Sunlight Foundation

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• A bill being floated in the Kentucky Senate would prohibit lobbying during legislative sessions. If passed, lobbyists would face a $500 fine for each violation.(Lobby Comply)
• Photographer Misha Friedman was approached by the Institute of Modern Russia, a pro-democracy group, to shoot a series exploring corruption in Russia. The resulting photographs highlight the countries history, institutions, and ground-level realities. (Huffington Post)
• This week the Supreme Court heard arguments in McBurney v. Young, a case questioning whether states should be made to provide equal treatment to citizens and companies from other states with respect to public records laws. (Politico)
• Microsoft is looking to Washington for strategy, and personnel, in its battle against rival Google. They recently signed up Jonathan Collegio, who worked for conservative group American Crossroads during the last election. Indications are that he has been working to plant stories that are critical of Google. They also hired Mark Penn, a former Hillary Clinton strategist, to lead a $90 million negative ad attack against the company. (Politico $)
• Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the front-runner to replace John Kerry in the Senate, expressed his support for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision this week. (Washington Post)
• Los Angeles is one of the last major American cities to have its own mobile app, announced earlier this month, but city leaders are confident that it will be one of the best around. The release of the app will coincide with a major overhaul to LA's website. (Government Technology)
• Opinion: The revolving door between banks and the government agencies and legislators tasked with regulating and overseeing them is as strong as ever. Recent staff changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and on the staff of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid illustrate the trend. (New York Times)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• David Axelrod, former Obama chief campaign strategist and current NBC News talking head, went on a twitter rant against money in politics that implied he would support unlimited, disclosed donations to candidates if it meant the end of super PACs and other outside groups. (Politico)
• It seems that Newt Gingrich has joined the Tea Party's war against Karl Rove and other pragmatic Republicans. Gingrich attacked the idea of using super PACs and other unlimited spending groups to promote more moderate, electable candidates saying "we don't want to become a party in which a handful of...bosses gather up money from billionaires in order to destroy the candidates which they don't like." (Washington Post)
• As the Supreme Court prepares to consider another case that could continue to erode limits on campaign giving, National Journal explores the possible implications of a decision in favor of the RNC and donor Shaun McCutcheon.(National Journal)
• The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have dropped a probe into allegations that Minessota-based 3M violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company had disclosed, and investigated, possible violations at a subsidiary in Tureky. (Wall Street Journal)
• Oakland, CA is doing its best to out due its neighbor San Francisco in the open government arena, even if San Fran does have better PR. Oakland has a growing and robust open government community and is getting buy in from the local government. (Govfresh)
• The race to replace disgraced Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who plead guilty to campaign finance violations, has attracted almost $3 million in outside spending, most of it from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super PAC. (Public Integrity)