I don't want to let this slip by.
The Hill reported on a U.S. District Court decision made on Friday that upheld a key provision of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (HLOGA). In February, the National Association of Manufacturers had filed suit challenging HLOGA's disclosure provision requiring any organization actively participating "in the planning, supervision, or control" of lobbying efforts that ponies up more than $5,000 in a quarter to disclose their activities and expenditures. NAM argued that the disclosure clause is imprecise and impacts groups that it is not intended to target, and that it violates the First Amendment. They also said that they were worried that the law would also require it to disclose the names of its members.
In a 57-page opinion, Judge Kollar-Kotelly disagreed, saying the clause was "narrowly tailored to serve compelling government interests, and is neither vague on its face nor is applied to the NAM." You can read the judge's opinion by following a link provided by the Campaign Legal Center. The court decision clears the way for the new law to force disclosure of such coalitions' members to the public for the first time on April 21, according to The Hill.
Continue readingWell, Yes!
Rebecca Carr wrote a really good piece that appeared in the Austin American-Statesman over the weekend about PublicMarkup.org. We couldn't help but chuckle over the worried comment of the former president of the American League of Lobbyists, Paul Miller who appears to think that what we are doing with PublicMarkup might - horrors of horrors - allow citizens to have their voices heard on other issues.
"I don't think the way you advocate is to put everything online and say, 'All right American people, weigh in on that,' because then what's next?" Miller asked. "Are we going to let the American people decide our defense policy, our trade policy, our immigration policy?"
Well, we certainly hope so!
Continue readingNew Features at PoliticalBase.com
Launched back in October by CNET co-founder Shelby Bonnie, PoliticalBase.com is a site where you can do some basic research and talk about politics. Their blog is one of my daily reads.
Earlier this week, Political Base unveiled what's new at the site, including a weekly newsletter where they promise to provide a wrap-up of the most relevant stories, sophisticated analysis and expert opinions from their site. You can sign up for the free publication here. Political Base is also collecting contact information on the Democratic Superdelegates, and you can access that here. Hopefully they will encourage folks to contribute to Congresspedia's Superdelegate Transparency Project too.
The folks at Political Base do good stuff. You should check them out.
12th Annual Webby Awards
Earlier this week, The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences announced their nominees for the 12th annual Webby Awards, and MAPLight.org is one of five nominees for best Politics Website of 2008. MAPLight.org, a Sunlight Foundation grantee, is based in Berkeley, Calif., and uses databases to reveal connections between campaign contributions and legislative outcomes on both the federal and state levels.
Why Tuesday?, another site we like a lot, is one of five nominees fo best Political Blog. Our friends at Why Tuesday? raise awareness about America's broken voting system and to find solutions to increase voter turnout and participation in elections.
The Webbys have been dubbed the "Oscars of the Internet" by The New York Times," and are the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. In other words, it's a big deal. The Webbys are actually two awards, with the academy awarding a winner for each category, and Internet users from around the globe can register and vote for their choice in each category for a Webby People's Voice Award. Click here to vote. The academy will announce the winners on May 6th, with an awards ceremony set in New York City on June 9th and 10th.
Continue readingAnother Record Year for Lobbying
The Center for Responsive Politics reports (with data from their lobbying database):
$2.8 BILLION Corporations, industries, labor unions, governments and other interests spent a record $2.79 billion in 2007 to lobby for favorable policies in Washington ... this represents an increase of 7.7 percent, or $200 million, over spending in 2006. And for every day Congress was in session, industries and interests spent an average of $17 million to lobby lawmakers and the federal government at large. The drug industry spent more than any other, increasing its lobbying 25 percent last year.
Pretty soon this is going to add up to real money.
Continue readingAnother Way to Think About Campaign Finance Reform?
The Forum, a political science journal published by Cal-Berkeley, just published an interesting article by Michael J. Malbin, executive director of The Campaign Finance Institute (CFI), titled "Rethinking the Campaign Finance Agenda." The journal published Malbin's article as part of their special issue entitled "Has the U.S. Campaign Finance System Collapsed." In an email, Malbin wrote that the premise of the article stems from CFI's Project on Participation: Strengthening Democracy through Volunteers and Small Donors.
In the article Malbin argues that the focus of campaign finance laws should shift from attempting to check corruption by limiting contributions and certain expenditures to a more positive agenda of promoting competition and candidate emergence. He makes the case that limits have limits, and that CFI's ongoing research on the promotion of equality through small donors and volunteers shows promise. It's worth a read, even a skeptical one.
Continue readingPersonal Democracy Forum’s “Rebooting America” Essay Contest
Our friends at Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) have launched an essay contest around the issue of Rebooting America: Democracy in the 21st Century, which is the name of an anthology of essays they are publishing on the topic. PdF will include the contest winner's essays in the book that will include pieces written by leading thinkers and activists and citizens like you. They are publishing the book in conjunction with their Personal Democracy Forum conference June 23-24 in New York City. Contest winners will also receive complementary passes to the conference.
I'm honored to join the likes of Clay Shirky, Yockai Benkler, Susan Crawford, Beth Noveck, Craig Newmark, danah boyd, Scott Heiferman, Tara Hunt, Josh Marshall, Jeff Jarvis, Howard Rheingold, John Bonifaz, Brad Templeton, Mike Turk, James Rucker, Morra Aarons, Patrick Ruffini, Lisa Stone, Joe Trippi, David Weinberger and others in offering ideas on how to reinvent democracy in America using the Internet and Web 2.0.
Continue readingLawmakers Have a Financial Stake in the War
Yesterday afternoon the Center for Responsive Politics posted an article that makes great use of their Sunlight-funded Personal Financial data on Congress and FedSpending.org on defense contracts.
CRP found that members of Congress had as much as $196 million invested in companies with Dept. of Defense contracts in 2006 (the most recent reports available), which seems worth noting as Congress awaits a briefing on the Iraq war from Gen. Petraeus next week. The contractors in which Congress is most invested are, for the most part, not in the defense sector, which surprised them (but makes sense given the vast size and many needs of the US military ) but are companies like Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson. According to CRP, members also hold millions of dollars in defense company stock such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Massie sez:
I think many American investors would be surprised to learn that lawmakers have a financial stake in the war.
And in other findings from their new favorite database (Personal Financial Disclosures), CRP had this item in yesterday's newsletter, pointing out that the ranking Republican on the House's global warming committee is a big investor in the oil companies that were called on the carpet by the committee's Democrats on Tuesday:
Continue readingRep. Al Wynn Has A Conflict of Interest Writ Large
Rep. Al Wynn, who's announced he's taken a position with uber-lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro, is going to have to watch his step to avoid any conflict of interest until he actually resigns in June.
A quick look at the firm's 2006 and 2007 client lists begs the question, what's can he possibly do in his remaining time that wouldn't be a conflict with one of the firm's clients? As The Washington Post wrote Sunday in an editorial titled "Mr. Wynn's Ignoble Exit," the reason for his early exit is clear, "M-O-N-E-Y." The Post said it best, "Don't let the revolving door hit you on the way out."
Continue readingTom Watson
Micah sez:
Go read British Cabinet Officer Tom Watson's speech on the "Power of information" and imagine a Member of Congress making a similar speech on how technology can radically reinvent government. Imagine one of our presidential candidates making it (even Barack Obama, who has done the most thinking on this topic.) You can't. But maybe, if we pay more attention to our cousins across the pond, soon someone will.
I have a meeting with Watson in the middle of April. Can't wait.
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