Here is Thursday’s look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events.

News Roundup:

Government

• A group of six Senators wrote a letter to congressional leadership requesting that any meeting of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction be held in public. (Heller Press Release)
• A Missouri Senate candidate is calling for members chosen for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to refuse contributions from special interests. (Politico)
• A former executive for Microsoft was tapped to be Obama’s new Chief Information Officer. (NextGov)

Ethics

• After controversial ethics allegations, Congressman David Wu (D-OR) officially resigned from Congress. (National Journal)
• A proposed National Institute of Health rule to require individuals receiving research grants to disclose conflict of interest forms online was dropped. (Nature)

Access to Information

• Miami-Dade county responded to a Freedom of Information Act request by asking a non-profit to pay $22,000 for information about public employee salaries and benefits. (Sunshine Review)
• Opinion: The redistricting process should be more transparent, open to the public, and taken away from legislatures who benefit from the districts they draw. (The Cap Times)
• Opinion: The California State Assembly should release information about the current year’s spending records because they are public records. (Sacramento Bee)

Campaign Finance

• OpenSecrets interviewed Trevor Potter, a former FEC commissioner and attorney who advocated on behalf of Colbert PAC, about the FEC and money in politics. (Open Secrets Blog)
• A company that donated $1,000,000 to Romney’s presidential campaign rapidly dissolved just months after being created, causing speculation about where the money came from. (MSNBC)
• The president celebrated his 50th birthday (Happy Birthday, Mr. President) with a group of supporters who paid upwards of $38,000 to join him. (Yahoo!)
• Former Congressman Eric Massa, who resigned amid ethics investigations, is suing his former chief of staff for allegedly paying himself $40,000 of campaign money without approval. (YNN)

State and Local

• A state Senator in Maine will step down in December to take over the state’s largest sportsman’s lobbying group. (Maine Outdoors)

International

• The Minister for the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom took steps to open up government records in an effort he called “Freedom of Information 2.0.” (BBC)
• Australia added new provisions to restrictions on lobbyists, including a requirement to disclose any former public officials employed by a firm. (PSNews)

Relevant committee hearings scheduled for 8/4:

• None

Relevant bills introduced:

• None

Transparency events scheduled for 8/4:

• None