Sunlight Foundation

Here is Wednesday's look at the week's transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:

Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post.

Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Celebrate the week's halfway point with Wednesday's  look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Revolving Door

• The Hill has a roundup of recent moves. Notably, Dutko Grayling has hired Joanne Zurcher, a former aid to Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), and Jeff Anders, who worked for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions before becoming a lobbyist for PhRMA. (The Hill)
• Tom Strickland, former chief of staff to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was intimately involved with the Deepwater Horizon spill, will join WilmerHale, a firm defending BP. Strickland claims that his work will not involve BP. (National Journal)

• Representatives John Conyers (D-MI) and Donna Edwards (D-MD) have proposed legislation that would effectively overturn the Citizens United decision. The measure would amend the constitution and permit Congress and the states to limit corporate political spending. (The Hill)
• Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has donated $5 million to her campaign. The donation comes after revelations that a former campaign treasurer to Feinstein and many other California Democrats had committed massive acts of fraud. (Politico)

Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here's Tuesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Open Government Partnership

• The global Open Government Partnership will launch today in New York. President Obama and 7 other heads of state will announce their action plans for promoting open government at the UN. Follow along with a liveblog. (O'Reilly Radar)
• Google is hosting The Power of Open: A Global Discussion at their New York offices as part of the launch. The event will be streamed live. (techPresident)
• The UK may tie future international aid funding to transparency measures. The plan, which British officials will present as part of their commitment to the Open Government Partnership, would withhold aid from countries that fail to detail how international funds are spent. (Yahoo/AP)

Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here's Monday's look at the week's transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Super Committee

• Over the past year "bundlers" have directed $1.6 million to members of the Super Committee and House and Senate campaign committees. Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash), co-chair of the committee, has received the most cash from these sources, but other members have also benefited. (Politico)

• Herman Cain has been touting a new economic plan, but refusing to disclose the names of those who helped him create it. (Washington Times)
• Rick Perry's surge in popularity has also brought increased attention to his,not-so-transparent record. The litany of issues is a stark contrast to the Perry campaign's stated commitment to transparency. (Politico)

Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Happy Friday!  Celebrate the end of another week by checking out today's transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Super Committee

• The Super Committee will hold its next public meeting on September 22. The hearing is slated to focus on tax policy. (Roll Call)

• The Office of Government Ethics has proposed a new regulation that would ban all government employees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. The rule as currently written only applies to political appointees. (The Hill)
• Former Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) has added two members to his team at the Motion Picture Association of America. Laura Nichols, previously a senior vice president of communications and strategies at the Center for American Progress, will serve as executive vice president of global communications. Lori McGrogan, formerly Dodd's Senate deputy chief of staff, will take a role as his senior adviser. (Roll Call)
• Facebook held a reception for members of Congress on Wednesday to promote their efforts to protect children online. The event was part of Facebook's effort to respond to congressional criticism that it is too easy for children under the age of 13 to log on. (National Journal)
• Following up on yesterday's story about LightSquared's efforts to lobby the White House, Republican lawmakers have called for an investigation into ties between the Obama Administration and the company. (National Journal)

Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here's Thursday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Super Committee

• Super Committee members met for breakfast this morning. The event marked the first closed door meeting held by the committee. (National Journal)
• House Ways and Means Committee Chair Dave Camp (R-MI) has joined John Kerry as the second member of the Super Committee to claim to mostly give up fundraising until the committee concludes its business. He has announced that he will not schedule any more fundraisers, but will not cancel those already on his calendar. (National Journal)

• Rick Perry's state office destroys all of its emails every 7 days. Transparency advocate John Washburn has put a temporary stop to this practice by devising a program that requests all emails produced by the Governor's office twice a week. Emails that have been requested have to be preserved. (National Journal)

• Foreign countries are spending less money to lobby the United States government. According to figures released by the Justice Department such spending was down nearly 6% in 2010. (Roll Call)
• Recently released emails reveal some of the efforts that wireless company LightSquared put in to lobby the White House for approval of a new national broadband network. The outreach sometimes conveniently coincided with large donations from company leaders. (iwatch news)
• There is a new lobbying reform proposal floating around. But, without a newsworthy scandal, it doesn't appear likely to garner much enthusiastic support in congress. (Politico)