Environmental groups have inundated federal officials with comments about proposed fracking regulations but they say industry is still getting its way.
Continue readingStates Not Waiting for Congress to Act on Disclosure of Dark Money
This week, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman adopted bold new disclosure rules to shine a light on dark money spent on elections in New York. Effective immediately, groups that spend $10,000 or more on state and local electioneering will have to publicly disclose their contributions and expenditures on the New York Open Government website. Nonprofits registered with the state will also be required to report the percentage of their expenditures that go to federal, state and local electioneering. Last week in California, the Senate passed a version of the DISCLOSE Act. If enacted, the bill would require disclosure of donors to outside groups that run political ads. And in Montana, Republican lawmakers this week unveiled a proposal for a ballot measure that would require any entities that spend money to influence campaigns in the state to make public information about their financial supporters. Unlimited secret money has been fueling our elections to an ever-greater extent since 2010, when the Supreme Court decided in the Citizens United case that corporate money could be used to influence elections so long the spending is “independent” of candidates’ campaigns. The Court relied on the mistaken assumption that in the Internet era, such spending would be transparent, noting, “prompt disclosure of expenditures can provide shareholders and citizens with the information needed to hold corporations and elected officials accountable for their positions.” What the Court failed to take into account was Congress’ inability to pass laws that would ensure the public had the spending information needed to hold “corporations and elected officials accountable.” Instead, at least $300 million in dark money was spent during the 2012 election cycle, while Congress continues to sputter along in its effort to create a disclosure regime.
Continue readingVerizon lobbyists host fundraisers for Intelligence Committee members
Lobbyists for Verizon Communications, which is refusing comment on a now-confirmed report that the telecommunications giant turned millions of its customers' records over to the National Security Agency, have thrown fundraisers for members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, records compiled by the Sunlight Foundation show.
According to the Political Party Time database, which tracks candidate fundraising events, lobbyists for Verizon Communications have hosted at least five fundraising events for Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. Louis Dupart, of the lobbying firm The Normandy Group, hosted at least three events, two for Mikulski and one for Collins, while Wayne Berman hosted two more for Collins, including a birthday reception in 2010. Both senators voted in 2008 in favor of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which shielded telecom companies, including Verizon, from lawsuits related to an earlier wiretapping controversy.
Lobbyists for Verizon have also hosted a fundraiser for Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., an ex officio member of the Senate committee, and Rep. Thomas Rooney, R-Fla., a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Continue readingThe Senate is trying to trim its budget. They can boost transparency at the same time.
380,251.
That is the number of pages contained in more than 5,000 campaign reports that the Secretary of the Senate's Office of Public Records scanned, processed, and sent to the FEC last year. That number emerged during testimony given by Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson to justify her budget request before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Legislative Branch Subcommittee this morning.
Despite their frugal rhetoric, most Senators have refused to move past their costly, inefficient paper-based campaign finance filing system. As they try to find ways to trim budgets, they should eliminate the expensive, anachronistic, and opaque practice of filing their campaign finance reports on paper rather than electronically, as presidential and House candidates along with Political Action Committees have been doing for years.
The Open Data Census Needs Your Help
An increasing number of governments have now committed to open up data but how much data is actually being released? What kind of data is this and in what format? Which countries, regions and cities are the most advanced and which are lagging in relation to open data?
The Open Data Census has been developed by the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) to assist in answering these questions and assess the state of open data around the world. It collects and presents information on the evolution and current state of open data around the world. The Census is a community-based effort initiated and coordinated by the OKFN but with participation from many different groups or individuals. The Census was launched in April 2012 to coincide with the OGP meeting in Brasilia.
We want to help our friends at OKFN improve the coverage of the Open Data Census (http://census.okfn.org/) and verify existing contributions to ensure information is still up to date and reliable. We need your help in doing this!
Continue readingBefore closing up shop, Lautenberg campaign committee has a debt to pay
New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died Monday at age 89, leaves behind many accomplishments, from laws fighting drunk driving to preventing people convicted of domestic violence from obtaining guns.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 6/6/2013
by Carrie Tian, policy intern NEWS:
- A top secret court order showed that the NSA ordered Verizon to turn over all call records for a three month period and forbade it from revealing the order. Because the records only contain metadata, such as length of call, location data, and the numbers of both parties, no individual warrants are required for accessing that information. (Guardian) A senior White House official stated that the information obtained is "a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats". (Washington Post)
- As conservative groups testified before the House about unwarranted scrutiny by the IRS, many of their own websites include explicitly partisan events and information. The crux of the debate is interpreting the IRS's stipulation that political activity cannot be a 501(c)(4) organization's "primary" activity. (POLITICO)
- The Connecticut state legislature approved a bill restricting access to information about homicide victims after the Newtown shootings highlighted the need for clarification. While records like 911 calls have been available under FOIA, the bill blocks the release of photos, videos, and portions of the calls that "describe the condition of the victim". (Hartford Courant)
- A panel on gun research convened by President Obama has issued its recommendations. Among them is the need for a count of total guns in the nation, though this could stray dangerously close to becoming a national gun registry, which is banned by federal law. (New York Times)
- In response to a petition under the federal Data Quality Act, the CDC and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will revise their information about helmets, removing current claims that helmets prevent 85% of head injuries. Though that figure was obtained in an early study, subsequent studies saw only weaker connections. (Center for Regulatory Effectiveness)
Building a Digital Unconference
With the dust finally settling from TransparencyCamp, it's a good time to talk about some of the work we did this time around to prepare for one of our favorite weekends of the year. TCamp '13 was a year of firsts for us: our first 500+ crowd, first time running the event with a mostly volunteer staff, and our first time trying to run nearly everything digitally and online. In this post I'll run through the what/why/how of that last point, and touch on some lessons learned. It's gonna be long and Django-centric, so grab your pink pony mug and cozy up with a cup of coffee.
Continue readingThe Impact of Opening Up Zoning Data
The content, format, and quality of the zoning information municipalities share varies widely. Posting this information online empowers policymakers to better understand the impact of their decisions and allows people to provide accountability on the process. Access to this information can also help people understand what they are or are not allowed to do -- but zoning data, even in an open format, is not always easy to understand. Thankfully, having this data publicly available has also enabled applications and news stories that contextualize the information and show people just how zoning regulations and processes can impact them.
Take a look, for example, at Second City Zoning created by the folks at Open City Apps in Chicago, Illinois. This app breaks down complex zoning regulations into categories that would make sense to someone who's not at all familiar with Chicago's specific codes. Users can look at the city's zoning by type (residential, commercial, or industrial) and by special purpose districts, such as planned development, transportation, parks, and open space. Hovering a computer mouse over any of these categories also reveals a short pop-up explanation of what that category means. Clicking on the interactive map allows users to see what exists on a certain section of land, ranging from parks and playgrounds to shopping centers and tall buildings. Visualizing zoning data in this way enables people to easily see what zoning regulations mean in practice, and it allows them to research how different zoning might lead to a changed landscape. Second City Zoning's About section also has explanations related to the zoning processes and regulations, further empowering users to understand just what this complex dataset can mean in practice.
Continue readingAs Middle East boils, Jordan press crackdown may be strategically ignored
With much of the Middle East a cauldron, seemingly stable allies in the region can get free passes from Washington. Consider longtime U.S. ally Jordan.
The Hashemite Kingdom blocked access to perhaps as many as 300 "unregistered" media websites without any public comment from Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who has more pressing human rights issues: trying to prevent a "complete and total Syrian implosion."
To that end, the U.S. is weighing an extended stay for Patriot missile batteries and F-16 combat aircraft currently in Jordan for military exercises.
And that's not the only American assistance that the government of King Abdullah II is anticipating: there is a total $670 million in U.S. aid promised to Jordan this year, according to foreignassistance.gov. The greatest share, $310 million, goes to “peace and security” programs, most of which go to counter-terrorism efforts.
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