by Carrie Tian, policy intern NEWS:
- Obama kicked off his Africa tour with a visit to Senegal, where an online transparency platform called Sunu2012 sprang up in time for the nation's 2012 elections and has continued to monitor the government since. (techPresident)
- The current state of disarray of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity gives a window into the collapse of the century-old coal lobby. (National Journal)
- Well before Edward Markey had officially secured his US Senate seat, Massachusetts politicians were eyeing the House seat he'd be vacating. State Sen. Kathleen Clark had started fundraising and filed her candidacy paperwork on Feb. 19, and Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian followed suit on May 22. (Roll Call)
- Just hours after the Supreme Court struck down DOMA, political analysts were speculating on the impact of gay marriage on the national budget. Tax revenue would increase thanks to the "marriage penalty" for two income earners, but payouts for Social Security would increase. Medicaid and Medicare spending would actually decrease, as spousal assets would reduce eligibility for the means-based programs. (National Journal)
- The immigration bill's E-Verify amendment may have sailed through the Senate Judiciary Committee, but it's having a tougher time in the House, where Democrats are concerned about the lack of safeguards for mislabeled employees. (POLITICO)
2Day in #OpenGov 6/26/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern
NEWS:
- Sen. Rob Portman's (R-Oh.) push for a separate vote on his E-Verify amendment on the immigration bill, which seeks to prevent worker identity fraud, highlights the number of negotiations the Gang of Eight has made privately in an effort to secure as many votes as possible in the Senate this week. (POLITICO)
- Meanwhile, small business lobbyists are also raising their concerns about provisions in the immigration bill. The National Federation of Independent Business's concerns center on the creation of a Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research, which would be funded by the fees it collected and thus have relative independence from Congressional oversight. (Washington Post)
- A group of Austrian students filed legal complaints to various European data protection agencies. The complains could evolve into the first legal case examining the release of non-American data to the US government under EU data protection laws. (Ars Technica) Continue reading
2Day in #OpenGov 6/25/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern
NEWS:
- The GSA is moving to "zero-based budgeting" : each division starts as if they had zero dollars and then must justify each budget request they make against the GSA's top level goals. CIO Casey Coleman hopes the policy will generate more consistent data, increase transparency, and reduce wasted effort and money. (FedScoop)
- On the morning of the Bay State's special election, a roundup of the two candidates' campaign finances: Markey leads 76-1 in energy money. Looking at funding overall is not quite as large of a blowout, though Markey has been working with millions more than Gomez. (POLITICO)
- A top aide from John Boehner's office is leaving to run the DC office of American Express. Brett Loper, Boehner's former deputy chief of staff, is the third high-ranking staff member to leave in recent months, fueling speculation that Boehner's time in Congress is drawing to a close. (The Hill)
- A slate of legislation up for consideration in Ohio's General Assembly would curtail transparency in the state. One bill would close meetings about misconduct by fiscal officers; another would allow public bodies to privately meet on economic development issues. (The Plain Dealer)
- Founders of the pro-Hillary super PACs hope that their early proliferation will discourage other candidates from entering the field, even before Clinton has announced her own candidacy. (Washington Post)
2Day in #OpenGov 6/24/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern
NEWS:
- Obama announced on Friday that he was nominating Lee Goodman and Ann Ravel to the FEC, signaling the end of an outspoken commissioner's tenure. Donald McGahn, who frequently opposed campaign finance reform and blocked rules to limit the sources and amount of money in federal campaigns, will step down upon Senate confirmation of Goodman. (National Journal)
- Meanwhile, the FCC is hobbled by ongoing vacancies and the lack of an appointed leader, even as it tries to sort out critical policy issues like expanding the wireless spectrum available for commercial use. The weeks-long holdup could last until the Senate Republicans issue their recommendation for a GOP candidate. (POLITICO)
- Comparing the 2012 FOIA report to previous years reveals that last year saw more requests denied due to privacy than any year since 2002. The number of FOIA requests, which had plummeted during Bush's 2nd term, is steadily increasing again. (Investigative Reporting Workshop)
- The Chamber of Commerce released an ad advocating for the immigration reform bill, featuring clips from Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Paul Ryan, though Paul announced on Sunday that he is planning to vote against the Senate bill. (Washington Post)
- Financial experts are keeping an eye on the Supreme Court in the midst of its busy final week, waiting to see how its DOMA ruling will affect the financial status of same-sex couples. One issue at stake is the disclosure of assets during campaigns, as Sean Eldridge's campaign highlighted last week. (POLITICO)
- With less than 100 days until the official launch of the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration seeks to integrate a constellation of federal and state agencies projects and ready them for public use starting October 1st. (Washington Post)
2Day in #OpenGov 6/21/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern NEWS: The libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute held its annual fundraising dinner with Rand Paul as... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 6/20/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern NEWS:
- The Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs may be neck and neck for the NBA championship, but in the political arena, it's a blowout. Spurs owner Peter Holt donated $500,000 during the 2012 election cycle, the vast majority going to Republicans. That's four times as much as Heat owner Mickey Arison, who split his money between the Dems and the GOP. (Public Integrity)
- Last year, Rhode Island's General Assembly overhauled their Access to Public Records Act to open up new records, but now state agencies are releasing less information than in years past. The trouble is because of the "balancing test", which asks that officials consider whether the information is a unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. Police clerks across the state are redacting information about incidents, even in arrest records, which have long been public. (Providence Journal)
- Lobbying coalitions are on the rise: these groups bring together competing companies to focus in on a specific issue, becoming a vital source of information for Congressional staff, before disbanding as soon as the legislation runs its course. (The Hill)
- Associated Press President Gary Pruitt blasted the DoJ's seizure of the AP's phone records, saying their long-standing sources have clammed up. The AP seeks DoJ acknowledgement of the right of the press to get advance notice in subpoenas of records, a federal shield law, and to formally institutionalize that no journalist will be prosecuted for doing his job. (POLITICO)
- A new spending-data directive from the OMB mirrors the DATA Act that Congress is considering. Like the DATA Act, the OMB's directive requires agencies to establish unique identification numbers for financial awards, though the directive is weak in that it doesn't track awards across agencies and doesn't apply to procurement. (FCW)
- The powerful potato lobby is pushing for an amendment to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The USDA originally ruled that monthly WIC stipends could not be used to purchase white potatoes. A spokesperson for the National Potato Council, which wants to reverse that ruling, claims it's not a matter of money, but rather of correcting public misperceptions about the potato's nutritive value. (NPR)
2Day in #OpenGov 6/19/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern
NEWS:
- Tom Wheeler, Obama's nominee to lead the Federal Communications Commission, cited his experience in leading lobbying groups of cable television and cell phone groups for shaping his opinions and preparing him for the job. (New York Times)
- The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board meets today to discuss NSA surveillance for the first time. The board's five appointees only recently received security clearances, and the group is virtually untested, maintaining a low profile for much of its eight years of existence.(Yahoo)
- Labor unions see the Snowden-induced scrutiny on contractors as a chance to fight proposals for increased federal contracting. At the height of the Bush administration, there were over 7 million federal contractors, with only a third as many executive branch employees. (POLITICO)
- Early filings for May show strong activity for PACs, with Democratic PAC ActBlue raising $5 million, on par with the DNC and NRCC, and other early filers such as American Crystal Sugar Company PAC and AT&T Inc. Federal PAC giving hundreds of thousands to members of Congress. (Roll Call)
- Texas became the first state to require a warrant for e-mail searches - the current federal law only stipulates that a warrant is necessary for recent emails the recipient has not yet opened. (Ars Technica)
2Day in #OpenGov 6/18/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern
NEWS:
- A California budget facing a vote on Friday would save millions - at the cost of crippling existing public record laws. The budget would remove the need for agencies to provide documents electronically and respond to records requests within 10 days. California would no longer need to reimburse its agencies for compliance with the laws, but right to know advocates worry about the impact on citizens and members of the media. (LA Times)
- How many times can a man retire? At least 3, according to Senator Cornyn (R-TX), who currently collects three separate pensions for his stints as district judge, Texas Supreme Court justice, and state attorney general. Fiscal watchdog groups blast this practice as "double-dipping." (National Journal)
- Czech PM Petr Necas resigned on Sunday, with the rest of his government to follow suit shortly. Necas stepped down after his chief of staff, Jana Nagyoya, was charged with bribery and ordering surveillance of people including Necas's wife. (techPresident)
- George Soros might be one of the nation's most prominent liberal donors, but his foundation donates to dozens of conservative organizations each year. Soros Fund Management promises to match all of its employees' charitable donations, resulting in the firm giving hundreds of thousands to religious organizations in 2012. (Public Integrity)
- In a shocker of the century, the government is inefficient ...but wait, we now have numbers measuring exactly how much inefficiency we're talking about. A new report by Project Management Institute show that the federal sector loses $148 million for every billion it spends. The private sector is better, though not by much, losing $135 million for every billion spent. (Fierce Government)
- Billionaire Ron Perelman has often brought political friends into companies he controls, including Nancy Reagan and Henry Kissinger. The latest through his revolving door is Diana Cantor, wife of Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, to the board of directors of Revlon. (National Journal)
2Day in #OpenGov 6/17/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern
NEWS:
- The Scripps Howard News Service team discovered online PDFs of complete applications for TerraCom, a provider of federally subsidized phone service, and downloaded tens of thousands of them using a web scraper. TerraCom is accusing the Scripps reporters of being hackers and violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act; Scripps argues that the information was publicly accessible online. (Columbia Journalism Review)
- NY investor Sean Eldridge is running for Congress - and his campaign reveals a wrinkle in current personal finance disclosure requirements. He's married to Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes, who's worth $450 million, but because DOMA prevents federal law from recognizing same-sex marriages, Eldridge's report left out mention of his husband's Facebook fortune. (Huffington Post)
- Debates about White House involvement aside, the IRS scandal shines light on the varying status of nonprofit organizations, depending on who you ask. While federal law doesn't allow 501(c)(4)s to be politically active, the IRS merely requires that they not be primarily political - and no one seems clear on what exactly constitutes "political activity." (POLITICO)
- NC currently provides judicial candidates with taxpayer money to run their campaigns, but the pioneering program may soon disappear thanks to Art Pope, a conservative mega-donor. The Republican-proposed budget initially cut the program, but Republican Representative Jonathan Jordan introduced an amendment to preserve a less-extensive version. However, when Jordan had a visit from Pope, one of his big donors, he quietly dropped the amendment. (Mother Jones)
- As the White House released its slate of new ambassadors, some of Obama's top donors head the list, including HBO executive James Costos to Spain; 2012 fundraising director Rufus Gifford to Denmark; and Capitol Group executive John Emerson to Germany. (Washington Post)
2Day in #OpenGov 6/14/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern
NEWS:
- Elizabeth Warren penned a letter yesterday about US negotiations with Pacific nations to forge a new trade agreement, urging them to release details to citizens about what the parties are considering for "more robust public transparency". (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)
- Though environmental groups don't have an easy time pushing reform in Congress, a strategy that's working for them is the so-called "sue and settle" method: they sue the like-minded EPA, which then settles by issuing regulations. While the tactic has been around for decades, critics see this as a sign of burgeoning executive power. (Government Executive)
- The personal finance reports of top federal officials were released to the public today. The majority of the Supreme Court Justices are millionaires, some with large stock holdings. (Public Integrity) The reports for the House are also available as of today. (Roll Call)
- In the continuing investigation of one DC firm's political contributions, former employee Lee Calhoun was charged yesterday for helping his boss, Jeffrey Thompson, hide the extent of his campaign contributions. Records show that 13 employees of the firm each wrote checks for $2,300 on the same day in 2011 - following allegations linking Thompson to a $630,000 mayoral shadow campaign and bribery of DC council members. (Washington Post)
- San Francisco recently appointed Marc Touitou its new CIO. Touitou enters with an ambitious agenda, including instituting an IT project management office and racing NYC to be the first to provide citywide wifi. (Government Technology)
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