For the past year, the Sunlight Foundation has worked to get a bill passed that would require Senators to file their campaign finance contribution reports electronically, allowing that information to be more readily available before elections than it is now. Passage of the bill has been blocked by Republicans, specifically Sen. John Ensign, for this same amount of time. We aren't going to give up on our fight to get S. 223 passed and intend to keep the pressure on this year. To kick things off we've made this video to explain the issue and keep the attention on Sen. Ensign and his unreasonable hold on the bipartisan bill:
Continue readingAnother One Bites the Dust
The era of Abramoff appears to be nearing conclusion in Washington. Bob Ney is serving time behind bars; Tom DeLay forced to resign; Sen. Conrad Burns and Reps. Richard Pombo and J.D. Hayworth defeated in the 2006 elections; numerous lobbyists and officials now have prison records. Today, under pressure from Republican leaders, Rep. John Doolittle will drop out of his race for reelection in his northeastern California district. Rep. Doolittle was one of the few remaining members of Congress suspected of making illegal deals with the convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and is under investigation by the FBI. Let's recap Doolittle's history as an Abramoff apparatchik with a little help from Congresspedia.
Continue readingConnect with Congress Online: Brad Miller and Linda Sanchez
Over the past two days I've been working with Reps. Brad Miller and Linda Sanchez to hold online discussions about a specific piece of legislation (HR 3609). It has been a great experience to work to create a substantive dialogue between congressmen, legal experts, and the general online community and I think there is a real future for this type of conversation. The Internet enables ordinary citizens to actually hold forth with a member of Congress and to have their voice heard and preserved for others to hear. I've compiled a list of links to aggregate the conversation that happened over the last two days below the fold.
Continue readingFriday YouTubes: David Weinberger
Cisco posted this video of David Weinberger (Cluetrain Manifesto; Everything is Miscellaneous) discussing the Internet and it's use in the public sector and by the presidential candidates:
Continue readingHoliday Lobby Parties Say No Cameras Allowed
If you're an industry group or a lobby shop each and every season is worthy of a themed fundraiser. Holiday season is, of course, the best time to get lawmakers and lobbyists together to schmooze and allow a legal forum for the exchange of campaign cash for direct access. ABC News' Brian Ross and his film crew came down from New York to try and film the natives in their annual tradition only to be removed from the festivities:
At the National Beer Wholesalers Association and Brewers Association’s “Taste of the Holidays” party Wednesday night in the Rayburn cafeteria, Members of Congress, staffers and lobbyists noshed on House ethics committee-approved delicacies like Guinness draught mini meatballs and beer-glazed ribs and libations that included more than 20 brews.
Ross entered the party with cameras rolling. His goal: to show perks lawmakers and staffers receive during the holidays as trade groups and lobby shops throw swanky parties on Capitol Hill. Unsurprisingly, the newsman was treated like an interloper by the party’s sponsors.
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Congress May Fix Web Site Rules
Earlier this year, David All and I wrote a section of the Open House Project calling for the House to review and rewrite arcane franking regulations as applied to member Web sites. According to Roll Call, it looks like this is actually going to happen. If you've ever been to a congressional Web site you've probably noticed the lack of interactivity, multimedia, and linking that is common in today's Internet. That's because of unwritten, nonspecific, arbitrary rules that are unevenly applied across member Web sites. Members can't post YouTube videos, link to MySpace, ask people to Digg something on their site, or have a blogroll. All of that may be changing soon:
Regulations prohibit content that can be construed as an advertisement or as purely personal information, such as links to fundraisers or support for partisan causes. Now, the new phenomenon of social networking sites — and the increasing use of them by Members — is testing the application of such rules in a multimedia world.
House and Senate officials say several Members are not in compliance, though none apparently have been disciplined. It’s time, they say, to update the rules to match the technology.
The House Administration Committee has been drafting possible changes for months, as has the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.
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Sen. Ensign Still Opposes Transparency
Sen. John Ensign continues to block the campaign finance electronic filing bill that Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Russ Feingold have been attempting to pass all year. The bill, which the Sunlight Foundation has fought hard to get passed, has 41 cosponsors including 16 Republicans (including Sens. Bob Bennett, Lamar Alexander, and John Cornyn among others). Despite this not being a partisan issue, Ensign insists on blocking consideration of the bill by offering an irrelevant and controversial amendment, which initially came from the offices of Sen. Mitch McConnell, to require outisde groups filing ethics complaints to disclose their funding sources. This has been noted as unconstitutional law and is an absurd requirement to demand.
Is the Senate Ethics Committee truly overburdened with cases? Sen. Ensign says that complaints in the Senate can be written "on a beverage napkin or written in crayon." I'm not sure what number of ethics complaints are submitted by drunks and children (or some combination of the two) but it can't be that high. In fact, the only known ongoing Senate Ethics Committee investigation was started by the Senate Republicans when they filed a complaint against Sen. Larry Craig for pleading guilty to possibly, maybe, perhaps being gay. Ellen just linked to a list of potential ethical issues facing a number of Republican Senators that could be investigated. If outside groups can file these complaints so easily - in crayon and on a beverage napkin - why isn't the Ethics Committee investigating anything?
Continue readingOil, Politics, & Bribes
Last Friday, PBS' NOW with David Brancaccio covered the VECO Alaska oil corruption scandal. If you're new to the scandal that has enveloped these non-continental politicians and is creeping up on Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young this video is the place to start. Below is a 6 minute clip from the full video. Watch the full video here.
Continue readingInsanely Useful Look at Sen. Jon Kyl
Sen. Trent Lott's reform induced decision to forgo further representation for the people of Mississippi is creating a hole in the Senate Republican leadership team as Lott is the Minority Whip. Lott's resignation has already caused Republican Conference Chair Jon Kyl to announce his ambitions to be the next Minority Whip and Sen. Lamar Alexander, who lost by one vote to Lott for the position, is also expected to toss his plaid shirt into the race. Seeing as how we have a whole host of resources, many of them Insanely Useful, it seems appropriate to see what these resources have to say about these characters. Let's start with a cursory look at Sen. Jon Kyl.
Continue readingLobbying Reform Claims Longtime Lawmaker
During debate on the recently enacted lobbying and ethics reforms (see S. 1 for details) one of the most contentious points was the imposition of a two-year lobbying ban on former lawmakers and staff. Many observers declared that this extension of the "cooling off" period would cause some lawmakers and staff to depart before the new law came into effect and now there is evidence that some politicians aren't willing to wait to cash out. Sen. Trent Lott, a long time member of Congress, announced his surprise retirement today declaring that he would resign by year's end. CNN reported:
A senior Republican source close to Lott said one reason for the decision is the new lobbying restrictions on former lawmakers.
A law kicks in on January 1 that forbids lawmakers from lobbying for two years after leaving office. Those who leave by the end of 2007 are covered by the previous law, which demands a wait of only one year.
Lott was a constant critic during the lobbying reform debate, particularly offended by the banning of most gifts, including meals, to lawmakers. He complained that members would be forced to eat at McDonald's if such a rule would be implemented. It's unfortunate that members of Congress need to leave public service to make big bucks in the influence game, but that seems to be the nature of things when you can make ten times as much money by spinning out the door to K Street.
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