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2Day in #OpenGov 1/16/2012

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • US CIO Steven VanRoekel announced that the Digital Government Strategy is starting to lead to economic benefits, with numerous companies being formed thanks to the federal data that is being released as part of the plan.(FedScoop)
  • The numerous fiscal conflicts likely to take place during the nascent days of the 113th Congress bode well for the lobbying industry. A wide range of sectors will be looking to their lobbyists to get good deals out of the upcoming debates.(Roll Call)
  • Republicans and Democrats hold yearly retreats outside of Washington to formulate policy and build relationships. How they pay for these retreats says a lot about their political differences, with the GOP turning to wealthy corporate donors and the Democrats relying on taxpayer money. (National Journal)
  • Philadelphia's leaders reiterated their commitment to using innovative technology to engage their citizens by naming the city's first Director of Civic Technology. Tim Wisniewski, who previously worked on Philadelphia's 311 system, will focus on creating lasting applications and helping city departments meet their goals. (Gov Tech)
  • The Justice Department is recommending that the U.S. join a federal whistleblower lawsuit originally filed by Lance Armstrong's former teammate Floyd Landis.(Wall Street Journal)
  • A Virginia Delegate proposed a law that would add the correspondence and working papers of state legislative aids to a list of items exempt from the state FOIA. The bill has received sharp criticism from local transparency advocates. (Watchdog.org)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/15/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • Some major Washington trade groups are looking for new leadership and there is no shortage of recently retired members of Congress jockeying for the jobs. Groups that could look to former lawmakers to fulfill their needs include the American Gaming Association, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and the Fertilizer Institute. (The Hill)
  • A new project aims to help the English-speaking world gain a deeper understanding of the conflict currently raging in Syria. Syria Deeply combines conflict mapping, analysis from correspondents on the ground, interviews with Syrians effected by the conflict, and more to provide a deeper look at the problem. (Tech President)
  • If Senator John Kerry (D-MA) is confirmed as Secretary of State, and it is expected that he will be, the race to replace him is expected to attracted massive money, both from potential candidates and outside groups around the country. (Politico)
  • Former Governor and GOP presidential hopeful John Huntsman and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), the newly named leaders of moderate group No Labels, pledged to be transparent about their organization's finances. The group is not legally required to disclose its contributors. (National Journal)
  • Silicon Valley Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), an early opponent of SOPA, discussed the open internet, copyright reform, and other issues that may or may not come up in the 113th Congress. (ArsTechnica)
  • Reform groups are citing President Obama's loose rules on inauguration donations as only the most recent sign that the President doesn't care about the issue of money in politics. (NPR)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/14/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • The Office of Congressional Ethics was reauthorized in the House rules package for the 113th congress. Watchdog groups had feared that the, sometimes controversial, agency might be hamstrung. (National Journal $)
  • Rhode Island is launching a new government information portal that will provide access to government financial data including contracts, audits, and financial documents. The portal will also allow users to file public records requests. (Public Integrity)
  • Last week, President Obama signed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act, which establishes the Do Not Pay Initiative. The law is aimed at minimizing improper payments.(Federal Computer Week)
  • Denmark is launching a database to make corporate tax records available to the public. The database will include figures for the past year of corporate taxation, including information on which companies did not pay taxes.(Tech President)
  • New York Governor is planning to implement a statewide open data portal, making good on a campaign promise to focus on transparency. The portal will post budget data in machine readable and graphical formats. (Tech President)
  • The National Institutes of Health hired a chief data officer to lead a strategic initiative aimed at making the most out of biomedical research data. (Federal Computer Week)
  • Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced several measures dealing with campaign finance reform in the first week of the 113th Congress. The bills include 3 proposed constitutional amendments and an effort to require broadcasters to provide free air time for political ads. (Lobby Comply)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/11/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • Open Government leaders are meeting in Chile this week to discuss Latin American plans and adding Argentina to the Open Government Partnership. The OGP also released a variety of statistics on its first 16 months. (GovFresh)
  • The Chamber of Commerce, one of the countries most powerful lobbying forces, is gearing up to fight against recent policy changes through the legal arena as well, by hiring more lawyers and preparing to attach the Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank financial regulation law with lawsuits. (National Journal)
  • Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum is publicly opposing Chuck Hagel, his former colleague in the Senate. Santorum announced that he is planning to run ads against Hagel's nomination to serve as Secretary of Defense. (Politico $)
  • Former Representative Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly launched a super PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, that hopes for raise $20 million by the 2014 elections to provide a counterweight to the NRA. (Politico)
  • A growing number of Mexican Twitter users are using the service to provide real time coverage of violent crime that has emerged as an alternative to traditional news media outlets that sometimes fail to adequately cover the country's devastating drug war. (Tech President)
  • Several Democratic lawmakers have released emails that indicate high ranking Wal-Mart officials were aware in 2005 that the retailer was paying bribes in Mexico. Representatives Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) are investigating Wal-Mart's Mexico division for bribery. (Washington Times)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/9/2013

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • The first of several projects associated with the Legislative Branch Bulk Data Task Force rolled out this week, according to John Boehner's office. House floor summaries are now available for bulk download in XML format dating back to the 109th Congress. (Tech President)
  • The Corporate Reform Coalition, comprised of corporate investors, shareholders, activists, and academics pushed the Securities and Exchange Commission to move quickly on rules to require greater disclosure of corporate political spending. (Roll Call)
  • Recently retired Representative Steve LaTourette (R-OH) is starting a new lobbying firm along with his wife, who has lobbied on transportation issues in the past. He will also helm the Republican Main Street Partnership, where he plans to launch a super PAC supporting moderate Republicans. (Politico)
  • President Obama is showing signs that he plans to take on two of Washington's most powerful lobbying forces early in his second term. He has already signaled his intention to tackle gun control, and his nomination of Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary is a sign that he is planning to change tone on Israel. (National Journal)
  • New start up Captricity aims to make it easy to transfer data from paper to electronic formats. They hope to help government agencies that still rely on paper based data collection systems to accurately and quickly translate their information into machine-readable formats. (GovFresh)
  • Madison, Wisconsin passed an open data ordinance and is launching an open data platform. Local leaders say they based their program off of New York City's model. (Government Technology)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/7/2012

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

  • Bringing back Congressional earmarks may help ease some of the gridlock and disfunction in Washington, according to this NPR piece on the history and current state of the practice. (NPR)
  • The National Music Publisher's Association is losing its vice president of government affairs, Allison Halataei, to the Revolving door. Halatei will be joining the House Judiciary Committee as its general counsel and parliamentarian. (The Hill)
  • With several high profile gubenatorial contests scheduled for 2013 outside money is expected to continue to flood American elections. Some of the major outside groups are considering turning their checkbooks to these state races and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has already seen millions of dollars of outside support. (Politico)
  • Meanwhile, state officials from around the country are fighting dark money groups with court battles and new legislation to force political spending disclosure. (Roll Call)
  • The FEC fined President Obama's 2008 campaign $375,000 for reporting violations following an audit. The fine is one of the largest ever levied against a presidential campaign. (Politico)
  • Rep. Chris Van Hollen reintroduced the DISCLOSE Act in the House last week. The bill, identical to the one that failed to pass in the 112th Congress, has yet to be reintroduced in the Senate. (Roll Call)

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2Day in #OpenGov 12/21/2012

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Please note: Sunlight's offices will be closed next week and this roundup will be taking a brief hiatus. Happy holidays and see you in the 2013! NEWS ROUNDUP:

Government 
  • American Community Survey goes online:  The Census Bureau is hoping to improve its data collection while saving money by making the American Community Survey, one of its most important surveys, available online for respondents.(Federal Computer Week)
  • From the jail house to the House of Representatives: Kandia Milton, a former aid to disgraced Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, jumped from the jail house to a job in the House with Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI). Milton served a year in jail for his role in a bribery scheme while working for Kilpatrick. (Washington Post)
  • Opinion- Reform the House Ethics Process: The Office of Congressional Ethics should change its rules to allow more due process rights to subjects of its investigations. Members and staff who are subject to review are left in the dark for too long, hampering their ability to refute charges against them. (Politico)
State and Local
  •  Mayors implement innovative policy: Mayors around the country are implementing innovative new policies in areas from digital government to education and public safety.  (GovTech)
International
  • Inside the battle for international internet governance: The UN based battle for international control of the internet had an important skirmish earlier this month at the World Conference on International Telecommunications, where the US and many other countries refused to sign an agreement that was put forth. (Ars Technica)
  • Fighting for reform in Europe: The ongoing financial crisis in Europe has brought corruption and lack of transparency to the forefront of debate. NGOs and citizens are fighting for reform, but their is often a lack of political interest.(Global Voices)

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