Sunlight Foundation

I'd like to collect a list of blogshine activities. Email to me at zteachout at sunlightfoundation.com. If you're NOT doing anything, Sunshine Week starts March 11--it was started in 2002 as a series of "Sunshine Sundays" by Florida Editors who were opposed to rollbacks in Florida's sunshine laws. Those Sunshine Sundays stopped about 300 provisions from going forward. Newspapers around the country will be running pro-transparency editorials starting on Sunday, and when the blogosphere and the MSM have real synergy, magic can happen. To learn more about Sunshine Week generally, see the Sunshine Week homepage.

March 13 at 2-3 PM in the Zenger Room of the National Press Club, we are holding a panel discussion on "Sunshine in the First Branch: How Transparent is Congress?" Our goal is to celebrate Sunshine Week--a three-year old week where the press corps pushes government to be more transparent--and to make sure that Congressional transparency stays in the spotlight, along with Executive Branch transparency. But we also want to explore creative suggestions for opening up Congress -- the panel is a mix of investigative journalists whose life work is investigating congress and activists, each bringing their own ideas about what could-and ought-be more transparent in Congress.

This week, Sunlight joined Open the Government, a coalition of over 50 groups who are committed to citizen access to governmental information. Open the Government coalition partners include groups like OMB Watch and associations of reporters. We are also starting to plan our own contribution to Sunshine Week, a week in Mid-March dedicated to making Government transparent, and we'd welcome any ideas. We are currently thinking about a panel on congressional transparency and some cool online display of secrecy and openness, but we are, as always, curious to hear your input.

Although it seems that the ethics bill is dead and this afternoon's cloture vote this afternoon is all about message, one contact just informed us that the Democrats and Republicans are actually close to a deal. The vote is scheduled to take place between 3 and 6. If they do come to an agreement, the bill should be finished tomorrow. If it does go through, we are still hoping -- though it is a long shot -- that the managers will accept a combination of language that requires the Senate to come up with a way to get personal financial disclosure reports online. We hear that Senator Cardin will be working to get this in a manager's amendment.

There is a lot happening in the Senate today. By the end of the day, we will likely know where our efforts to get contemporaneous online filing of Senate reports stands. We have a new, part time lobbyist, Lisa Rosenberg, to push our short term agenda. In the context of the reform bill currently in the Senate, this means she is working to ensure that the following provisions are included:

• All earmarks are online prior to a vote with the names of the sponsors of the earmarks;
• All travel documents are online in a searchable and sortable format;and,
• Personal financial disclosure forms are online immediately after being filed.
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With all the drama in the Senate over earmark disclosure, one major question remains -- what will the Reid/DeMint compromise have to say about keeping the earmarks reports online? A major flaw in Pelosi's Rule requiring all earmarks to be identified by sponsor and purpose is that this information is not required to be online. Only staffers and a few overworked local DC reporters can even plausibly review the earmarks. While Reid's proffer was profoundly flawed in its failure to cover the majority of earmarks, it did, at least, require that earmarks and the identifying information be online prior to a vote.

Freshman Senator Jon Tester of Montana has committed to sharing his schedule, and even though his website isn't up yet, he is already sharing it in a public place in his office. Here it is -- exactly the kind of information the public wants to know. This is what real openness looks like:

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January 10th 7 AM Gym

8:15-9 AM Constituents Breakfasts with Senator Baucus's Office

9:45-11:45 Hearing: Energy Committee

If you email someone in Congress, and they don't write you back, does it still count as a contact? In an abundance of caution (and hope that my notes will be requited), here is my open lobbying report for the shortest day of the year: Contacted: Ron Weich, Senior Policy Expert, Reid's Office When: December 21 Where: Email About Bills: S Res 21, hoping for a revival of it About topics: Online filing of Congressional Reports Relations: I am not an ex-staffer, neice, mother, sister, or other relation to Ron Weich, or any other Member of Congress. However, Ellen saw him at a meeting Monday, and he sent me an encouraging one line email the day before yesterday. (Is it a contact when they contact you? I suppose so.)