- 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."
- 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.