, but only ones worth more than $20,000.

Every week I climb into the depths of the local political blogosphere to find the Sunlight. I use this series to highlight local blogs that do a great job of covering local, state, and congressional political news. This week I have highlights from South Dakota, Texas, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Delaware, and Washington. South Dakota Watch has a great post on the state of media in South Dakota.  The great part of this post is that he no longer wants to sit back and watch the main stream media fail the residents of South Dakota.  The posted letter he sent to bloggers, asks the citizen journalists of South Dakota to seriously consider joining forces in order to cover the news that is important to people who count on it.

In Texas, Matt Glazer at Burnt Orange highlights a news story about the cost of improvements to the private Texas House Members Lounge. The furnishings totaled $140,000 for a room that the public has no access to but are fitting the bill for.

In Massachuesetts, the Red Mass Group highlights the proposal from the State House to beef up ethics reform this includes lobbying disclosure and having redistricting done by an independent body.

In New Mexico, Mario Burgos points to an earmark in the Bailout Bill for people who bike to work.  He wonders why this was included in bailout legislation aimed at Wall Street.

Delaware Liberal has a great post about starting a conversation with state elected officials about open government. They then proceed to list state senators and their home phone numbers. Good Luck!

In Washington, OlyBlog points to a City Counselor’s Facebook page. The Counselor apparently updated his status one day as “Jeff is listening to an Idiot at the moment.”  When asked to expound on the status he said he was a City Counselor and was at a hearing and a citizen he was listening to at that moment was an idiot.   Is this good transparency or bad transparency?

Every week I climb into the depths of the local political blogosphere to find the Sunlight. I use this series to highlight local blogs that do a great job of covering local, state, and Congressional political news.This week I have highlights from Louisiana, New Mexico, Nevada, and Texas. In Louisiana, Forgotston talks about the how some NGOs in Louisiana are getting money from the budget that the state is borrowing.  Forgotson went through and found $24 million being given to NGOs and noted that they weren't listed on Louisiana's legislation site.

Only in New Mexico posts about the lack of transparency in Bernalillo County government's purchase of an upscale office building for government offices.  Jim wants a few questions answered, before the government goes and spends 42 million dollars:  "Who gets the real estate commission? Was there more than one appraisal? What will the operating costs be versus other possible solutions? What will this do to our tax rates? What were the alternatives?"  That sounds reasonable to me.

In Nevada, Reno and its Discontents has a great post highlighting how citizens are using social media tools to cover the conventions.  Myrna the Minx talks about the UpTake's great coverage of both conventions using  "live footage later contextualized completely in researched written reports online."  I concur that the social media presence at the last two conventions has been phenomenal, even the Sunlight Foundation got some great footage that even the MSM couldn't get.

Texas Watchdog reports that "Houston city officials have failed for the past two years to post ethics forms online as required by law."  These ethics forms are required filings that disclose city officials to report any relationships that businesses applying for city contracts. Nothing shady about that.