Sunlight Foundation

Press Articles & Mentions Archives

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November 2009

  • Roll Call - Disbursement Records Now Online

    House Members’ office expenditures go online today, making it easier to dissect Representatives’ travel expenses, staff salaries and even their office supply budgets. For decades, the House has released its statement of disbursement only in thick books printed every three months. The books detail how Members and committees spend their office budgets. Anyone who wanted to get that information had to go to the Capitol complex or order a copy through the Government Printing Office.

  • Le Monde - To reinvent the democracy per hour of the networks and the transparency

    The first edition of Personal Democracy Forum Europe has which was held in Barcelona the 20 and November 21, 2009 was the occasion to explore several manièrers “hacker” and to reinvent the policy. Review of three evoked tracks.

  • Politico - Indian donors among dinner guests

    As India has grown in strategic importance to the U.S., its government and the Indian-American community have also increased their political profile in Washington. And among those dining Tuesday night at President Barack Obama’s first state dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were a handful of Indian American donors to Obama’s campaign, including Singh Balvinder, who generated between $50,000 and $100,000 in donations to it.

  • The Japan Times - U.S. online strategy holds clues for Tokyo

    Imagine befriending Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Facebook. Or getting "tweets" from Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Twitter. It could happen if Tokyo follows Washington's lead. This summer, Japan, like the United States last year, opted for a new government. Snubbing the Liberal Democratic Party after a more than 50-year ruling streak, voters rewarded Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan and, according to polls, are expecting change in return.

  • National Journal - Congress' Best (And Worst) Committee Web Sites

    Barack Obama punched his ticket to the White House with the help of innovative digital campaigning, and since arriving he's overhauled and created high-profile Web sites like WhiteHouse.gov and Recovery.gov. Yet amidst this push for transparency, some Congressional committee Web sites -- crucial for disseminating hearing schedules, transcripts and legislation -- haven't caught up.

  • The Washington Times - Lobbyists spending big to shape health care debate

    Sen. Max Baucus will be busy the next few weeks trying to steer a massive health care reform bill through Congress, but he will not be so busy that he won't be able to find time to hit Washington's fundraising party circuit. Mr. Baucus, a Montana Democrat who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, is scheduled to attend a "birthday party" in his honor at a Capitol Hill town house in two weeks. The price of admission is a check for his re-election fund.

  • The Washington Post - 'Augmented reality' fuses your world and the Web

    The cameras on some new phones don't show the world as you've known it. Instead of just viewing the usual landscape of people, places and things on their screens, you see circles, rectangles and icons floating on top of the scenery. Tap one to display a snippet of Internet data about whatever lies behind that tag. As you look around, the view on the phone's display shifts accordingly, presenting new shortcuts to whatever the Web knows about your surroundings.

  • The Canadian Press - Internet activists discuss online democracy

    The Internet can be a powerful medium for politicians to get their message across but it is also a vital means for civilians to have a say in what politicians do, participants in a political technology conference said Saturday. Speakers at the Personal Democracy Forum in Barcelona highlighted President Barack Obama's election as an example of how the Internet was affecting politics.

  • National Public Radio - Legislating In Secret Irks GOP, But Insiders Say It's SOP

    Republicans' attacks on the Senate Democrats' health bill kicked off with criticism about process as much as substance. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., spent weeks forging the bill "behind closed doors," charged the Republican leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky and his deputy, Jon Kyl, of Arizona, in statements right after the bill became public.

  • Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Federal stimulus funds reported in nonexistent Pennsylvania districts

    Transparency apparently comes with strings attached. Five Pennsylvania congressional districts that don't exist received a combined $12.6 million in federal stimulus money that created or saved 32.2 jobs, according to the Web site the Obama administration created to track how stimulus money is spent. Similar errors appear on Recovery.gov for states across the country, with hundreds of phantom congressional districts reportedly receiving billions in stimulus funding, the Web site shows.

  • The Dallas Morning News - Errors on government Web site make it difficult to track stimulus money

    WASHINGTON – When Barbara Harrison, director of the housing authority in Burkburnett, Texas, recently filled out a form to report a $99,664 federal stimulus award, she didn't know the number for her local congressional district. She doesn't remember what she listed, and now, the grant shows up on a federal Web site as District 00 – which doesn't exist. It's one of hundreds of mistakes on the site, meant to stand as a symbol of transparency about where the government money is going. Instead, it's giving critics, including Texas Republican lawmakers, fodder to attack President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan as wasteful, inefficient and ineffective.

  • The Washingtonian - What Washingtonians Cook Up on Turkey Day

    Thanksgiving Guide 2009 What’s the only thing—besides a Cowboys loss—guaranteed to please a home crowd on Thanksgiving? Innovative and inspired Turkey Day dishes. We asked several local celebrities (and one First Lady) what their favorite Thanksgiving food is—and some were even kind enough to pass along their top-secret recipes. So when the big day rolls around, drop that remote, drag yourself from the couch to the kitchen, and give thanks for these crowd-pleasing favorites.

  • The Denver Post - Lobbyists' townhomes in D.C. woo both parties

    WASHINGTON — Influence comes in many forms in the nation's capital, and twin fundraisers this week for two Colorado Senate candidates shows one of those can be real estate. Republican candidate Jane Norton was in town Monday for a big-money fundraiser at a Capitol Hill townhouse owned by partners of Williams & Jensen, a powerful Washington lobbying firm.

  • Surprisingly Free Conversations - John Wonderlich on government transparency and accountability

    John Wonderlich, the Policy Director at the Sunlight Foundation, discusses the government transparency movement. The discussion also turns to the work of the Sunlight Foundation and Lawrence Lessig’s recent article on “naked transparency.”

  • San Diego CityBeat - Doing Their Duties

    When a crate of goods lands on U.S. soil, Customs is all over it with duties—unless Congress grants a specific import a pass. Members of Congress have the discretion to propose temporary tariff exemptions and it’s not something they use in moderation. In 2008, the U.S. International Trade Commission—which analyzes and approves each of these bills—parsed through more than 900 of them. Typically, once approved, the bills are bundled up into a single omnibus package for Congress to vote on, but the tariff legislation was put on hold in 2008 and eventually died.

  • MSNBC - Lobbyists Influencing Health Reform

    Jake Brewer, the engagement director for the Sunlight Foundation, on MSNBC's Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan to discuss lobbyists providing talking points to lawmakers during the House health care debate:

  • Times Argus - Study looks at 'real' cost of a Vermont train ticket

    Vermont's two passenger train routes lost $31 and $52 per passenger in 2008, according to a recently released study that raises the question of whether rail travel should be publicly subsidized.

  • The Commercial Appeal - County offices differ on Web worthiness for information

    Residents can track and map crimes in their neighborhood on the Memphis Police Department's Web site. Homeowners can view aerial views of their property at the county register's Web site and access a deed with a mouse click. Yet, the local Board of Equalization -- the office where homeowners file appeals on their property-tax assessment -- doesn't even have a Web site. Formal appeals must be completed on paper and filed in person or mailed.

  • Politico - Parties cash in on hot issues

    Top industry executives piled into Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters over the weekend to hear California’s Barbara Boxer, New Mexico’s Jeff Bingaman and other Democratic senators discuss some of the most pressing policy issues on Capitol Hill. The price of admission: $5,000 to $30,400, made payable to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

  • CNN - When it comes to making data sexy, you can't be too graphic

    The good news: data from governments and other organizations is increasingly open and online. The bad news: it's rather dull. The result? A booming interest in data visualization, which can transform boring stats into compelling graphical presentations explaining our world.

  • Philadelphia City Paper - A Million Stories

    Here's a shocker. Our own U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, D-Comcast, is one of the 72 House Democrats who signed an Oct. 15 letter to the Federal Communications Commission voicing "concern" over the FCC's proposed net neutrality rules. "What's net neutrality?" you ask. Good question. Let's put it this way: Big telecom companies think the Internet as currently conceived — where people can access amazon.com just as easily as they can little ol' citypaper.net — is not nearly as profitable as it could be. They'd prefer a system in which they can charge deep-pocketed corporations higher rates for better service, and relegate start-ups, middling companies and your little sister's blog to the Web's back burner, where they'll never be heard from again.

  • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Information on Stimulus Difficult to Come By

    The White House says it has either halted or modified more than 170 projects to ensure federal stimulus dollars are spent wisely, but it won’t identify most of them despite repeated requests from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

  • The Denver Post - Greene: A Bad Feeling About Feeling Better

    As clinical trials go, Bray Patrick-Lake's was a success. She supposes. But the manufacturer of the device that relieved her severe migraines apparently measured success in different terms. The company halted its research shortly after her surgery, leaving Patrick-Lake and 33 other recipients clueless about why.

  • WAMU - Obstacles to "Government 2.0"

    From small local agencies to sprawling federal departments, governments across the country are using the web to make more information available to citizens. Activists and software companies envision a new era of government accountability. But they're grappling with a range of technical and philosophical obstacles. Tech Tuesday explores the roles and responsibilities of governments, software developers and activists.

  • InformationWeek - Supreme Court Awaits Funding For Website Facelift

    As the Obama administration readies its open government directive for the executive branch of the U.S. government, the judicial branch of the government awaits word of funding for much-needed updates to the Supreme Court's Website.

  • Government Computer News - The Web's Next Act: A Worldwide Database

    Almost 20 years ago, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, then a contractor for the European Organization for Nuclear Research, invented a document hypertexting format that became the basis for the World Wide Web. He now hopes to advance this technology another step by building a web of data. And he wants government to lead the charge.

  • Federal News Radio - Sunlight Labs' Great American Hackathon coming next month

    Get ready for the Great American Hackathon of 2009!

  • Gov 2.0 Radio - Doing It Your Way

    Gov 2.0 Radio discussed The Great American Hackathon that is being organized by Sunlight Labs:

  • The Christian Science Monitor - Healthcare Reform: Obama Cut Private Deals with Likely Foes

    By the time the Clinton administration launched its bid for sweeping healthcare reform in 1993, corporate interests opposed to the idea had already taken the field. Health insurers alone raised and spent $50 million in advertising to sink the bill. Together, insurers, doctors, hospitals, and drug manufacturers spent more than $100 million on lobbying. The bill never got off the ground. That’s the scenario the Obama administration set out to avoid.

  • Bloomberg - Recovery.gov Augmented Reality App by Sunlight Labs featured on Bloomberg

    The Recovery.gov mobile application created by Sunlight Labs was featured briefly on Bloomberg television.

  • Miller-McCune - Eyes Wide Open But Algorithms Wide Shut?

    Adobe's laudable push for open government butts up against the difficulty that machines have sussing out what's in its products. Adobe hosted a one-day conference in Washington this week capping off an extravagant PR campaign — complete with billboards throughout the D.C. metro system and animated ads all over most local news Web sites — touting the idea that its tools help "open up government."

  • Roll Call - Shop Talk: If I Were a Rich Man

    Club for Growth spokesman Rich Dunn has left the anti-tax conservative group to take a gig as the deputy political director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee. In many ways, Dunn is merely returning to his roots: He served as deputy incumbent retention director at the National Republican Congressional Committee in the 2008 cycle. When former Rep. Chris Chocola (R-Ind.) became president of the club earlier this year, he brought on Dunn — one of his former top aides ­— to be the group’s spokesman.

  • Government Computer News - Readers Defend PDF Format Against Critics

    Documents in the Portable Document Format are about as common on the Web as celebrity photos, but does the format help or hinder the dissemination of information? Readers were of two minds in responding to our report on the Sunlight Foundation’s criticisms of PDF. Several stressed the need for better-educated users. Others contended that data shouldn't always be easy to get at.

  • Politico - Members, Families Cash in on Free Trips

    In February, Sen. Dick Lugar and his wife took a $16,000 trip to Jordan. In April, Lugar and his son John took a $9,300 trip to Valencia, Spain. In May, Lugar and his wife took a $10,000 trip to Croatia. And in August, Lugar and his wife took a $6,500 trip to Banff, a tourist hot spot tucked in Canada’s vast mountainous terrain. Total cost to Lugar and his family for the travel, lodging and food: zero.

  • NextGov - Open Government Conference Sponsor Takes Flak Over Its Software

    Adobe on Wednesday hosted a free open government conference aimed at promoting online transparency, amid protests by bloggers who question the transparency benefits of the software company's products. The well-attended conference showcased pioneers in federal new media, including Lisa Schlosser, director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Information Collection, and personalities who rely on government data to do their jobs, such as keynote speaker and ABC News political analyst Cokie Roberts.

  • Django Dose - Django Dose Community Catchup

    Django Dose discussed the augmented reality mobile application created by Sunlight Labs:

  • Government Computer News - Is PDF hurting transparency?

    Computers cannot easily parse government documents rendered within the Portable Document Format, according to the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to government transparency. The group argues that because of this, the widely used document standard is actually detrimental to government transparency efforts. The difficult parsing means that people have to work harder to reuse government data, the organization asserts.

  • Internet Evolution Radio - Internet Evolution Radio Interview with Ellen Miller

    Ellen Miller, co-founder and executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, spoke with Internet Evolution Radio about the scope and campaigns of the Sunlight Foundation:

  • The Washington Times - Big Money Buys Seats at Lawmakers' Dinner Tables

    Want to dine with five U.S. senators? Then just drop by Wednesday night and, oh, by the way, bring $30,400. That's what it costs to be a "co-chair" of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's Women's Senate Network party, thrown by power lobbyist Heather Podesta. "What do you get when you put the minds of key Democratic Women Senators, the brush strokes of Women Artists, the recipes of Women Chefs, and the design of a Woman Architect together in the same house?" Mrs. Podesta said in an e-mail addressed "Dear friends."

  • PBS - 10 Projects that Help Citizens Become Government Watchdogs

    With the 2010 U.S. elections coming into view, many people are looking for more information about the people running for office -- and the individuals and organizations funding these candidates. Fortunately, there are dozens of initiatives that mine and share the data that influence policy and policy-makers. Many are funded by The Sunlight Foundation, which aims to use "the revolutionary power of the Internet to make information about Congress and the federal government more meaningfully accessible to citizens."

  • MSNBC - When Medical Tests Fail

    Bill Allison, editorial director at Sunlight, was on MSNBC's Dr. Nancy recently to discuss the Sunlight Foundation's 'Heart of the Matter' medical device story from the Secret Data series:

  • Congressional Quarterly - With Transparency Issue, House GOP Freshmen Are Carving Out a Niche

    House Republican freshmen, who have been all but absent from the Democratic majority’s deliberations about major legislation, have still managed to find a signature issue they hope will resonate with Americans. Along with several slightly less junior colleagues, they have introduced a handful of bills attacking what they say is a lack of transparency in Congress — especially compared with the state and local governments where many previously served.

  • The Washington Post - Coming & Going: Amtrak's costs, new flights to India

    Train troubles Amtrak just can't seem to get back on track. According to an analysis by Subsidyscope, an arm of the Pew Charitable Trusts, 41 of Amtrak's 44 routes lost money in 2008. In the Northeast corridor, which has the highest passenger volume, the Northeast Regional train lost almost $5 per passenger. The high-speed Acela Express, which has half as many passengers, fared better, making a profit of $41 per person, Subsidyscope found.

  • This Week in Google - This Week In Google 14: Nut Graphs, Gadgets, And Bots

    The Sunlight Foundationgot a brief mention in the "This Week in Google" podcast, which has been cropped into a clip: