A group is planning to walk across New Hampshire to push eventual presidential candidates to answer the question: "What are YOU going to do to end corruption in Washington?" Would you join NH Rebellion?
Continue readingToday in #OpenGov 12/5/2013
Recent revelations suggest that Ottawa waffled between an open data competition and a traditional contractor to build their new smart phone traffic app. They eventually chose the contractor, who charged $95,000 for a disappointing product. Womp womp.
Continue readingToday in #OpenGov 12/4/2013
National News
- The Office of Congressional Ethics is five years old and, despite heavy criticism from both sides of the aisle, doesn't appear to be going anywhere. Click the link for more detail, but be prepared for the ad that is set to play automatically at an annoyingly high volume. (The Hill)
- Campaign finance reform group United Republic did some polling and found that support for campaign finance reform, already strong, jumps to over 70 percent when changes to the legal structure are pitched as "anti-corruption laws". (Public Integrity)
- Today in things that make you go "Did he really just say that?" Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told an interviewer for the New Republic that he offered to go easy on Scott Brown (R-MA) in the 2012 election in exchange for a "yes" vote from Brown on the DISCLOSE Act. Brown, apparently, said no and the bill eventually went down to a slim defeat. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren knocked Brown from the seat in 2012. Could Chuck have stopped her if he'd tried? Your guess is as good as mine. ( Washington Post)
- Transparency International released their 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index yesterday. The report, which tracks how corrupt countries are perceived to be, shows widespread belief that countries are super corrupt, with more than two-thirds scoring less than 50 out of 100 possible points. (Tech President)
- Amsterdam, Barcelona, and San Francisco are teaming up on a new data sharing platform, called Cityzenith 5D Smart City. The cities are hoping to pool resources and share best practices. (Future Gov)
- New York State's Moreland Commission issued their report into the "pay-to-play" political culture in the state on Monday night. The report, commissioned by Governor Andrew Cuomo, focuses mainly on problems in the legislature and recommends a host of changes, many suggested by good government groups. (NY Daily News)
- A brief review of "The Foundation for an Open Source City," that looks at the topic through the lens of the author's experiences in Raleigh, North Carolina. (govfresh)
Open Data Executive Order Compliance: The Bad and The Good.
The first major deadline for agency compliance with President Obama's open data Executive Order arrived this past Saturday. Agencies were required to, among other things, provide the Office of Management and Budget with an "Enterprise Data Inventory" and release a list of all their public data via a /data page on their websites.
We had hopes that some agencies might choose to publicly release their entire Enterprise Data Inventories, providing a full picture of their data holdings. Unfortunately, so far, that does not seem to have happened. Until the full inventories are available, the public will still be stuck in the dark, not knowing what we don’t know about government data holdings.
Nonetheless, most cabinet level agencies, as well as a number of independent agencies that were not required to comply, have taken steps to publicly fulfill the other aspects of the Executive Order. Levels of compliance have been varied, but we will try to highlight some of the worst and best examples below.
Continue readingToday in #OpenGov 12/3/2013
National News
- Ceasars' Casino needs to get its PAC money right, according to FEC auditors. The auditors found that the PAC had under-reported its receipts by over $150,000 and its expenditures by more than $90,000 over a two year period. (Roll Call)
- Journalists and free-press advocates are keeping up the pressure on the White House a week after close to 40 news outlets filed a formal complaint over the Obama Administration's policy limiting access to photographers. (Washington Times)
- The Spanish Senate approved a "transparency" law last week, despite widespread opposition from civil society groups and political organizations who argued that the bill ignored international standards for right to information laws. (Access Info)
- Austria and Bosnia have joined the growing ranks of countries making budget information available online. Austria's recently launched system covers all of the country's 2,356 municipalities while Bosnia's aims to help citizens understand the tax system and how funds are spread across the government. (International Budget Partnership)
- The Speaker of the British House of Commons is setting up a Commission on Digital Democracy to explore ways to further modernize parliament and government more broadly. (Global Center for ICT in Parliament)
- The Iowa Public Information Board is up and running, but it might be heading backwards when it comes to ensuring government transparency. The board has already made a series of decisions that hinder journalists and members of the public. (Columbia Journalism Review)
- New York's Moreland Commission, set up to investigate corruption in the state, is set to issue its report next week. In the meantime, the New York Public Interest Research group urged the commission to consider a series of campaign finance reforms. (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
Today in #OpenGov 12/2/2013
National News
- There is a strong revolving door between the office of the United States Trade Representative and private sector jobs in the pharmaceutical, major media, and technology industries. (Washington Post)
- The SEC appears to be backing away from a proposal that would force public companies to disclose their political spending. The commission had included the proposal in their list of 2013 priorities, but it is nowhere to be found in their 2014 list. (Washington Post)
- Most members of Congress set up Leadership PACs in order to spread love and boost their standing within their own party. But, two recently elected lawmakers want to use their organizations to support candidates that "want to make government work and who want everyone at the table." (Roll Call)
- The Open Knowledge Foundation, along with the Open Data Institute has finalized a "memorandum of understanding" with the BBC. They are joining the Europeana Foundation, Open Data Institute, and Mozilla Foundation in pushing the BBC to commit to "open data and open standards." BBC representatives hailed the move as a sign that the organization is "here for the audience's interest and not just," their own. (Open Knowledge Blog)
- The Mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii signed an open data bill into law last week. The bill was first introduced in August and garnered support from the city's CIO. (Hawaii Open Data)
- Philadelphia Chief Data Officer Mark Headd teamed up with Textizen CEO Michelle Lee to pitch the idea that open data can help companies innovate at Interop, an IT conference in New York City. (Technical.ly Philly)
Today in #OpenGov 11/26/2013
Programming note: Today in #OpenGov, and its author, will be taking the rest of the week off. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! National News
- The House Chief Administrative Officer, Dan Strodel, is retiring after 28 years on Capitol Hill. Before being tapped to run the office that supports more than 10,000 members, staff, and employees, Strodel was a senior adviser to the House Committee on Administration. A replacement is expected to be named soon. (Roll Call)
- Today in cogitative dissonance, the Laborers' International Union of North America PAC chipped in $150,000 to the Defending Main Street Super PAC. Defending Main Street is a right leaning group started by former Rep. Steven LaTourette (R), that hopes to defend more moderate Republicans. (Roll Call)
- Happy Holidays from the FEC, a reminder that campaigns and committees who intend to send out more than 500 holiday greetings need to disclose the organization behind the card. (Roll Call)
- The Tunisian Ministry of Finance took an important step while presenting their budget proposal to the National Constituent Assembly, the country's interim legislative body. In addition to the official submission, they released an overview document to the wider public. (International Budget Partnership)
- Qingdao, one of China's major cities, just launched an open government platform that targets citizen services and information to help residents navigate city life. (Future Gov)
- Sierra Madre, California turned to OpenGov.com, a silicon valley start up, to institute a more open budget. The new system allows city employees and citizens to dig deeper into the budget. (Sierra Madre Weekly)
- A number of bills are floating around the Massachusetts state house that would institute a number of reforms to state public records laws. The bills would lower costs, make it easier to download electronic records, and streamline the process. (Lowell Sun)
Today in #OpenGov 11/25/2013
National News
- Dark money isn't just for conservative groups, according to new documents filed with the IRS. The left-leaning nonprofit League of Conservation Voters spent $36 million in 2012, with $15 million going towards political activities. (Public Integrity)
- The press isn't particularly happy with the White House over their level of access to to the President and the let it be known at a contentious briefing last week. The White House Correspondents Association is upset that the White House has broken with tradition by keeping press out of some events, while releasing official photos and videos. (POLITICO)
- President Obama is heading to the West Coast to drum up some money for the DNC, but he might be in for a tough trip as donors vent their frustrations with the bungled Affordable Care Act roll-out. Despite the potential for anger, Obama is still expected to rake in plenty of money for the party. (Washington Post)
- The Ukrainian Government has suspended preparations for signing an EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, a move that upset many of its citizens. Protests have sprung up around the country and are being tracked in an interactive map. (Global Voices)
- Developing countries lose between $20 and $40 billion every year to graft, according to a new report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The high levels of corruption are considered the greatest obstacle to economic and social development in these nations. (The FCPA Blog)
- Despite lots of talk about transparency and open government, the authors of this piece see it as mostly rhetoric so far, with minimal real world results in states around the US. Meanwhile, elected officials and high ranking bureaucrats are walling themselves off from the press. (Governing)
- Tech companies are supporting open data legislation under consideration in San Francisco that would push forward a number of initiatives. (San Francisco Examiner)
Looking Towards Next Week’s Open Data Executive Order Deadline
November 30th marks the first major deadline for agency compliance with President Obama’s Open Data Executive Order and accompanying Memorandum M-13-13. In addition to representing an important step in the march towards open government and proper data management, this is an opportunity to evaluate agencies, identify best practices, and advocate for change. The Executive Order will continue to be implemented over the coming months and years, but agencies should, and will, be judged on how much effort they put into this first deadline. The level of agency compliance now will be a clear representation of how seriously they take the Executive Order.
Guidance issued alongside the Executive Order provides a strong roadmap for agency participation, but leaves some important points up for interpretation. Notably, agencies are given too much leeway to keep even the existence of their data secret.
Continue readingToday in #OpenGov 11/22/2013
National News
- Republican Representative Tom Petri (WI) introduced a bill that purports to encourage more individuals to give small amounts to political campaigns. The Citizens Involvement in Campaigns (CIVIC) Act would restore tax credits and deductions for small donations that were in place between 1972 and 1986. (Roll Call)
- The FEC declined to grant the Tea Party Leadership Fund an exemption from disclosure that they have in the past given to small, leftist political parties. Commissioners opposing the request suggested that the Socialist Workers Party, and other similar groups given the exemption, were niche parties with small donor bases ripe for harassment, while the Tea Party Leadership Fund is a member of a nationally recognized movement with a wide base of support. (POLITICO)
- Japan has an open data policy in place. But according to an Open Knowledge Foundation Index the country is lagging behind many of their first world counterparts. (Global Voices)
- There was good and bad news to be had at an oversight hearing on the implementation of New York City's oepn data law earlier this week. The city has been a leader on open data issues, but technologists, advocates, and city councilors have found frustration in the available data and timelines set by agencies for releasing more. (Tech President)
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