Where would we be without the Internet? The very thought of not having open, free and equal access to the information, entertainment, and the myriad of ways it makes our lives easier, makes me gasp. Without it, Sunlight certainly would not exist. And while it would not be impossible for diligent researchers to bring to light the of influences affecting Congress, with the Internet and the new technologies that have grown up with it, we – the people – would have to rely on experts to spend many more days, months, years digging through dusty boxes of old paper documents in basement offices of government buildings. And we’d have to rely on the mainstream journalists to tell us what they thought we should know. The Internet changes all that.
Connected by the ‘Net, so many more of us can unite to pool our intelligence to contribute to, share and sift through massive amounts of political information. Bonded by the common interest of making Congress more accountable, geographic and social boundaries cease to exist, and just as importantly, information is broadcast to the rest of the community without relying on traditional gatekeepers.
The interconnectivity the Web provides us makes possible the kind of instantaneous collaboration we have become so accustomed to via APIs, social networking and blogging. We are only bound by the limits of our creativity and willingness to get involved.
In that spirit, Sunlight’s team created an ode to how the Web makes government transparency possible in celebration of tomorrow’s second annual OneWebDay. Taking inspiration from Earth Day, Susan Crawford, professor at the Cardozo School of Law and on the Board of Directors of ICANN, organized OneWebDay to observe the significance of the Web and what it means to individuals, organizations and communities.
We couldn’t do the work we do without an open Web. How are you celebrating?
Special thanks to Kerry, Nisha and Lawrence for creating the awesome video!
Continue readingThe 25 Most Corrupt Members of Congress
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has released its third annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress, entitled Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch). The report highlights the corrupt activities of each of the 25 on the list.
The report is clear evidence that corruption hasn't disappeared from Capitol Hill.
Continue readingStepping Up to the Plate
I've been in New York for a couple days talking with various foundations, along with a couple of our grantees, about the work of Sunlight, particuarly about how there is a paradigm shift in how disclosure happens in the Internet age -- how information is collected and disseminated and what people can do with it. So, when I was catching up on my reading this morning I was psyched to see that Dan Gillmor (a 2006 grantee), director of the Center for Citizen Media -- has challenged the nation's community foundations, suggesting that they put the survival of quality local journalism squarely on their agendas. He compares the disintegration of the country's infrastructure to the shedding of editorial staff and investigative reporters by newspapers. Just as falling bridges and crumbling highways threaten the country's economy and public safety, the demise of vibrant local newspapers spells trouble for a well-informed citizenry and the foundation of our free and open society. He's so right.
Continue readingCongress, We ARE Watching
OpenCongress.org is announcing a new widget today called: "Congress, I'm Watching." It's a new tool that lets bloggers, activists, organizations and citizens share a concise summary of any bills in Congress that they are following. We are really excited about this one:
All too often, political blogs and membership groups don't have a good online resource to connect the issues they're discussing to actual bills in Congress. With the new "Congress, I'm Watching" widget, organizations have a timely way of tracking the status of bills and issues that they care about in Congress on their own home pages and online communities of all kinds can encourage collective oversight for what Congress is doing. Political blogs that are tracking specific issues can also use the widget to follow legislation that's near and dear to their heart.
Like all our widgets, it's free to use, customizable, and only takes a minute to put on your website. For an example of how it looks, please see OpenCongress.org's sample.
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TechPresident Wins Knight-Batten Award
Congratulations to our good friends over at techPresident for winning the 2007 Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism Grand Prize. The University of Maryland-affiliated J-Lab organized the award. Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry, Sunlight's technology advisors, founded techPresident to focus on how the campaigns are using the web, and how the web is using them. They are encouraging ordinary citizens to be their own Woodsteins, covering the candidates using all the new tools of the new web. The site covers campaign websites, online advertising, and postings on YouTube and has a must-read group blog and daily digest. Their tracking of which candidate has the fastest growing group of friends on MySpace and Facebook supporters has become a political bellweather.
Andrew and Micah have collected a couple dozen veterans of the 2004 and 2006 elections, both Republicans and Democrats, to blog on the site. This powerhouse stable includes the likes of Patrick Ruffini, former eCampaign Director for the Republican National Committee and webmaster for Bush-Cheney '04; Zack Exley , director of online organizing and communications for Kerry/Edwards '04; Morra Aarons, former director of Internet marketing for the DNC, and Chuck DeFeo, general manager of Townhall.com.
Micah and Andrew and the rest of the (very small) techPresident team are the innovators of the ongoing mashup of politics and Web 2.0. As the campaign heats up, techPresident will increasingly be an essential resource for journalists and average citizens alike. Congratulations guys!
Continue readingNetworked Journalism Summit
I'd like to give a shout-out to Jeff Jarvis, who announced the first Networked Journalism Summit to be held on October 10 in New York. The Summit will take place at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and is funded by the MacArthur Foundation. Networked Journalism is really one of the most exciting new developments in journalism, a way of professionals and amateurs working together to get the real story, all uniquely possible because of the Internet.
Continue readingGovernmental Blogging
Here's an interesting new report -- The Blogging Revolution: Government in the Age of Web 2.0. Think of it as a kind of "Blogging for Dummies" without the humor. (No disrespect to the author or to the "...for Dummies" series.)
This report could be very helpful to any Member of Congress, mayor, state legislator, bureaucrat, corporate CEO who is looking to get an understanding of blogging and Web 2.0. In a straightforward and non-threatening manner, the report explains the Web; its history, its now, and its future. It also attempts to encourage decision makers to engage this brave new world. In common language, the author explains everything from how to start a blog, to social networking, to why blog in the first place. And he makes the case that Web 2.0 tools can increase civic engagement and strengthen our democracy.
Continue readingComputer Glitch Prevents Searching for Individual Lobbyist Names
In the Senate the lobbying data is maintained by the Senate Office of Public Records (SOPR) which currently enters the lobbyist disclosure reports filed on paper into a database. Did you know -- I just learned this -- that electronic disclosure has been required for lobbyist reports since 1995, but still hasn't been fully implemented?! An apparent glitch in SOPR's computer system is currently preventing the public from searching for individual lobbyists, as well as for issues that interests have reported lobbying on in 2007. How beyond ridiculous is this?
It's absurd because whether the Democrats or the GOP control Congress, lobbyists often set the table. Industry lobbyists make sure that their clients' interests are tended to, no matter who runs the Congress. The Center for Responsive Politics analyzed reports filed last month and found lobbyists spending has topped $1.24 billion in the first six months of this year. For perspective, lobbyists spend a record amount of $2.61 billion throughout 2006. CRP's analysis found:
Continue readingAnother Kind of Surge
The Center for Responsive Politics has an fascinating analysis today that should be mighty disturbing to Republican candidates closely allied with President Bush's Iraq war strategy.
Since the start of the Iraq war in 2003, members of the U.S. military have dramatically increased their political contributions to Democrats, marching sharply away from the party they've long supported. In the 2002 election cycle, the last full cycle before the war began, Democrats received a mere 23 percent of military members' contributions.* So far this year, 40 percent of military money has gone to Democrats for Congress and president, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Anti-war presidential candidates Barack Obama and Ron Paul are the top recipients of military money.
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Where’s Our Harry Truman?
During the build up to World War II and throughout the war, Harry Truman built a reputation investigating overspending and profiteering involving defense contracts. Truman found that favoritism and not merit was the basis for the awarding of huge arms contracts, with the biggest companies with the political influence getting all the contracts. Truman visited military bases and armament plants, finding gross mismanagement of defense dollars. He enlisted other senators to go on tour with him, and this ad hoc watchdog effort soon led to a formal investigation. Becoming known informally as the Truman Committee, the investigation exposed waste and corruption throughout the war effort, saving the country $15 billion.
Matt Taibbi, writing for Rolling Stone, looks like a one-man Truman Committee, exposing in graphic terms what can only be described as the shocking corruption, sleaze and criminal mismanagement by private American companies contracting with the federal government to do work in Iraq. "How is it done?" Taibbi asks. "How do you screw the taxpayer for millions, get away with it and then ride off into the sunset with one middle finger extended, the other wrapped around a chilled martini?" He proceeds to show how sleazy yet politically connected contractors wasted what they didn't steal of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars meant to supply the troops and rebuild Iraq. Politically connected con men "went from bumming cab fare to doing $100 million in government contracts practically overnight," Taibbi writes. Contractor fraud in Iraq has been in the headlines since the early days of the war, but Taibbi's expose is especially graphic.
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