Sunlight has long been an advocate for not only improved transparency of government institutions but also for thoughtful transparency measures that have open data standards in mind. Today we submitted a letter to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) supporting a proposed rule change that would give voters more information about who is trying to influence bond ballot issues. The Board is working toward improved disclosure of ballot campaign contributions by those with certain connections to municipal bonds. We applaud this step toward greater transparency on an issue that deeply impacts local governments and their constituents. Voters have a clear interest in understanding the context of the bonds approved for their communities. Investigative journalists have already used these kinds of disclosures to write stories like this one from Voice of San Diego, which exposed the trend of those who contributed to school bond campaigns receiving the contracts they spent money influencing. The improved disclosures MSRB is mandating will be available through the Electronic Municipal Market Access (EMMA) system, which is the free public platform for searching municipal bond information maintained by MSRB. Our comments also suggest the Board consider two more steps it could take toward 21st century disclosure.
Continue readingTV stations ignore ad disclosure requirements
A decade after a landmark campaign finance reform law mandated that TV stations collect the names of board members or executive officers of groups running political ads for federal candidates or any "national legislative issue of public importance," records show broadcasters often ignore the rules.
Continue readingRecap: Open Data Day Boston
This post was written by Shauna Gordon-McKeon co-organizer of the Open Government Boston group. On February 23, Sunlight Boston together... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 3/5/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative includes major oil companies as well as watchdogs and NGOs that work together to increase transparency. But, several of those oil companies are now working to weaken reporting rules in the US. (POGO)
- While doubt has been shed on the prostitution accusations leveled against New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez (D), new reports continue to emerge about other questionable actions. The latest suggests that he introduced legislation that may have helped his biggest donor Salomon Melgen. (Politico)
- Russia is moving forward with a trial against an anti-corruption lawyer and whistleblower who died while in custody. Sergei Magnitsky was arrested shortly after accusing state officials of stealing $230 million. His death and continued prosecution has strained relations between Russia and the US. (Reuters/Yahoo)
- Today in cognitive dissonance, Republican super PAC American Crossroads released a fake infomercial criticizing Organizing for Action for potentially selling "acce$$" to the President... (Washington Post)
- ...meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney continued to raise more questions about Organizing for Action while trying to answer questions about Organizing for Action, saying that "any notion that there is a set price for a meeting with the President...is just wrong." Does that mean the price is negotiable? (Politico)
- As US Airways continues their merger proceedings with American Airlines they're beefing up their already significant lobbying operation. They hired two new firms, the Gibson Group and Chesapeake Enterprises, in February. (Public Integrity)
- Yael Weinman, currently an attorney adviser to FTC Commissioner Julie Brill, is leaving her post for a job as vice president of global privacy policy at the Information Technology Industry Council, a major tech lobbying firm. (The Hill)
- Last month 21 programmers and tech experts along with 7 White House developers held the first White House Open Data Day Hackathon. They focused on building tools using the new We The People API and emerged with a number of tools to expand the sites functionality. (The White House Blog)
Is the GPO a Digital Printer or a Digital Publisher?
The tension between the Government Printing Office's traditional role as a printing operation and its future as a publisher of digital government information was apparent at a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee's Legislative Branch Subcommittee last week. In her testimony, acting Public Printer Davita Vance-Cooks stressed the GPO's efforts to transition to the digital age and acknowledged that the agency's role has evolved to that of a publishing operation. Unfortunately, the GPO has often failed to take steps that would allow it to fully embrace that role and ensure its future as an essential source of information.
Continue readingOpen Data Day DC, 2013
A couple Saturdays ago, I helped Josh Tauberer, Kat Townsend, Dmitri Kachaev, Sam Lee, and Julia Bezgacheva organize a hackathon... View Article
Continue readingBreaking the Law, by Reading It
The United States continues to keep some of its most important laws behind a paywall. Many of the US’ public... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 3/4/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- A new watchdog has emerged in Thailand to fight corruption. The business led Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand is trying to institute an 'integrity pact' based on a Transparency International tool. (Trust Law)
- A new report from the New York City Public Advocate and the Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending suggests that states and local governments should take the lead in regulating dark money groups. (Public Integrity)
- Months after the Democratic National Convention it's now official: The Democrats failed to live up to their promise to not take any direct corporate donations after Duke Energy, who provided a $10 million line of credit for the event, announced that they would not be paid back. (Washington Post)
- The Obama Campaign released the names of its top bundlers from the 4th quarter of 2012 over the weekend. High profile names include Will Smitt and Jada Pinkett-Smith. (Politico)
- The might defense lobby appears to have fallen after failing to head off $500 billion in cuts to the Pentagon budget wrapped up in the sequester. Observers blame infighting among defense contractors, the earmark ban, and a loss of traditional allies on the Hill. (Roll Call)
- Patton Boggs, the biggest K street practice, laid of more than 20 people in its Washington office and 65 overall, reportedly saving the firm $14 million. The firm has seen its lobbying revenues fall in the past two years.(Roll Call)
- Japan is planning to launch a national open data portal similar to data.gov. They don't have a timeline for launch and are currently dealing with data standardization and legal issues. (Future Gov)
Ideas to Bring Influence Out of the Shadows
This week has been filled with news about the influence industry. From high profile staffers moving through the revolving door, to Supreme Court consideration of another attempt to deregulate campaign finance, to outrage over the new Obama affiliated group, political influence is pervasive. Luckily, there are always groups thinking about ways to shed light on this influence. At a recent Advisory Committee on Transparency event three groups presented ideas to shed light on lobbyists and nonprofit groups that attempt to influence the political process.
Continue readingOpenGov Voices: Book preview: The Foundation for an Open Source City
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Sunlight Foundation or any employee thereof. Sunlight Foundation is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information within the guest blog.
Jason Hibbets is the project manager at Red Hat and lead administrator for opensource.com. He has been applying open
source principles in neighborhood organizations in Raleigh, NC for several years, highlighting the importance of transparency, collaboration, and community building. Follow the rest of his thoughts at @jhibbets.
My latest writing project has been quite challenging. At the beginning of 2013, I wrapped up the first draft of a book I’m writing about the open government movement in Raleigh, North Carolina. The City of Raleigh has made a lot of progress over the last two years, which is part of the inspiration for collecting Raleigh’s story. The movement towards a more open and transparent government started to accelerate after the city council unanimously passed an open government policy.
Raleigh is on the verge of defining their open data policy and a draft of their open data standards is currently posted on Open Raleigh. From my conversations with Jason Hare, the Open Data Program Manager for the City of Raleigh, the city is about to strategically release a bunch of open data. All this is in preparation for an upcoming Triangle Datapalooza, a region-wide event rumored for later this spring that aims to excite the entrepreneurial community about open data and discover new opportunities.
This is all very exciting for civic geeks and hackers in the Triangle area. I’m excited because I saw an opportunity to collect Raleigh’s open government and open data story. I’m in the final stages of finishing the book. The first round of editing is complete and my editors and I are finalizing the latest changes. I plan to self-publish the book (paperback and eBook), and I’m considering starting an IndieGoGo campaign to help crowdfund the initial round of publishing. I am also crowdsourcing ideas for the book cover on my personal blog.
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