The New York Times looked at this week’s Super PAC filings with the FEC and demonstrated—again—what we knew would be the result of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision: The specter of hundreds of thousands of dollars of hidden money influencing our elections and those who will be elected.

The times notes that, “some checks came from sources obscured from public view, like a $250,000 contribution to a super PAC backing Mr. Romney from a company with a post office box for a headquarters and no known employees.” But, while the public remains in the dark, it would be naïve to think that the identity of the donor (or donors) of that generous contribution is unknown to Mr. Romney. So, what does he or she want? Favorable tax treatment? Fewer regulations for a pet industry? A bailout? An ambassadorship? It is possible that the money came from a generous citizen who simply believes Romney would be the best man for the job. But the system of secret dark money now in place means the voters will never know.

The Supreme court relied heavily on the theory that transparency would cleanse the unlimited money that would shape our elections as a result of their decision in the Citizens United case, noting, “A campaign finance system that pairs corporate independent expenditures with effective disclosure has not existed before today.” Unfortunately, the Court failed to realize that such a system of disclosure does not yet exist.

There is a solution. Sunlight proposed the SUPERPAC Act as one way to shine more light on the dark money infecting our elections. It would impose a regime of disclosure and disclaimers that would lift the veil of secrecy under which large donors may hide. But Congress needs to act. So far, we’ve heard talk. House Democrats say they will re-introduce a slightly paired down version of the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that failed to be enacted last year. And on the other side of the Capitol, Senator Schumer has promised hearings on disclosure by Super PACs.

These are important steps. (Although, arguably they should have happened well before the election season got under way.) Disclosure legislation is a critical tool in the fight against the undue influence secret money has on our campaigns and our elected officials. Unless Congress acts, we can be sure that we have only seen the tip of the dark money iceberg that is undermining the fundamentals of our democracy.

Last year, we wrote about the fatal Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 people in West Virginia. You can read all about it here, here and here.

Although the story of the Massey Energy-owned mine is controversial for many reasons, we were most concerned with the issues that related to the mine violations data collected and processed by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), a government agency. (See what we mean in the video at the end of this post.)

Unfortunately, recent events reveal that there are greater transparency issues afoot: After West Virginian Sen. Jay Rockefeller called for Senate hearings on the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, a subsequent investigation revealed that Massey Energy kept two separate records - a more accurate one for themselves and a cleaned up version for the federal regulators.

In a report by the Washington Post, Kevin Stricklin, a MSHA official said;

Managers were aware that chronic hazardous conditions were not recorded. What they’re required to do is list all the hazards in the official book. This is the book that not only MSHA looks at ... but it should be the book that miners and other people who are going into the mine should look at so they would be aware of any conditions in the mine before they go in.

Massey sold the Upper Big Branch mine to Alpha Natural Resources in June 2011. Luckily, the new owners are much more supportive of the ongoing investigations.

Though it’s still early in the process, the results of this investigation reaffirm our call to make public information more available and more searchable, so that we can hold our government more accountable. Indeed, the previous findings by the MSHA indicated that the government officials were quick to blame the blast on natural factors that were triggered by methane gas and coal dust. Now, the federal regulators realize that the mine owners sent in fake information that did not represent what was actually going on at the mine.

The Upper Big Branch Mine disaster is a clear example of how transparency is a two-way street: This incident could perhaps have been avoided if both the regulators and the mine owners did their part in providing the kind of information that would have saved the miners lives.

In our still on going campaign to tell our governors to support open government, we stand beside citizen activists who want to see an end to the roll back of transparency laws. We are dedicated to equipping the public with tools with-which to demand for accountability, and have developed various resources including open government.org,  an open-source public resource website for government transparency and civic engagement at the state and local levels. So far, we have covered California, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, and Wisconsin with Minnesota to be launched soon.  Montana's recent strike at open government reaffirms the need to continuously-- as Pete Weitzel, former director of the Coalition of journalists for Open Government puts it-- "turn a public official's 'right to no' into your 'right to know'."

• Last week, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed a bill that would have created a website with the state’s budget and spending details. Proposed by Rep.Tom Burnett, HB 444 would have enabled the public to search, retrieve and download information about the state finances including state budgets, revenues, appropriations and expenditures. But Gov. Schweitzer thwarted the bill with claims that at an estimated $400,000, the website would be too costly and did not have an “ investment on return for the tax payer”. Michael Noyes writes more on Montana Watchdog.

• The city of New York unveiled a “Road Map for the Digital City” -- a project that will feature APIs for city data and plans that will change the way government information is presented online. Open government entrepreneurs are optimistic that the Road Map will give the city’s startups an advantage through integrating media and technology while widening access to wifi in public parks. Anil Dash, who is confident the web is a public space, adds that this would be a valuable opportunity for citizens to be engaged through technology. Read more on Anil Dash.

• Last week, we highlighted a post that mentioned Oregon's move to strengthen their public records. Now, A.J. O’Connell is writing that the opposition from some government agencies including the League of Oregon Cities, that  has hired lobbyists to try and prevent the bill from becoming law, may cause a problem. His attempt at reaching out to the state’s Attorney General to show that Creswell, his city, is not aligned with the lobbyists intentions, have been swept under the rug. What is he hoping to do next to save open government in Portland? Find out on A.J. for Creswell.

• A bill that would limit the reach of public records in Raleigh, NC was proposed on the grounds that productivity of government workers searching for, organizing and providing information requested by the public, will be reduced. Daniel O’Leary is proposing an easier way: turning the documents into electronic format! Through LinDoc which creates electronic e-forms, that connect directly to a universal repository, the public and reporters are able to search and find public records for themselves, eliminating the need for government staffers to do this task. In cases where some records have to be paid for, O’Leary recommends using WebLink which is already being used by other states. Read more of his compelling argument on Capture Expert blog.

 

This week marks the fifth anniversary of the Sunlight Foundation. It is exciting to reflect on how far we've come, the great people who helped us along the way and where we plan to go. With your help, we've grown from a small organization with big ideas to a connected community whose call for greater government openness and transparency is heard throughout the country.

We began with the nonpartisan goal of using the revolutionary power of the Internet and new technology to open government information. When we started, this modern interpretation of transparency was almost a completely foreign idea in Washington - a place where corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff dominated the headlines and sifting through reams of paper in order to get at the truth of what was going on was the status quo. While ordinary citizens were embracing new media tools and websites that gave them a readily available stream of information at their fingertips, government showed little interest in keeping up with the times.

Right out of the gate, we took on these age-old issues with a fresh arsenal of online tools and empowered citizens to engage in new forms of direct oversight. We believed then, as we still do, that none of us are as smart as all of us and that we have a stronger democracy when open information gives people the ammunition they need so they can speak truth to power. Sunlight developed all kinds of new tools and websites to achieve these goals and get the public involved in the political process.

We encouraged lawmakers to post their schedules online and launched the Open House Project to engage policy experts, citizens and lawmakers in a conversation on all the ways the House of Representatives could update how it shares information with the public. We initiated and funded dozens of projects to create online databases of government information. Everything from earmarks to congressional fundraiser invitations to foreign lobbying disclosures to House expenditures. We created mobile applications to put Congress into the hands of the people and fostered a community of thousands of 'civic hackers' to build better tools. We updated legislative rules and collaboratively wrote new policy to open government to the Internet age. We've trained thousands of journalists and citizens in using data and in using the web to watchdog Washington. We modeled government websites to show what is possible and followed the money, lobbying and the influence industry with ongoing reporting projects.

Through it all we are most inspired and proud of the people who take action and participate in the process to improve our democracy. Thank you to the countless people and organizations who have worked with us, used our tools, dug deep into our websites through our first five years. The Sunlight Foundation will continue to work with you explore how to enhance our democracy and citizen engagement with our public officials using online tools. Sure, there's a lot more to be done. As a wise person once said, if this was easy, it would have been done already. And we promise you - the best is yet to come!

Please continue to support our work to keep the light shining on government.

Now that we've seen the final Rules package that the House will pass later today, we can talk about what's changing with a little more certainty.

Late this summer, we released a detailed set of recommendations for Rules changes, and we're delighted by how many of those changes will be incorporated into the House Rules.

Final Bill Availability: As Lisa noted yesterday, the public will have a much better chance of being able to read bills before they're considered on the floor. While House Rules are waivable, and this one is by no means ironclad, we have probably, finally, moved beyond the dispiriting spectacle of voting on bills which haven't been posted online first.

Sunlight has long been the leading force behind the ReadtheBill movement.

New Committee Responsibility for Electronic Publication: The new Rules give the Committee on House Administration (CHA) responsibility for setting standards for how documents are made available online. This dovetails nicely with the new bill publishing that will now be happening, and it's heartening that someone will be specifically responsible for how information is posted online. Today's Rules have a number of first steps, and CHA will have its work cut out for it in working through online publication for the House.

This closely echoes chapter 12 of our 2007 Open House Project report.

Committee Hearing Notice: Sunlight has long called for structured, online advanced notice of committee hearings. The new rules require a week's notice before hearings, and three days notice before meetings. This notice is required to be "publicly available in electronic form."

Markup Text: Committees are now required to post copies of legislation to be "publicly available in electronic form" at least 24 hours before markups.

Committee Votes Online: Maybe this perennial fight can now end -- the new Rules require committees to post all recorded votes online. This was in the 2007 Open House Project report, and in our recent Rules package.

Committee Amendments Online: Amendments adopted in committee must now be posted online within 24 hours.

New Disclosure for Testimony: Anyone testifying in the House will now not only submit disclosures to the House, but those will be posted online as well. This provision was in our Rules package.

Committee Rules: Committees must now post their committee rules online, another Sunlight recommendation.

Committee Coverage: The House Rules now require committees to broadcast their proceedings, with the caveat that is the phrase "to the maximum extent practicable." The wording implies both live and archived access to proceedings.

Votes in the Rules Committee: The Rules Committee will no longer enjoy an exemption to the requirement that they put their recorded votes into committee reports. (Another Sunlight recommendation.)

Electronic Devices on the Floor: Electronic devices are now allowed on the House floor, as long as they don't impair decorum.

Press Treatment: Provisions that singled out specific media organizations or types of media organziations for access to official proceedings have been broadened. (Another Sunlight recommendation.)

Oversight Plans: The House started posting committees' oversight plans more reliably during the 111th Congress, after our urging, and the 112th House Rules broaden committees' required activity reports, and also increase their frequency.

Interim Online Posting: Until the House Admin Committee determines a central location, bills will be posted online on the Rules Committee site, or on majority committee sites.

Office of Congressional Ethics: The Office of Congressional Ethics will continue to function in the 112th Congress, as Daniel recently noted, and Sunlight pushed for.

Exercise Facilities: Lobbyists (or former Members married to lobbyists) are now further restricted from the House exercise facilities.

Some recent discussions of WikiLeaks have labeled information leaks as the silver bullet in creating a more transparent government. There certainly have been times when leaks have had profound effects on how the government operates, and this is among them (the Pentagon Papers, Mark Felt a.k.a. Deep Throat, and Thomas Lawson also come to mind). It is, however, shortsighted to conceive of leaks as a replacement to the systematic requirements for openness that are essential to our democracy. Leaks are a supplement to transparency; not the foundation for it.

For that reason, Sunlight has focused on building tools and databases of influence data; pressuring the government to adopt policies for transparency; investigating political influence; and cultivating fundamental, systemic, and cultural changes by both citizens and government officials. And while we have from time to time built projects out of non-public information -- accepting anonymously submitted invitations to political fundraisers to build our PoliticalPartyTime.org site, as well as supporting OpenCRS.com, which makes Congressional Research Service reports available to the public for free -- the core of our work is to create a government whose default is to be meaningfully transparent online, in real time, so that our government’s operations and influences are available to the public.

Information leaks can be a powerful tool for openness, but they are just a single tool among many.

I'm pretty excited to be joining the team here at Sunlight. I'm the new Lead Organizer for the Public Equals Online campaign, which means that most of the time when you're hearing from me, I'll be asking you for something: ideas, feedback, calls to Congress. I'm lucky to be jumping into a community of people that's already passionate and knowledgeable about transparency and open government; now we just have to channel that passion toward a campaign in order to make actual legislative change. Sunlight launched the Public Equals Online campaign in March, and now it's time to really get moving.

A question posed on our Citizens for Open Government list today made us pause, though, to reassess where we are before we move on to the next step. We're going back to basics. To start, we're taking a look at our goals, and being clear about what it will take to achieve them. Our end goal is an open and transparent government. As our pledge states:

We believe a transparent government is one more deserving of our trust, and is one that allows us the ability to fully participate, collaborate, and hold government accountable as our Founders intended.

Four pieces of recently introduced legislation, the Public Online Information Act, the Transparency in Government Act, the DISCLOSE Act (related to campaign expenditures), and the Earmark Transparency Act would allow us to get further than ever to our goal. On a national level, we'll be focusing on these, and building a powerful voting bloc that will put pressure on Congress to fight for an open and transparent government. These pieces of legislation would not only better our day to day government workings, but have a decisive impact on some of the most important events of our time. They could help us prevent another coal mine disaster in West Virginia, or help us determine the extent of, and thus recover from, the damage from the BP oil spill.

Government isn't just federal, however, and so we'll also work to support and celebrate the local victories that make everything from municipal to state governments more open and transparent, and use these to grow the national movement for transparency.

Over the next few days, we'll be assessing the resources we've got and planning out the summer and fall. That's where you come in. This list is by no means comprehensive, and we want your ideas, critiques, and overall feedback.

What we've got so far:

• Citizens for Open Government - an incredible resource of people that are passionate about open government to share ideas and communication about the campaign

  

• 6,562 people that have signed the Public Equals Online pledge (if you haven't signed yet, you can at http://PublicEqualsOnline.com. Once you've signed, share the pledge with your friends)
• PublicEqualsOnline.com -- with recently launched collaborative new tools for events and project building
• A full time staff member devoted to supporting the work you're doing (that's me)

We're lucky to have the support of several other groups and are looking forward to reaching out to even more, and in the next few weeks we'll be working on the best way to structure those partnerships and make sure there's space for both individual and institutional involvement. If you've been involved with another organization that's doing work with open government or transparency or have ideas for how to partner with an organization like that, that's great! Please let me know about it - who they are, what they're doing, how we can work together.

One thing that will not change: the need for your involvement and feedback every step of the way. We cannot win without the dedicated involvement of people all over the country.

You can start helping the campaign right now: go to http://PublicEqualsOnline.com/leaders/survey and let us know your thoughts.

What happened here this week?

Rep. Mike Quigley intoduced the Transparency in Government Act; Reps. Quigley and Darrell Issa launched the Congressional Transparency Caucus; Ellen Miller's testimony was interrupted amidst the health care reform passage fallout; Ellen celebrated Ada Lovelace Day by heralding women in the open government/transparency movement; Nisha wrote up the Transparency Blogswarm happening in concert with the Public=Online Campaign; and I began a series on the history of transparency.

Transparency Camp is this weekend. If you aren't going to make it we'll have cameras streaming video at Sunlight.Live. So check it out and/or follow the #tcamp2010 hashtag on Twitter.

(Since it's dark and rainy here in D.C. I've been watching this sped-up video of the beach in Kauai set to Roy Ayers "Everybody Loves the Sunshine." You should too.)

Sunlight's Ellen Miller talks to federal CIO Vivek Kundra at the recent Gov 2.0 summit.