• Following the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal, lawmakers want to strip state-related institutions’ exemption from Pennsylvania’s right-to-know law. State Representative Eugene DePasquale announced that he would introduce legislation making state-related institutions subject to the Act 3 of the law which requires all records of state and municipal governmental agencies to be open to public access, including financial documents, contracts and emails from university officials. State lawmakers and open government advocates said the legislation would increase transparency for institutions that receive taxpayer funds. However, in 2007, Penn State officials opposed the right-to-know law because of fear that it would result in less revenue from donors and private companies. Terry Mutchler, executive director of the Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records matains that the law should be enforced, arguing, “anytime you have an entity that receives state dollars, there should be transparency.”‘ For Caleb Taylor’s take, read his post on Statehouse News Online.

A search using our Influence explorer, for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, reveals that between 2003-2010, the governor received a total $32,131,191 in donations.  The tool, that provides itemized contributions reported by political candidates to the Federal Election Commission and state agencies, gives you details of donations down to the exact change. And where as some may not care about the loose change, it is the unlimited money flowing in from individuals and Political Action Committees, that prompted Gov. Corbett's predecessor, Gov. Ed Rendell, to put campaign finance reform, top on his do list. But not before he raised over $30 million in his 2006 re-election. The back peddling on the state's campaign finance reform has forced several groups including the Pennsylvania Association for Government Relations to rally behind enforcing limits on campaign contributions. Unfortunately, some officials are  not taking the law seriously...

• Campaign finance laws are starting to take precedence in some states, but according to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s 9th District city councilor, Ricky Burgess, that doesn’t matter. Burgess recently failed to file his campaign finance report on the grounds that no one observes the laws controlling them and is trying to change those laws: he’s introduced legislation that would repeal Pittsburgh’s campaign finance reforms. In Chris Potter’s opinion, the councilman’s act of protest undermines the law, especially when there is no proof that the law is meaningless. You can check out Potter’s suspicions of conflict of interest in his chronicle of the city’s controversial campaign finance reforms on Slag Heap.

• Oregon’s reputation for making public records available is set to get even better. The state’s Attorney General John Kroger has proposed a new bill that would centralize records laws and remove close to 100 existing exemptions. The Senate Bill 41 will subject state and local government agencies to deadlines for submitting public records while limiting the fee charged to access these records. Dave Fiskum adds that this may cause controversy, especially among the League of Oregon Cities, which is already expressing concern about being able to meet the deadlines. Read how opposers of this bill -- in retaliation -- have proposed Senate Bill 346 and House Bill 2043 that will bar media from accessing 911 calls and create further exemptions respectively on Oregon Insider.

• In a recent video, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is asking for a “sweeping ethics reform” to require legislators to disclose who they represent before the state. In a call to clean up Albany and restore public trust in government, Cuomo reached out to New Yorkers and urged them to ask their legislators to pass ethics reforms that clarify who they are working for and for how much. Only then will the state regain its history of being diligent in fighting corruption. Jon Campbell shares more of the governor’s web video and transcript on Politics on the Hudson.

• A new bill that will reduce the fine for violating public records act -- dropped from $5 dollars to $0 per day -- has been approved by Washington’s Governor, Chris Gregoire. Supporters of this bill have praised it saying it will eliminate the insincere use of the state’s Public Records Act while others, including the Washington Coalition for Open Government, opposed it saying public agencies would not have to pay any fees if they followed the law. The Governor, who is a renown open government advocate, stands by the bill and feels that public agencies should not pay any fees because this burden ultimately falls on the tax payer. Political reporter Jared Paben’s post invokes interesting comments including a concern that violators of the act should be given at least a slap on the wrist instead of a free pass. More on Politics Blog.

• OpenGov West (where our very own Nicole Aro is today) has been coined as a conference where “governments & the public come together to discuss open government, transparency, collaboration and participation.” Appearing on the panel on Usability: Strategies for revamping government websites for transparency, accessibility and ease of use, is Gordon Ross who thinks government can learn from interaction designers . Bryan Robertson explains that this conference’s mission is to view knowledge as power because it provides citizens with tools to help them make informed decisions. Read details on Open Road.

Whew!  It has been a busy week but don't worry Local Sunlight fans I haven't forgot who I am thankful for. 

Pennsylvania’s Above Average Jane, Oregon’s Tom Cusak,  South Carolina’s SC6 and Rhode Island's Twelfth!

I have highlighted Above Average Jane a few times.  I like her summaries of what is going on in the Pennsylvania State House and how she has looked into FEC data.  This week she had a post highlighting an email about PA health centers that are getting stimulus funds.  I think this is a great way to share information for a busy blogger.  Sometimes all you need to do is repost because sometimes information shouldn't stay in the inbox.

Tom Cusak goes above and beyond the call when it comes to blogging about Oregon.  He has three blogs and I have highlighted them all:  Oregon Earmarks Blog, Oregon Housing Blog, and Open Government News and Issues, Oregon.  Tom’s perspective is interesting to me because he used to work for Department of Housing and Urban Development.  It is interesting to see what a former bureaucrat cares about post retirement.  He has done his own research into earmarks and spending as well as discuss open government issues in the state of Oregon.  He is a great asset to Oregon's blogosphere.

South Carolina's SC6 is written by Mike Reino and is a great blog to read for a wide variety of political information; local and federal.  He did a fascinating investigation into campaign donors.  One of my favorite posts of his,  is this post on a seemingly frivolous bill that was considered in the House.  I really enjoy posts about people looking at bills being introduced and finding interesting things or ridiculous legislation.

Rhode Island’s Twelfth is a great hyper  local blog by a woman named Eileen Spillane.  Dedicated to all things in Rhode Island Senate's 12th district she covers a wide variety of subjects.  I like when she covers local transparency issues like open records issues and local Web site reviews.  It is always nice to read hyper local blogs because it becomes less about pure politics but about people and how politics effects communities.

Every week I climb into the depths of the local political blogosphere to find the Sunlight. This week I have highlights from Pennsylvania, Texas, Hawaii and New York.

In Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Foundation has a post about the need for more transparency in the state contractor awarding system. The Department of General Services has been reprimanded for their lack of competitive bidding for state contracts.  Also quite problematic is that they don't have any information on changes to contracts so taxpayers don't have a good idea on how much they are spending.  The end of the post they ask for a state spending database, I'll go a step forward and say they need a state database that is also updated in REAL TIME, so these change to contracts aren't hidden through a slow update schedule.

Texas Watchdog has a post about one of the candidates for mayor of Houston, who made her's and her partner's personal tax returns public voluntarily to Texas Watchdog.  Her opponent has not responded to requests.  The tax forms are now online for citizens to see.  It is great to see candidates voluntarily submit their financial information to third party watchdogs.  Especially if the city or state don't post that information publicly or don't do it quick enough for citizens to see before they vote.

In Hawaii, Ian Lind has a post about an information request that the Department of Human Resources filled for him.  His version was complete with the information clear and not altered in anyway.  Hawaii has a Docushare system that provides information that was requested, however  the same document Ian requested has been altered to exclude information that he is able to see from his personal request.  There is clearly a problem with how documents go from the private request to the public system.  I hope they figure out a way to go from one to another without changing the document because this doesn't serve the public trust.

In New York, Politics on the Hudson has a post about NYPIRG putting online the handwritten financial disclosure forms from state officials.  Lawmakers are required to file these forms but the law doesn't require them to show how much they make in outside income or any outside dealings.  These forms should be online already it is a little ridiculous that they have to be computerized by a third party.  With the improvements that New York has been making I hope this is on their list to improve.

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 Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Texas.

In Alabama, Left in Alabama highlights a scandal about Attorney General Troy King’s apparent conflict of interest.  Apparently King went to a party thrown by a developer and then three months later his office issued a legal opinion that said the developer could get a bingo permit for their upcoming project.  According to the author this isn't the first time King has been entertained by a special interest.  Alabama Power apparently treated King to a few luxury box baseball tickets back in 2006.

Florida Politics is copying a great idea started by Aldon Hynes in Connecticut.  He created a newswire “where the various state agencies, municipalities, state legislators, advocacy organizations, etc., could send their press releases and the like.”  This is a great idea a one stop shop for public relations people to send there info and for bloggers to get it.

In Hawaii, ILind.net has a post about the two special advisories that the State Ethics Commission had.  Apparently there had been complaints filed about legislators receiving free tickets to events from non profits.  The commission advised that taking these gifts would violate state ethics laws.

Kentucky’s The Bridge, uses Party Time to keep track of  what fundraisers Congresspeople are attending.  It is a pretty decent list of where their members of Congress will be.

Pennsylvania’s Keystone Politics has two interesting stories. The first one is a post about how four elected judges in Northampton County have presided over cases that involved a donor to their election campaign. Apparently the decision for what a conflict of interest is, is left to the judges to decided, so they don't have to recuse themselves if a donor appears before them.  This brings up whether the rules should be changed to require judges to recuse themselves if a donor is involved or if you want a favorable outcome you should make some quick campaign donations.

The second story is about former state democratic house leader Bill DeWeese who gave bonuses to his staff, who then donated that amount or close to that amount back to his campaign.

Capitol Annex, in Texas, talks about a bill that would give bloggers the same protection main stream media gets.  This allows bloggers to cover "matters of 'public concern,' such as legislative proceedings, school board meetings, and the actions of state officials" and not be sued for libel.  The author and a few other bloggers successfully testified, in favor of the bill, to the committee and seemed confident he received a fair hearing.

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 New York, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

Rochester Turning in New York, has a post about former Congressman Tom Reynolds getting hired at a law firm.  Even though Reynolds isn’t a lawyer he was hired for the firms “Government Relations and Public Policy practice.”  Interestingly that sounds like lobbyist.   Good to see the revolving door in full swing.

In Ohio, Thurber's Thoughts has a post  about the mayor of Toledo, Carty Finkbeiner, not respecting open records laws. The post is about how several people have attempted to get information about various issues and their requests not being met.  The author is more outraged at the local paper for not catching on to the lack of openness until they wanted something.

Pennsyvania's Policy Blog talks about the cost of spending databases. The price for an online spending database is apparently not as high a barrier as some public officials thought.

In Illinois, Disarranging Mine about dealing locally with the lobbyists restrictions in the recovery bill. The story of how the lobbyist restrictions are being played out at the local level is pretty interesting.  I think the question is, if there is government money to be spent and there is no lobbyist there to hear about it does it get spent?

Advance Indiana about the new laws of lobbying disclosure just passed by the Indianapolis city council.  Apparently the definition of lobbying does not include entities looking for government contracts or grants.  Interesting.

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.

A little while ago I posted about Connecticut towns who took their Web sites down because they couldn’t comply with a state requirement to put meeting minutes online quickly. Here is an update from Open Records. One town’s residents decided not to stand for it. Wallingford, CT’s Jason Zandri decided to put up a town Web site himself.

“Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands. Wallingford resident Jason Zandri did exactly that.

Zandri spent over 100 hours of his own time to develop a new web site, Wallingford, to pick up where the official town website leaves off. While his site should not be confused with the official town site, he has loaded it with a lot of information not found on the town site, including the minutes of the town meetings, budget info and a list of state lawmakers’ postal and e-mail addresses.”

Incredibly impressive, the internet not only allows citizens to take up the slack when government is having some problems but people can actually improve on what government does from their own home.

Unfortunately there is still a lot of work to be done. (Also from Open Records) Jackson Township, PA has decided not to post meeting minutes online. I believe Board Chairman Dean Moyer summed it up when he said, “Moyer asked the audience if the township is really being run that badly that they need to request public documents. He then said that it is like his mother used to say that sometimes the less you know, the better off you are.”

I wonder if Mr. Moyer realizes that that statement makes me think that transparency is sourly needed in this town. The first thing that needs to happen is a much needed change of attitude.  Transparency should be something government does because it builds trust with citizens.  The Jackson Township should go out of its way to give information to the people they represent instead of making those same people jump through hoops.  

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 Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, and Hawaii.

Loaded Orygun has an interesting post on how to improve Oregon’s Freedom of Information laws. The problem with current Oregon public records law is a loophole that doesn’t specify how long an agency has to take to give the documents up. This seems like an easy fix.  There is no reason to string people along unless they have something to hide.

In Pennsylvania, Above Average Jane has been looking into some missing reports on the FEC.gov site. It seems some reports that were available through electronic filing are now only available through paper filing.

Rhode Island’s 12^th has a great list of questions to ask about your local government Web site. These are great ways to access how good a town Web site also check out Sunshine Reviews Ten Point Check list.

In Utah, The World According to Me has tips on how to effectively contact your elected official.  I think these are excellent tips that would help constituents and legislators communicate better. 

In Hawaii, iLind.net has a fascinating post on the Hawaii Freedom of Information movement and how Hawaii is trying to change the way government responds to request. He also tells a moving story about visiting his dad.