Sunlight Foundation

Press Articles & Mentions Archives

Press Articles & Mentions for 2007

• Forbes - Carl Lavin On Washington And The World

  The Big Trend
  
  Campaigns and conventions will make plenty of noise as official Washington hopes to mask a lack of real action. With any budget decisions for 2009 likely to be reshaped by a new administration and a new Congress, both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue will focus on rhetoric over results. Democratic committee chairs and would-be chairs will rake in campaign contributions, as the business world expects the party to solidify control of Congress. President Bush, pushing aside the distractions of war and encouraged by an upturn in poll ratings, will polish his role as statesman.

• The Star Tribune - Editorial: Web makes life easier for the watchdogs

  It must have been easier to do politics before the Internet came along. Increasingly, it seems, every aspect of public service -- who lobbies whom, who takes whose campaign donations, and much more -- is available online for public inspection. And for every politician whose job is harder in the age of the Web, there's a boatload of journalists whose jobs are easier. And not only journalists, but citizen-watchdogs. It's one thing for information to be public, but it's another for it to be available. These days it's so available, it's scary.

• The Press-Register - Waterway funding raises questions

  WASHINGTON -- When a coalition of Alabama waterway groups secured $1.5 million in federal money, the publicly announced purpose was to pay for a study examining ways to boost commercial traffic on the state's underused rivers.

• Roll Call - ‘Airdrops’ for the Vulnerable

  Congress is apparently hoping the next major disaster to hit the nation will strike in the district of a vulnerable Member.

• The Advocate - In holiday season, new ethics rules play scrooge for state lawmakers

  The holiday season at the capitol in Hartford was once a little more festive for lawmakers than it is now, state Rep. Lawrence Cafero recently recalled.
  

• Helena (Mont.) Independent Record - Delegation leads in openness

  Naively, no doubt, we were hoping that the Montana congressional delegation’s practice of posting their daily schedules on the Internet might catch on in Washington.

• National Journal's Technology Daily - Congress Wants to Allow New Web Tools

  Congress is slowly moving ahead with rule changes that would allow House members and senators to enhance their Web sites with links and content from commercial sites, like social networks and video-sharing services.

• Billings (Montana) Gazette - Montana delegation's Web schedules praised

  Montana's three members of Congress drew plaudits from a national nonprofit group for being among a tiny fraction of members of Congress who post their daily schedules on the Internet.

• ABC News: The Blotter - It's a Holly Jolly Holiday for Congressional Parties

  With the lighting of the Capitol Hill Christmas tree came the tide of lavish parties thrown by big-time lobbyists for members of Congress.

• Economist - Cyberlawyer 2.0

  Lawrence Lessig is known for his work at the interface between technology and law. Why is he shifting his focus to corruption?

• FCW.com - Progress on spending database creeps along

  The Federal Financial Accountability and Transparency Act celebrated its first birthday Nov. 29, and the effort to put the new database online is falling behind.

• The Christian Science Monitor - With Lott's exit, fresh buzz over lobby rules

  Sen. Trent Lott's surprise resignation this week set off a leadership shuffle in Senate GOP ranks – and talk that the No. 2 Republican is cashing in his 35 years on Capitol Hill for a K Street lobby shop.

• San Diego Union Tribune - Political correctness thrown into fray of 'dangerous city' report

  Nearly one of every 13 people living in Detroit does not have a job. Moreover, eight of every 10 is African-American – a racial group that, like it or not, is more likely than others in this country to kill or rob.

• Roll Call - Household Exception for House

  Thanks to new, narrowly written House earmark disclosure rules, when House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) earmarked $235,000 for a fitness center serving low-income residents of Columbia, S.C., he did not have to publicly disclose that his daughter works for the city-owned center as its marketing and membership director.

• Belton (Texas) Journal - Tech Talk: Track Congressional spending via Google Earth

  As the Internet continues to grow, so does the open sharing of information.

• The Washington Post - Earmarks Now Everybody's Business

  Who put a million dollars for an "Extended Cold Weather Clothing System" into the 2008 defense spending bill President Bush signed yesterday?

• Bloomberg - Democrats Pushed to Raise 'Breathtaking' $154 Million for Party

  House Democrats, eager to hold on to their new majority in the 2008 elections, are seeking to raise a record $154 million for the party from incumbent lawmakers -- more than four times the amount Republicans are trying to collect.

• CongressDaily - Members of Congress also wait on FOIA requests

  When 51 Democrats wrote the Pentagon in 2005 seeking information related to Britain's Downing Street memo on U.S. planning for the Iraq War, the signatories -- representing almost one-eighth of the House -- might have demanded deference.

• Politico - Senate GOP leaders target earmarks

  A multilevel operation aimed at harnessing the power of the Internet represents the most coordinated attack yet on earmarks, considered a cornerstone of legislative dealmaking for the way they have been used to induce votes and curry favor with supporters.

• PRI: Public Radio International - Fair Game: Pork Spending

  Ever wonder what goes into a hot dog? You might not want to know. Fair Game's Ritch Duncan investigates what kind of pork is going into the spending bills Congress is writing.

• TheHill.com - Floor vote next for defense bill

  Senate and House conferees on Tuesday agreed on a $471.2 billion military spending bill for 2008 that would pay for future weapons programs and the more immediate needs of troops and their families.
  

• National Journal's Technology Daily - Coalition seeks public's view of government transparency issues

  A coalition that promotes transparency in government has partnered with an online debate forum to let the public speak its mind on the pros and cons of government transparency.

• Roll Call - Earmarks, Earmarks Everywhere

  Budget watchdogs who are experts at navigating spending bills for earmark boondoggles can now test their piloting skills on an actual map, thanks to a new application from Google Earth.

• Tennessean.com - Web site keeps tabs on pork barrel politics

  For everyone who has ever wondered just how Congress is spending your tax dollars, wonder no more.

• The Washington Post - Another Snag for Electronic Filing Bill

  The Senate appears deadlocked over legislation that would require members to file their campaign finance forms electronically -- the method used by their House counterparts, presidential candidates and the majority of state lawmakers.

• Mother Jones - Hogging the road

  The nation's transportation infrastructure has long been a haven for pork-barrel spending. But during 12 years of Republican leadership in Congress, pitching pork was raised to an art form, and the nation's highways especially became a target for private investors looking to get rich. That was thanks, in part, to two of the Congress' all-time pork masters, Pennsylvania's Bud Shuster and Alaska's Don Young, chairs of the powerful House Transportation Committee.

• Politico - Specter's pet project: Sexual abstinence

  A glance at the earmarks secured by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in recent years prompts the question: Does Pennsylvania have a problem with sex?

• The Lexington Herald-Leader - Senator blocking online disclosure

  Along with every other House and Senate candidate for office in 2008, Sen. Mitch McConnell's quarterly campaign finance records were due Oct. 15. He has reported that he raised about $1.5 million since July 1, but not a single person in Kentucky will be able to review those records online for months.

• The Washington DC Examiner - Senators earmark $70 million for their old schools

  Having a graduate in the U.S. Senate is not only a source of pride for colleges and universities, it can also mean wads of cash from the federal government.

• Washington Internet Daily - Online Government Information Not User-Friendly, Report Says

  Transparent government, 21st-century style, means making data easily accessible online -- a task at which U.S. agencies fail miserably, George Mason University Adjunct Law Professor Jerry Brito told us.

• The Christian Science Monitor - Army of average Joes culls through candidates' files, bios

  The cornucopia of contributors, surpassing what most news outlets could ever afford, cost virtually nothing. That's because the reporters are volunteers, including Ms. Fowler, a Californian, who at age 60 has embraced beat reporting on Barack Obama.

• Roll Call - Senate Hits Earmark Phone Calls

  The Senate on Tuesday backed a prohibition on federal agencies covered under the Commerce, Justice and science appropriations bill from using letters, phone calls or other communications from lawmakers in determining how to spend federal funds.

• Roll Call - Sen. Campbell Has the Floor?

  If a former Senator breaks the new ethics law and no one complains, is it illegal?

• Roll Call - Senate Hits Earmark Phone Calls

  The Senate on Tuesday backed a prohibition on federal agencies covered under the Commerce, Justice and science appropriations bill from using letters, phone calls or other communications from lawmakers in determining how to spend federal funds.

• Harris News Service - Earmarks Now More Visible, But is New Rule Full of Holes?

  The public now receives more information about congressional members' pet projects than ever before.

• The Washington Post - Earmarks Put Candidates On the Spot

  Just a few months before he joined the presidential race, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) co-sponsored a little-noticed proposal to require the Pentagon to spend $2 million on brain trauma research for soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

• Townhall.com - Senate Earmark Reforms Quietly Gutted

  A three-word rule change quietly made to Congress’s newly-enacted lobby reform package was recently discovered that significantly reduces disclosure requirements for the earmarks each senator requests.

• The Christian Science Monitor - In first test, Congress narrows scope of ethics reform

  The drive for more transparency on earmarks, or congressionally directed spending, is sputtering on Capitol Hill.

• The Chronicle of Philanthropy - Charities Enlist Help to Review Legislation

  Government watchdog groups have joined forces on a project that asks citizens to help investigate Congressional earmarks.

• The Shreveport Times - Jindal misses votes while campaigning

  Rep. Bobby Jindal has largely abandoned his job on Capitol Hill as he stumps across the state seeking the governor’s office.

• Utne Reader - Short Takes: News from All Over

  Americans have a new tool at their disposal to track the how the government is spending their tax dollars.

• San Jose Mercury News - Put Senate donations online, bloggers say

  For the third time this year, Republicans are blocking Sen. Dianne Feinstein's effort to make senators do what presidential candidates, House members and political parties already do - file their campaign finance reports electronically.

• The (Washington, DC) Examiner - Long road ahead on earmark reform

  Remember the “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska, the proposed $398 million bridge connecting Gravina Island, population 50, with Ketchikan Island?

• Billings (Montana) Gazette - Horse sense: Lawmakers schedules welcome

  Why should Montana's elected officials make their daily appointment schedules public? A better question is this: why shouldn't they?
  

• American Public Media: Future Tense - Earmarkwatch.org tracks Congressional pork

  Two non-profit groups have launched a tool, EarmarkWatch.org, to help citizens track the expensive pet projects known as "earmarks" that get attached to appropriations bills.

• LA Daily News - Earmarks: Mum's the word

  Congress' Golden State members are among the growing chorus calling for more transparency in the federal budget process - but some insist on keeping their own requests for pet projects shrouded in secrecy.

• Las Vegas Sun - Ensign: Mystery senator not me

  Sen. John Ensign not only threw himself into a long-running battle over campaign finance this week, he also has taken a star role in a whodunnit Washington mystery.

• Las Vegas SUN - Campaign funding watchdogs suspicious as Ensign steps in

  In the final days before elections, out of nowhere some candidates get infusions of cash. They blast ads, tar their opponents and go on to win.

• Great Falls Tribune - State delegation leads way to federal transparency

  Transparency is a buzzword heard around the halls of power for the past couple of years, though exactly what it means surely varies with the user.

• The Hill - Ensign scrambles to explain objections to disclosure bill

  Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) found himself in a tough position Tuesday as he tried to explain why there had been a secret hold on popular bill aimed at forcing candidates for the Senate to disclose their campaign-finance reports electronically.

• Roll Call - Mystery Still Surrounds Senate Filing Hold

  Despite the entry of Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) into the controversy over who is blocking a bipartisan Senate campaign finance bill, Democrats and government watchdogs said Tuesday that they are still nonplussed as to who is holding up the measure and why.

• The Billings Gazette - Gazette Opinion: A united front for openness

  We applaud this now-unanimous, three-out-of-three commitment to open government.

• Newsday.com - Did nursing home company buy Schumer's help?

  Faced with a crisis over complaints about its treatment of Filipino nurses, Long Island nursing home group SentosaCare turned for help last year to a friendly politician it had supported in the past -- Sen. Charles Schumer.

• The Associated Press State & Local Wire - Montana delegates first to post schedules online

  Montana's congressional delegation has become the first in the nation to post their schedules on the Internet, earning praise from advocates of open government.

• The Hill - Seeing no downside, more lawmakers reveal details of their work schedules

  Do you know where your congressman is? Until recently, few aside from staffers could have answered ³yes.² But under increased pressure from watchdogs and the public, more lawmakers are disclosing with whom they¹re meeting, as well as when and where.

• Roll Call - 'Hotlined' Bills Spark Concern

  Senate conservatives are upset that the leaders of both parties in the chamber have in recent years increasingly used a practice known as “hotlining” bills — previously used to quickly move noncontroversial bills or simple procedural motions — to pass complex and often costly legislation, in some cases with little or no public debate.
  

• The Chicago Tribune - Board complicates Weller asset claim

  Without fanfare, the wife of Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) formed a not-for-profit corporation this summer dedicated to helping children in her native Guatemala.

• The Courier-Journal - Election 2008: Will it be about the past, the future - or both?

  Not to belabor the point, since many others have made it, but Sen. Mitch McConnell seems to be taking his re-election challenge especially seriously.

• The Baltimore Examiner - GPS technology gets to the ‘route’ of the problem

  BALTIMORE - Technology is a wonderful thing when it works.

• The Washington Post - Pet Projects' Veil Is Only Partly Lifted

  Rep. Rahm Emanuel was extremely proud when the House passed a major spending bill early this year that contained not a single special-interest project. "This is an earmark-free bill," the Illinois Democrat jubilantly declared on Feb. 1.

• The Los Angeles Times - The journalism that bloggers actually do

  Blowback! That's what you're in for when a great American newspaper runs a Sunday opinion piece as irretrievably lame as "Blogs: All the noise that fits" by Michael Skube (Aug. 19). Skube is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning author who teaches journalism at Elon University in North Carolina.

• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - State to get only part of data from new traffic sensors

  In traffic-clogged Atlanta, new solar-powered sensors are set for installation next week along 80 miles of roads as part of a $50 million federal program to help big cities guide rush-hour drivers and assist transportation planners.

• The Hill - Coburn calls for investigation into earmark-funded company

  Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has requested a Pentagon investigation of a defense contractor that he has targeted in recent weeks due to its earmarked funds.

• WashingtonPost.com - Will Thompson Tip His Hand?

  The argument is on about whether former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson's early fundraising was a solid showing for an undeclared candidate for the presidency or a disappointing performance from someone projected as a top-tier contender. But today, another question looms over the non-candidate: Could it be the last disclosure we see from Thompson until votes have already been cast in critical contests next year?

• National Journal Technology Daily - House OKs ethics bill that emphasizes transparency

  The morning after the home of Sen. Ted Stevens was raided in a federal investigation over his ties with lobbyists, the House on Tuesday voted 411-8 for a lobbying and ethics reform package.

• Bill Moyers Journal - Earmark Reform?

  Do you know where your tax dollars are going? How about to build 10 multi-million-dollar military cargo planes that the Pentagon hasn't asked for? What about to fund the "Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree" in Spruce Pine, North Carolina?
  

• The Washington Post - Loophole Lets Candidates Skirt Donation Limit

  Real estate executive Jack Rosen has given Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton $8,800 since last November, nearly double the amount individuals can donate to any single presidential candidate this election.

• Charlie Rose - Charlie Rose interviews Craig Newmark

  Interview with Craig Newmark on Charlie Rose.

• The Hill - Stevens gets second extension for filing finance report

  Sen. Ted Stevens yesterday received a second extension to file his 2006 financial disclosure, following an Ethics Committee review requested by the Alaska Republican in the wake of the lawmaker’s entanglement in a federal investigation.

• The Billings Gazette - Gazette Opinion: Keeping track of Montana's delegation

  Want to know what Jon Tester or Denny Rehberg are doing today in Washington, D.C.?
  

• Roll Call - Government Good to Stevens’ Friends

  In 2004, two business partners of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) sold an empty lot in Anchorage to the National Archives and Records Administration for just over $3.5 million, more than doubling their year-old investment in the property.

• The Montana Standard - Government transparency

  Watchdog groups in Washington, D.C., are keeping an eye on our Montana politicians and letting us know how they’re doing. The Sunlight Foundation recently contacted The Standard about a simple way for Montana’s congressional delegation to become a national leader in terms of government transparency and accountability. All it would take is for Sen. Max Baucus to begin publishing on his congressional Web site his previous day’s schedule.

• The Courier-Journal - McConnell's secret

  It's our nation's birthday -- the anniversary of our freedoms. It's also the 40-year anniversary of the landmark federal Freedom of Information Act going into effect.

  Sadly, Sen. Mitch McConnell celebrated early by maneuvering to block your access to information that would make you a better-informed citizen and a better-prepared voter. He's doing what he can to squelch a bill, S. 223, that would mandate the electronic filing of campaign finance reports.

• New York Newsday - Why Alaska, not LI, is in the money

  WASHINGTON - Alaskans received more than $1,000 worth of federal money per resident for special projects in their state in 2005, while Long Islanders got just $34, an examination of a new database of congressional earmarks shows.

• The Washington Post - New Life for an Open-Government Law

  Without access to records, people cannot hold government accountable. One of the most important avenues for that on the federal level is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), now in the midst, I hope, of reform.

• The Chicago Tribune - Telling all on 'earmarks' easier said than done for lawmakers

  WASHINGTON -- Democrats and Republicans scrapped last week over public disclosure of "earmarks," the time-honored, recently scorned congressional tradition of tagging federal money for lawmakers' pet projects. Two Illinois Republicans called loudly for openness.

• The Hill - Modern world, ancient websites

  Technology and politics are rapidly intertwining in the new millennium as presidential candidates adopt sophisticated online operations to raise money, get out the vote and connect to new voters. Social networking, blogging and online video technologies have taken the political world by storm. But in Washington, members of Congress are forced to watch this race for online superiority from the sidelines.

• The Hill - Coalition pushes Congress on earmarks pledge

  A coalition of liberal and conservative watchdog groups is asking members of Congress to open Capitol Hill’s earmark requests to the public.

• The Hill - Improve databases

  Americans have a growing appetite for information. We want to see things for ourselves directly, and the activities in Congress are no exception. We want to be able to read the text of legislation being debated, track the activity on legislation as it moves forward, watch hearings over the Web and be able to see Congress from new angles.

• The Lexington Herald-Leader - Senator unmasked

  Unfortunately, the public still doesn't know who is stalling a vote on Senate 223, the Senate Campaign Disparity Act, which requires that routine Senate campaign documents to be filed electronically -- the same expected of presidential and House candidates.

• The Hill - Preserving information

  James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress, once said, "The digital history of this nation is imperiled by the very technology that is used to create it." Indeed, it is an irony of the digital age that the technology that can make information easily available in the short run can also make it difficult to preserve for the long term. The digital record of the activities of Congress may be lost if we do not take decisive action.

• Roll Call - Everybody Wants to Be a Director

  If you see random tourists, or perhaps even seasoned (but notoriously low-paid) reporters, chasing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) with their camera phones in hand, it may be less about the Iraq War and more because they're a bit cash-strapped.

• The Courier-Journal - Group plans billboard to goad McConnell

  WASHINGTON -- Weather permitting, a billboard will be put up today along Interstate 65 near the fairgrounds in Louisville asking: "What's McConnell Hiding?" The words will be accompanied by the depiction of a hand turning on a light bulb, illuminating the face of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

• The Hill - More access to committees

  The work of congressional committees, the vital organs of Congress, remains difficult for citizens to access, despite their central public role in developing policies that guide this nation. Their centrality to the legislative process may be generally underappreciated because of a lack of meaningful public access. To address this, committees should post their proceedings and documents online to highlight their work and their central function to the work of Congress.

• The Hill - Inexplicable anomaly

  One special talent of Congress is to sternly slam the barn door closed after the animals have already wandered off. We can see this in the debate over whether to “open up” Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports to the public when there are already fee-based services selling the reports, and free but incomplete collections at various websites.

• National Journal Technology Daily - GOP Silence Frustrates Online Activists

  Online activists from conservative and nonpartisan organizations and blogs are getting frustrated as they push Republican lawmakers for more transparency.

• The Hill - Coalition pushes for Web 2.0 on Capitol Hill

  A bipartisan coalition of nonprofits, watchdogs and bloggers are calling on the House to go Web 2.0.
  
  The Open House Project, led by the Sunlight Foundation, one of Washington's newest transparency advocates, released a report yesterday to push Congress to update its antiquated use of the Internet and open its doors a little wider to the public.

• Roll Call - Open Congress

  E-mail, THOMAS, electronic filing of campaign and lobbying reports and Web sites maintained by Members and Congressional committees all have transformed the way the public learns about and interacts with Congress, but a series of new recommendations were issued this week to improve the process.

• The Washington Examiner - New report describes practical steps to open the House

  A new relationship is developing between Congress and its constituents. As the Internet transforms Web users into politically savvy watchdogs, Congress has an opportunity to earn the public's trust.

• The Hill - No light in basement

  Is Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) net worth $136 million, or is it closer to $678 million? How much did Nissan pay last year for lobbying on fuel economy standards? And what exactly did aides to Reps. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) and Joe Barton (R-Texas) learn on their "official business" trip to Microsoft's Xbox launch in November 2005? The answer to all these questions is ... nobody knows. At least you don't know if you're relying on disclosure reports filed on paper with the clerk of the House.

• Marketplace - Campaigns make bottom-line adjustments, too

  Political campaigns aren't much different from Wall Street corporations. They, too, like to pad their numbers at the end of a reporting season to show strength and growth.

• Roll Call - A Bill, a ‘Hold’ and a (Possibly) Lying Senator

  If you're wondering what has become of the Senate's effort to bring up an ostensibly noncontroversial campaign finance bill, it's best to remember that if you ask Senators no questions, they'll tell you no lies.

• The Winston-Salem Journal - Open Up

  Sometimes when politicians take campaign contributions, they prefer that the public doesn't hear about them right away. For their purposes, especially with controversial contributors, it is better if the news breaks after Election Day.

• The Hill - Give bloggers Capitol access

  According to the Sunlight Foundation’s Open House Project, a collaborative and bipartisan effort to increase the House of Representatives’ online transparency, Congress can take several simple steps to improve transparency and foster a new spirit of openness. Giving bloggers credentials to cover Congress would be a groundbreaking way to shed light on the inner workings of government.

• The Louisville Courier-Journal - Shhhh. Money at work

  Last week in the U.S. Senate, Kentucky looked double ugly.

  Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning combined efforts to block passage, by unanimous consent, of S.223, which would promote up-front politics by requiring that senators file their campaign finance reports electronically. That way voters could get the information they need more quickly and more easily.

• Concord Monitor - House Democrats: Get me rewrite!

  Sen. Judd Gregg found himself suspected of placing an anonymous hold on campaign finance legislation last week, until his spokeswoman denied the allegation. It all began earlier this month, when the Senate was set to pass a bill that would require senators to file campaign finance forms electronically. Sen. Lamar Alexander rose on the Senate floor to object to the bill's passage "on behalf of a Republican senator." Senate protocol allows any single, anonymous senator to halt a bill.

• Marketwatch - Undisclosed senator blocks disclosure

  An unnamed senator is holding up a bill that would put Senate campaign finance reports on the Internet. Who's standing in the way?

• Wired - Web Mashups Turn Citizens Into Washington's Newest Watchdogs

  Tread carefully, politicians -- concerned citizens are watching your every move on the web. Their tools? Custom data mashups that use public databases to draw correlations between every vote cast and every dollar spent in Washington.

• The Washington Post - Mystery of Hold Wrapped in Enigma

  The wrath of the blogosphere bore down yesterday on two senators who remained suspects in a modern-day Washington whodunit.

  The mystery: Who placed an anonymous hold on legislation that would require senators to file their campaign finance forms electronically?

• ABC News - Congressional Democrats Spell Reform: CA$H

  Democrats in Congress appear to be taking full advantage of the "pay to play" system they said led to a "climate of corruption" under Republicans, an ABC News investigation has found.

  "Washington looks pretty much the same as it always did," said Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation, despite Democratic promises of reform.

• The Hill - DoJ: foreign-lobbyist database to go online

  Rep. Jean Schmidt's (R-Ohio) comment came on the heels of a recent report in the Sunlight Foundation's blog, Real Time Investigations, which quoted unnamed FARA officials saying the database would be on the Internet in "three or four months.

• The Washington Post - Sen. Ima Luddite (R)

  THE U.S. SENATE hit a pothole on the road to modernity on Tuesday. A request for unanimous consent by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for a bill that would require candidates for the Senate to file campaign finance reports electronically was blocked by an anonymous Republican senator hiding behind Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who announced the move. Would that this Luddite had the courage of his or her convictions to explain publicly said opposition to 21st-century custom.

• National Journal - Confessions Of A Beltway Journalism Insider

  While bloggers may be wrong on parliamentary procedure, they appear to be right on the money in assuming that some Republican lawmaker -- and perhaps the Senate Republican leadership -- doesn't like yet another transparency bill and may even be working to keep it from seeing action. "In our mind," the Sunlight Foundation's Blumenthal wrote, "a hold is a hold is a hold, unless you want to debate what the definition of 'is' is." He urged people to keep pressuring their senators for answers.

• Time - The TIME 100

  Craig Newmark...I also nominate Ellen Miller, of the Sunlight Foundation, for providing the tools to professional and citizen journalists to see who is paying for what in Congres

• USA Today - Democrats eclipse GOP fundraising

  It is hardly surprising that Democratic chairmen would raise more money after their party took power, since chairmen wield enormous influence over the content and passage of bills. But the Democratic chairmen raised double the amount from PACs that their Republican counterparts did in the first quarter of 2005, federal campaign records show.

  "It's a breathtaking demonstration of the power of money in this town," said Ellen Miller, director of the Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan anti-corruption group.

• Roll Call - Aides Escape Conflict Rules

  While House and Senate lawmakers agreed in February to new rules requiring them to notify the public of any conflicts of interest they may have in pushing for earmarks to legislation, there remain no such guidelines for disclosure by another category of public servants - Congressional aides.

  ... "When people look at Congress, they think that the [Members] are the important ones ... [but] in the past relatives of aides have lobbied and gotten earmarks and the same sort of rules should apply to the staff," said Bill Allison of the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group that has spearheaded the push for ethics reforms in Congress.

• The Louisville Courier-Journal - Lawmakers' sites faulted over lack of data

  Congressional Web sites, including those maintained by Kentucky and Indiana lawmakers, do not provide enough information to constituents. That's the conclusion of the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit group set up last year to improve the relationship between lawmakers and constituents.

• PBS MediaShift - Digging Deeper

  One shining example of independent citizen action has been the Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit organization launched a mere 15 months ago with the mission of bringing more transparency to the U.S. Congress through techno-activism. The group has had far-reaching success not only in making Congress more accountable to the people they are supposed to serve, but also in creating bi-partisan fervor in the blogosphere for reform on Capitol Hill. Though the Foundation’s grants and projects, average citizens have been given the tools and resources to make a difference.

• San Francisco Examiner - Pelosi right to encourage openness

  The group is the Sunlight Foundation’s OpenHouse Project, which is studying House procedures and preparing a comprehensive report with recommendations on how to use the Internet to make Congress more transparent and thus more accountable to voters. Soon after its formation, Pelosi said “the Internet is an incredible vehicle for transparency, honest leadership and open government. I am encouraged by this working group and look forward to recommendations on how the House can be as open and accessible to citizens as possible.”

• Wired - The See-Through CEO

  The nonprofit Sunlight Foundation has begun putting zillions of public documents in elegantly searchable online databases, leaving it to interested citizens to connect the dots. One adroit digger recently discovered that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert had earmarked $200 million for a highway to be built near a property he had a stake in. When the property was sold, Hastert made a 500 percent profit on his original investment, provoking a wave of negative coverage.

• Roll Call - Group Says Web Sites Fall Short

  Ad hoc researchers recruited by an open-government advocacy group were unable to extract even rudimentary information from the Web sites of many Members of Congress such as legislation the Members had introduced or committees they served on, according a report being released today.

• The Hill - Watchdog works with agency to make feds’ largest database

  In the upside-down world of Washington politics, the watched is now working with the watcher. The White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the thorn in its side, OMB Watch, are holding meetings to develop the government’s largest database; all federal spending will be searchable and available online for the public by Jan. 1, 2008, per the agency’s schedule.

• Washington DC Examiner - They aren’t laughing now about the Internet and government transparency

  The OpenHouse Project is preparing a report for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that will contain numerous recommendations on how the Internet can be used to make Congress more transparent to taxpayers, including such measures as posting texts of bills and committee reports, making members daily schedules public and putting congressional office and management accounts online.

• http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=168322 - The Sunshine Caucus

  The Democratic Party's sweep in November was due in no small part to its promise to clean up Washington. For those turned off by the K Street "politics as usual" deforming our democracy check out a new initiative by the Sunlight Foundation – a nonpartisan organization dedicated to using technology to achieve greater openness between members of Congress and their constituents.

• The Hill - Group launches Open House Project

  The Open House Project, funded by the Sunlight Foundation, last week launched a website designed to bring more details of the House of Representatives' operations to a broad audience online.

• DC Examiner - Bring on the Sunlight!

  The OpenHouse Project was started by the Sunlight Foundation, a D.C.-based non-profit devoted to encouraging greater transparency in government. The OpenHouse Project focuses on finding ways to make the operations of Congress more open and accessible to the American people, starting with the House of Representatives.

• Philadelphia Daily News - Congress ought to punch a clock

  Placing daily schedules on the Internet is the brainchild of the Sunlight Foundation, a new non-profit in Washington created to increase transparency in Congress. Through their Punchclock Campaign, they persuaded over 90 challengers for Congress to promise to post their schedules if elected. Not a single incumbent would sign the agreement.

• Newtown Bee - To Reform Congress, Shine A Light On It

  Michael Klein and Ellen Miller, who run an organization devoted to increasing the "transparency" of government, put it this way in a recent commentary: "Why focus on transparency? Because a major cause of voter mistrust is a feeling special interests are served by those who do their bidding in the belief they will not be detected. The best cure for this is increasing transparency and thus the risk of detection."

• The Washington Post - Capitol's Newcomers Try a Little Openness

  During her campaign for office, Gillibrand signed a pledge circulated by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to bringing greater transparency to government. Of the 92 congressional candidates nationwide who agreed to the pledge, Gillibrand was the only one to win office.

• The Nation - Shine a Light

  The idea was spearheaded by the Sunlight Foundation, an innovative new group in Washington run by veteran watchdoger Ellen Miller. Thanks to them, you can peruse the archives of Senator Tester ?'s schedule here and Rep. Gillibrand's "Sunlight Report" here.

• FOX News - Ellen Miller - FOX News Sunday Power Player of the Week

  Ellen Miller was featured as FOX News Sunday's Power Player of the Week. The video is embedded below.

• The Washington Post - As Spending Deadline Looms, Congress Debates Earmarks

  "Defining earmarks is a little like defining a terrorist," said Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan group aimed at making government more transparent. "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Part of the problem is there is no standard. Some of the earmarks are good stuff that government ought to be doing. This has the potential of throwing the baby out with the bath water."

• CNN - Tester Aims for Senate Transparency Online

  The Sunlight Foundation -- a group working for greater government transparency -- has been pushing for more online disclosures of this kind. Last fall, the group offered members of the public up to $1000 cash if they could persuade a member of Congress or a candidate to post their schedule on the web.

• Baltimore Sun - Sunlight is the best disinfectant

  These measures are essential because, as Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation notes, “right now the public suspects the worst about Congress and its members. Could the polls be any lower? Let’s open up Congress to greater scrutiny so that the public can see what is really going on.” And as Lincoln said, when the people have the facts, they know what to do.

• Roll Call - Lisa Rosenberg Joins Sunlight

  Lisa Rosenberg is lobbying to make her job as a lobbyist harder.

• The Washington Post - An Online Guide to Fast-Moving Power Brokers

  Revolving Door was created by the Center for Responsive Politics, a group that has expanded its activities beyond tracking campaign finance into operating a Web-based money and politics clearinghouse. It's paid for by the Sunlight Foundation, which sponsors activities that use technology to illuminate the power web of Washington.

• Washington Times - Sunlight reforms for Congress

  Now that a senator and several representatives were defeated by corruption issues and three-fourths of all voters in this fall's congressional elections told exit pollsters that concern over congressional corruption was a major factor motivating their votes, Congress reportedly is poised to act on an array of "reform" proposals.

• Cox News - Bloggers take on Congress

  WASHINGTON — A new online movement is trying to shed light on the murky inner workings of Congress by assigning citizens to watch every congressional committee.

• Arizona Republic - Open eyes on earmarks

  That, coupled with an idea from a group called Sunlight Foundation, could give the people a fighting chance at figuring out who is really writing the checks Uncle Sam signs. Sunlight Foundation wants disclosures to be posted electronically under deadlines that involve days, not months. In today's age of instant information, that doesn't sound unreasonable.