Keep reading for today’s look at #OpenGov news, events and analysis including Senate Intelligence vs the CIA, censorship in Mexico, and ethics reformish in Virginia.

National News

• Legally, candidates are not allowed to directly coordinate with the super PACs supporting them. Practically, there are plenty of ways for candidates to let super PACs know what message they’re looking to push or. (Washington Post)
• Vice Adm. Mike Rogers, President Obama’s pick to head up the CIA, pledged to try and make the agency’s surveillance efforts more transparent at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee this week. (The Hill)
• Meanwhile, the battle between the CIA and members of the Senate Intelligence Committee reached a peak on Tuesday when committee chair Dianne Feinstein accused the spy agency of snooping on staffers computers. The agency denied these allegations. (Roll Call, Government Executive)

International News

• A Mexican website created to document human rights violations and police abuses was shut down last year. Now, activists from the organization, #1DMX, are denouncing the government for its role in censoring the site. (Global Voices)

State and Local News

• The Virginia legislature took a small step towards reigning in the state’s weak rules regulating gifts to public officials. Unfortunately, the legislation appears to represent a minimal response to the scandal that scarred the end of former Governor Bob McDonnell’s term and it is unclear if current Governor Terry McAuliffe will even sign it. (Public Integrity)

Events Today 3/12

• Management Matters: Creating a 21st Century Government. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Wed. 3/12. 10:00 am. SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building.
• Markup of H.R. 1078, to make participation in the American Community Survey voluntary, and other legislation. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Wed. 3/12. 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.

Events Tomorrow 3/13

• Anti-corruption and Environmental Protection: Where things stand in Mongolia today. SAIS. Thurs. 3/13. 5:30 – 7:00 pm. Johns Hopkins SAIS, Rome Building, Room 812, 1619 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC.

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