Since resigning from Congress two years ago as a result of some seriously icky tweets, Anthony Weiner has cashed in... View Article
Continue readingNew Series: Legislatures and Legislating Access to Government-Held Information
In a series of upcoming blogposts, I'm going to examine government information ecosystems and make suggestions on how legislatures can do a better job gathering, sharing, combining, and disclosing information.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 5/2/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- USAID is releasing a number of new datasets as well as usaid.gov/developer which will host APIs and datasets. (Fedscoop)
- Lobbyists and corporate interests, including AT&T and Amway, have spent more than $7.5 million supporting the Bush presidential library and other George W. Bush initiatives since the former president left office. (The Hill)
- Ed Markey won the primary to occupy the Democratic line in the upcoming Massachusetts special election to replace John Kerry in the Senate. He had some unwanted outside help from billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, who spent big to attack his main competition's support of the Keystone XL pipeline. (Washington Post)
- Despite overwhelming public support for a least a little new gun regulation, the NRA and it's money still hold enough power in Washington to effectively block action. (Public Integrity)
- FWD.us, Mark Zuckerberg's foray into politics, has yet to disclose how much money it has raised or where it's funds have come from. FWD.us is registered as a 501(c)(4) and might never have to divulge it's donors, although many big names have publicly backed the group. (K Street Cafe)
- San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is keeping his foot on the technology and open government pedal. In addition to naming a new CIO, Lee signed open legislation that codifies the duties assigned to the city's future Chief Data Officer and updates San Francisco's existing open data law. (Government Technology)
- Opinion: Rich Americans and corporate interests are able to exert outsized control on the political process. New legislation could help fix this problem by amplifying the power of small political donations. (POLITICO)
Open procuring – how do other countries perform?
Parallel to our attempt to dig deeper into procurement transparency in the US, Sunlight started another big journey to map... View Article
Continue readingEvaluating Municipal Lobbying Data: Chicago
“Consistent” is not the first word one would use to describe the landscape of lobbying data released by municipalities. As revealed by our research, the formats and range of information local governments collect and disclose about lobbying activity varies quite a bit from one community context to another. After exploring the best practices for collecting and releasing this information, we created and recently published a Municipal Lobbying Data Guidebook. This guide addresses not only what kinds of information should be included in an ideal lobbying dataset, but also information about how that data should be collected and shared, regulated, and examples of the impact of having this information made available in an open way. (Something we’ll continue to explore in future posts.)
So how do municipalities measure up to these standards? We took a close look at three cities -- Austin, Chicago, and Philadelphia -- to explore what they’re doing well and where their lobbying disclosure can improve.
Last week we covered Austin. Now we turn to Chicago.
I. What data is available
Chicago has two hubs for its information related to lobbying: One is on the Board of Ethics website, and the other is in its data portal, though you can also find these records in the reports section of the Electronic Lobbyist Filing System, which links to a search function and back to the data portal. As we noted when we surveyed the landscape of municipal lobbying data, Chicago appears to release some of the most detailed lobbyist data among U.S. cities. The city's data portal contains information about registered lobbyists, activity, compensation, gifts, expenditures, and termination. Many cities don't collect this much detailed information, let alone post it online.
This data includes many of the form fields mentioned in our Guidebook and some further levels of detail. Registration and termination forms for 2013 include lobbyist names, addresses, and contact information; the filing date and termination date, if relevant; and client information including their address, contact information and industry.
Activity reports include the name of the agency contacted by the lobbyist along with the client being represented and the topic of the action requested. The reports also show how many administrative or legislative actions were requested.
Continue readingWhy asset disclosures matter for politicians
It’s now been two weeks since the Congress quietly gutted the STOCK Act by severely limiting the legislation’s reach, exempting... View Article
Continue readingGuess who’s coming to TCamp13: countdown to TCamp edition
“Guess Who’s Coming to TCamp” is a mini-series we started last year to introduce some of the faces you'll see at TransparencyCamp. We're now in the homestretch before TCamp 2013, and are highlighting some more international guests and TransparencyCamp scholars joining us in Washington, DC on May 4 and 5.
For the last two years, we invited a number of advocates, journalists, policy makers, developers and others from all over the world to join us for TCamp and a series of informal meetings in the days before TransparencyCamp. This year, we opened up the process for participants outside the U.S. and invited people to join us through an online application process. We had an overwhelming response to the program with over 400 applicants. Thanks to our generous funders, we will welcome 23 people from a wide range of countries. Here`s our map:
Last week we brought you Oluseun Onigbinde from Nigeria, Juha Yrjola from Finland and Pamela Mutale Kapekele from Zambia. Today we'll learn a little bit about Fabrizio Alfredo Scrollini Mendez from the UK (via South America), Amira Khalil from Egypt, Bibhusan Bista from Nepal, Thejesh Gangaiah Nagarathna from India, and Vadym Hudyma from Ukraine.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 5/1/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- YouTube is now doing its part to help members of Congress provide live access to their constituents. Thanks to a deal struck between YouTube and the House and Senate Administration committees, lawmakers can now host live-streamed events for free. We wait with baited breath to see if this will bring the bar low enough to convince the House Appropriations Committee to join in the fun. (The Hill)
- Bill Gates is teaming up with the Nation's top farmer and leading tech geek to promote both open data and food security. The Microsoft billionaire joined Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Chief Technology Officer Todd Park to introduce a new database that helps farmers, ranchers, scientists, and policymakers access public information. The leaders hope that promoting open data will help improve global nutrition and food security. (Washington Post)
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington spent less than $5,000 on lobbying in the first quarter, and filed a "termination report." While they don't intend to stop lobbying, this may be an indication that they are scaling back their work or have decided their activities no longer meet the requirements for reporting. (Roll Call)
- The head of one of Washington's most prominent technology trade groups is stepping down. Rey Ramsey is leaving as CEO of TechNet, which represents companies like Google,. Facebook, and Yahoo, after three plus years at the helm. (The Hill)
- National Journal did the tough job of roundup three depressing stories that came out yesterday. First, the Washington Post tackled President Obama's lack of any real interest in campaign finance reform; then news broke that, after leaving office in disgrace, former Congressman and noted sexter Anthony Weiner is making big bucks in the private sector; finally, the FBI is investigating the cozy, and possibly illegal, relationship between Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and a wealthy donor. (National Journal)
- San Francisco named its new Chief Information Officer last week. Marc Touitou will also serve as the Director of San Fran's Department of Technology. Touitou has a 30 year history in IT in the private sector including long stints with two European companies. (Government Technology)
- Despite opposition that has so far proven weak, at best, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is taking to the airwaves this week with more than $1 million worth of ads. The buy is in the expensive New York and Philadelphia markets. (POLITICO)
There he goes again: Larry Flynt backs Mark Sanford
If Mark Sanford accepts the endorsement of Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and the $2,600 that goes along with it, the South Carolina Republican congressional hopeful will be joining a list of well-known Democrats and breaking a long streak for the pornographer-turned-political activist.
Continue readingNew appointees are long overdue but is the FEC broken?
Is the Federal Election Commission broken? That's the question a watchdog group asked a panel of experts on the day that the last of the current commissioners' terms expired, leaving the agency that oversees campaign finance law with one vacancy and five holdovers. Campaign finance reformers used the occasion to call on President Barack Obama to appoint new commissioners, something the president hasn't bothered to do since the Senate refused to act on his last nominee.
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