NEWS ROUNDUP:
- President Obama's decision to turn his campaign into a nonprofit that will accept unlimited corporate cash has drawn some criticism across the political spectrum. ProPublica looked into some of the other money-policy flip-flops Obama has made in the past few years. (ProPublica)
- The House Small Business Committee is aiming to make it easier for companies without lawyers or lobbyists to keep track of federal regulations that might impact them. (Roll Call)
- The Justice Department filed a brief asking the Supreme Court not to allow direct corporate campaign contributions. (Thomson Reuters)
- States and municipalities are increasingly creating positions for chief innovation officers, who are tasked with a wide variety of efforts related to better uses of technology. (GovTech)
- Government use of open source software as an alternative to proprietary software is increasing, and Government Technology explored some of the benefits and challenges of that move. (GovTech)
- Liberal and conservative groups are expressing concerns about the possible effects of proposed ethics reforms in Georgia that would label citizen volunteers as lobbyists, among other things. (Public Integrity)
- A bill has been introduced in Rhode Island that would prohibit lobbyists from making any political contributions to a member of the General Assembly during legislative session. (Lobby Comply Blog)
- A recent poll in Europe found a majority of people surveyed are concerned about the role of lobbyists and want increased transparency in the European Union. (Access Info) Continue reading
2Day in #OpenGov 1/31/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- The Office of Congressional Ethics released its 2012 end-of-year report showing it forwarded 13 matters to the House Ethics Committee for review of 32 matters it opened. (Roll Call)
- Two cases before the House Ethics Committee are being held until the panel has its first organizational meeting and can officially begin taking action. (Roll Call)
- The Government Accountability Office issued a report calling for better interagency contracting practices in the federal government. (GovExec)
- The American League of Lobbyists has ended its contract with its lobbying company, which had lobbied on issues such as campaign finance laws and regulations. (Public Integrity)
- The FEC increased contribution limits on individuals for the 2014 election cycle. Individuals will be able to contribute up to $5,200 for a candidate and $32,400 for a national party committee. (Roll Call)
- Democratic members of Congress praised the House Majority PAC in a new video, saying the PAC helped them "fight back" against Republican PACs. (Public Integrity)
- Chris Vein, former deputy CTO of the White House, is settling into his new role as chief innovation officer for Global Information and Communications Technology Development at the World Bank. (GovTech)
- Carl Hoecker, who was inspector general for the U.S. Capitol Police, has been appointed as the Securities and Exchange Commission's inspector general. (ExecutiveGov)
How MuniLand Sees Cities
As part of our municipal work here at Sunlight, we're inviting various people to share their take on what makes a city and why transparency at this level is important. Today's post is from Cate Long, a guest contributor to Reuters.com on the municipal bond market. By Cate Long Alisha Green of Sunlight Foundation is working on a project to identify the ways that different types of data are used to describe cities. She put up a great post that sketches out a number of ways to view a city demographically, including population density, unemployment and housing. She asked me recently to write about how I personally view cities. I think of cities almost entirely as cash flow machines that collect taxes and provide social services. That is muniland. Here are Alisha’s questions and my answers: 1. From your point of view, what is a city? Cities are legal entities that are incorporated to provide essential services; especially police, fire, education and water and sewer systems. Depending on the state, cities have legal authority to enter contracts, collect specific types of taxes and maintain judicial systems. Many cities also provide more expansive social services including care of the elderly and disabled and maintenance of parks and hospitals.
Continue reading18 New Ways of Visualizing A City
The way we visualize and compare cities says much about our understanding of how they work. As part of our ongoing exploration of what makes a city, we wanted to survey how people are using data to describe the political, geographical and social realities cities face. Below, we've compiled some unique visualizations. Some of these center around cities in the common sense of the word, focusing on large urban areas, but we think these images as a group help expand the understanding of the diversity of all kinds of municipalities. We aren't demographers, but we aren't working in a vacuum, either. As we continue to engage in open data work, we hope to contribute to the kind of information that powers these visuals and help create the resources for the next wave of municipal understanding.
POPULATION DENSITY
1. This 2010 U.S. Census map, from a report about population change, shows population-weighted density by metropolitan statistical area. That's a complicated way of essentially saying the map shows how tightly packed people are on average in metropolitan areas, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. The map shows how people generally are more condensed in metropolitan areas along the East and West coasts than they are in metropolitan areas in the middle of the country.
Continue reading
What is a City?
As we expand on our vision for local government transparency, we realize we need to start with defining what we mean by local. The general scope of the work we’re taking on is targeted at the idea of “municipal” government, something we’ve been referring to internally as city government, though we’ve quickly realized it’s not that simple. Municipal government takes many forms, and if we’re being accurate, we have to set our scope a bit wider. In the United States, a municipal government is a local government that has been authorized or incorporated according to state constitutions and statutes. Depending on the state, a municipality could be a city, town, or village, or even a borough or township. There are more than 19,000 incorporated places (e.g. municipalities), according to 2010 U.S. Census data, and they vary dramatically in size, shape, and structure.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/4/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Nearly 100 ethics cases in 2012: The House Ethics Committee reviewed 95 cases in 2012 and handled at least 40,000 informal requests for guidance, among other tasks. (Roll Call)
- DC legislation receives bump in Congress: District of Columbia affairs will receive review from the full Oversight and Government Reform Committee instead of just a subcommittee. (Roll Call)
- Obama opposes more whistleblower protections: President Barack Obama issued a statement saying he objects to expanded contractor whistleblower protections. (FCW)
- Google settles with FTC in antitrust case: The Federal Trade Commission decided to take no action on the biggest part of a potential antitrust case against Google after the search-engine giant agreed to change some of its practices. (The Hill)
2Day in #OpenGov 1/3/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Ethics board could be preserved: The Office of Congressional Ethics could be preserved with proposed rule changes that would remove term limits for board members. The panel had been in danger of ceasing to exist because vacancies were unfilled. (USA Today)
- Relatives lobby on bills before Congress: More than 50 relatives of lawmakers have been paid to lobby on bills in Congress, records show. Lobbying by relatives was limited after 2007, but has not been banned entirely. (Washington Post)
- National Archives recognized for innovation: The Administrative Conference of the United States presented an award for innovation to the National Archives' Citizen Archivist Initiative. (FedScoop)
- Political money news in 2012: Campaign spending in 2012 was the subject of many news stories, and Roll Call has highlighted some of the major related events. (Roll Call)
- DC under scrutiny: The District of Columbia continues to be under scrutiny from the federal government related to possible corruption. (Washington Examiner)
- California tries to stymie anonymous donations: California legislators are trying to make news laws aimed at stemming the flow of dark money into political campaigns. (LA Times)
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2Day in #OpenGov 1/2/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Tech industry learns Washington: The technology industry is likely to be a major lobbying force in Washington, DC, this year as several lingering disputes over security and privacy could come back up for debate in Congress. (New York Times)
- Most expensive races of 2012: There are different ways to calculate the costs of the races from 2012, but a few competitions stand out for how expensive they were. One race topped more than $85 million in total outside and candidate spending. (Roll Call)
- Bipartisan campaign finance disclosure: Two Senators have proposed bipartisan legislation similar to the Disclose Act that would require outside groups spending money on campaigns to make their funding public. (Roll Call)
- Municipal innovation in 2012: Many cities and towns took strides forward with technology in 2012, enhancing their connections with citizens in different ways. Code for America highlights some of the advances. (Code for America)
- Top tech and politics events of 2012: TechPresident has a list of some of the top technology and political moments of 2012. (TechPresident)
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2Day in #OpenGov 12/19/12
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Cabinet continues to opt for secrecy: Nine out of 15 cabinet offices have still not disclosed the cost of travel by top officials after Bloomberg asked for the documents under the Freedom of Information Act in June. (Bloomberg)
- House vote planned on Hatch Act changes: The House of Representatives planned to vote Tuesday on changes to the Hatch Act and another bill that would impact policies related to federal workers, political activity, and misconduct. (Washington Post)
- 10 years of e-government: Former government officials recently came together to discuss progress made since the E-Government Act of 2002, which was passed with the goal of making government more accessible online by the public. (FCW)
2Day in #OpenGov 12/18/12
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Conaway named House Ethics chair: U.S. Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) has been named the new chair of the House Ethics Committee by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). (Roll Call)
- Owens, Schock cases go to ethics panel: Cases related to U.S. Reps. Bill Ownens (D-NY) and Aaron Schock (R-IL) have been sent from the Office of Congressional Ethics to the House Ethics Committee, which will announce its next steps by the end of January. (Roll Call)
- Closed-door fiscal talks OK? Government watchdog groups say that while some of the negotiations related to the fiscal cliff may need to be made in private, any legislation that comes out of the talks needs to be open for public review and comment. (NPR)
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