Maybe when your seemingly wonky topic (e.g. transparency) makes it to status of a joke circulating on the Internet, your time has come. That's sort of the way I felt this morning, when the following appeared in my morning email. (See the last item.)
Put about 100 bricks in some particular order in a closed room with an open window. Then send 2 or 3 candidates into the room and close the door. Leave them alone, come back after 6 hours, and then analyze the situation.
If they are counting the bricks, put them in the accounting department.
If they are recounting them, put them in auditing.
If they have messed up the whole place with the bricks, put them in engineering.
If they are arranging the bricks in some strange order, put them in planning.
If they are throwing the bricks at each other, put them in operations.
If they are sleeping, put them in security.
If they have broken the bricks into pieces, put them in information technology.
If they are sitting idle, put them in human resources.
If they say they have tried different combinations, yet not a brick has been moved, put them in sales.
If they have already left for the day, put them in marketing.
If they are staring out of the window, put them in strategic planning.
If they are talking to each other, and not a single brick has been moved, congratulate them and put them in top management.
Finally, if they have surrounded themselves with bricks in such a way that they can neither be seen nor heard from, put them in Congress.Continue reading
APIs from IMSP in Official Use
Last week, the Institute on Money in State Politics annouced the launch of their APIs that give outside Web developers the ability to access and display the Institute's data on their own Web sites, to program fully interactive displays using Institute data within their Web pages, and to create applications that return live data from FollowTheMoney.org.
The first group to jump into using APIs is Project Vote Smart. Here's what it looks like on the Project Vote Smart Web site.
Continue readingImitation is the Highest Form of Flattery
Andrew Cuomo, who is running for Attorney General in NY, issues a press release today that sounds like it came from us:
ANDREW CUOMO PROPOSES "PROJECT SUNLIGHT" TO INCREASE GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY AND DISCLOSURE
....The Attorney General's Public Integrity Unit would for the first time integrate and improve existing databases so that campaign finance data, lobbying information and state contracts can be viewed and easily searched by concerned citizens. With Project Sunlight, a citizen frustrated by high drug costs would be able to use her computer at home, type "prescription drugs" in a search box, and find out if her elected officials take money from drug companies, what drug bills they voted on, and even which companies ended up with lucrative state contracts.
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Momentum
Well, we certainly feel some momentum from our experiment in collaborative research over the weekend, and we’re bracing for the huge burst of interest that’s been expressed in the databases that are being released tomorrow by our grantees OMB Watch and Center for Responsive Politics. More than 225 attendees have signed up to join the press conference either in person or on the web. (Here’s the sign up information, join us if you can. (Go to www.ConnectLive.com/events/sunlightfoundation at 9:30 am tomorrow morning.)
Continue readingWow! You Finished It Already!
In less than 2 days, over a holiday weekend, YOU have completed the research on the first step of our first major distributed research assignment -- Congress's Family Business. While we still have to verify the work, it appears that 16 current lawmakers are employing spouses in their campaigns. We'll be back to you as soon as we can with our final calculations!(we might even break some news with this.) No doubt, Bill will check in later in the day with some more of the details -- like how many folks participated in the project, etc.
So much for what people here in Washington say about the cynicism of the public! Anyone who believes that citizens don't want to get involved in monitoring what their representiatives do here in Washington has just been proven wrong.
Continue readingSo, Who’s Coming to the Meeting?
Rep. Dennis Hastert and the rest of the Republican leadership, according to Roll Call, have called a "come to Jesus" meeting for Washington's lobbyists. The message is pure and simple: give now to Republican candidates or regret it later. Larry excerpts part of the breathtakingly candid comments here.
So I want to know who's coming to the meeting? Call Rep. Hastert, Rep. Roy Blunt, Rep. Eric Cantor, or Rep. Deborah Pryce and ask them to release the list of those invited and those who have RSVPed. Let us know what you find out.
Continue readingIt’s Time To Have Some Fun
The Sunlight Network is launching a Congress In 30 Seconds video contest as part of our Punch Clock Campaign. Check out the really neat web tool we've designed and play around with it. It's unbelievably easy to get the hang of how to do it. It will only take a few minutes to make a video on the theme of what you imagine lawmakers do all day.
We know you've always wanted to talk back to Congress. Now here's your chance to tell them what you really think. And in case you need an enticement, the winner -- picked by their peers -- of this 4 week campaign will win $5,000.
Continue readingFocus On Sen. Mitch McConnell
My conversations yesterday with senior staffers on the Hill about the prognosis of electronic filing for Senate campaign finance reports were illuminating. The bill is stuck in the Rules Committee which at this point in the legislative cycle means it's not happening. I was told that only if there was unanimous consent would the legislation move, but that was unlikely because there is one key opponent - Senator Mitch McConnell.
I had to laugh: the Senator known as the Darth Vader of campaign finance reform - who used to defend his opposition to that by calling for more disclosure - is now out to kill even disclosure! In the context of debating a disclosure amendment about union funds in 2001, McConnell said:
Continue readingEarmark Lists: Look for Them Around October 1
Transparency freak that I am, all weekend I've been pondering (read, savoring) when we'd see the first earmark lists now mandated by House rules. And, thanks to Dana Chasin at OMB Watch, we now know it will be around October 1st when appropriations conference reports make it to the House floor or when an omnibus appropriations package comes under consideration.
The first bills likely to come to the floor are Homeland Security and Defense.
The Morning After
It's always useful to look at things the morning after they've passed. So what did we really get in the so-called "earmarks reform" rule change?
Here's the good part: All legislation of all types must have lists of all earmarks and the names of lawmakers who proposed them before their considered. That's terrifically comprehensive.
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