Two new members of Congress, Reps. Rick Nolan, DFL-Minn., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., will introduce a resolution on Tuesday aimed at reducing corporate influence in politics through an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
According to Nolan, the amendment would establish that "corporations are not people, and money is not speech." In a press conference Monday, he announced the plan along with representatives from Move to Amend (MTA), a coalition that seeks to eliminate corporate personhood rights. The organization officially launched Jan. 21, 2010, the day that the Supreme Court handed down the Citizens United decision that opened the floodgates ...
Continue readingSenior status: Three members of Congress are older than the pope
The Catholic Church may be one of the few institutions on the planet where news of an employee's retirement at age 85 is considered "shocking."
The other is the U.S. Congress.
Pope Benedict's announcement today that he will be stepping down, ceding to the infirmities of old age, got us wondering how many members of Congress are older than the pontiff, who was born April 16, 1927.
Sunlight developer Eric Mill, using an API he recently produced, came up with a quick answer: Three ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 2/11/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Bangladesh is reportedly planning to take some advice from a visiting Congressional delegation that suggested hiring lobbyists to get better results in Washington. (Washington Post)
- In the wake of their 2012 election loss, Republicans are trying to learn some lessons to ensure that they put their technology and data to the best possible use in the future. (Tech President)
- This weekend's massive snow storm gave citizens in New York City a chance to try out some interesting civic technology. PlowNYC tracks salt and plowing operations throughout the city. (Tech President)
- The Tea Party has made the latest move in its budding war with Karl Rove. The Tea Party Patriots, one of the most prominent groups, launched a new super PAC to target "'big spending' politicians of both parties". (Politico)
- Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is planning new legislation to target bad-actor contractors. According to Issa, agencies are not adequately suspending and debarring contractors who are known for unethical and wasteful behavior.(Government Executive)
- The International Anti-Corruption Academy is offering a new Master's program in Anti-Corruption Studies. The degree is aimed at professionals working in corporate compliance, internal oversight, law enforcement, investigative journalism, and more. (Wall Street Journal)
Gun groups extend influence battle to state houses
DENVER -- A group of Democratic state legislators here had barely concluded their press conference unveiling a broad package of gun control bills when an outspoken opponent threatened to make them pay in the next election.
"I think the question for the Democrat caucus is, are you really ready to stake the 2014 elections on the gun issue?" Dudley Brown, executive director of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, said to Colorado Public Radio last week. Brown and the group, whose motto is "don't give an inch," have been the source of $23,800 to Colorado politicians since 1996, according to a ...
Continue readingTransparencyCamp 2013: Register Today!
Registration for TransparencyCamp 2013 is now open, and if you purchase your tickets between now and March 1, 2013, you can get in on our early bird special: $20 for regular admission and $15 for students. TransparencyCamp, lovingly referred to as TCamp, is a community event for those working or interested in open government, accountability, and transparency. This year’s Camp is co-hosted by the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs and will be held the weekend of May 4 - 5, 2013 at the University’s Marvin Center
Continue readingPolitwoops and Rep. David Schweikert
Some may not remember this now that most members of Congress are on Twitter, but it was once not permitted by Franking rules for our representatives to use Twitter. Sunlight successfully campaigned for those rules to be changed through our Open House Project and in 2008 with our campaign called "Let Our Congress Tweet."
Continue readingMore Ideas For Member Office Transparency
Last month Daniel Schuman shared five ideas that members of Congress can implement to make their offices more open and... View Article
Continue readingEmergency Committee for Israel keeps spending in fight against Hagel
(Updated Feb. 8, 5:52 p.m.)
The Emergency Committee for Israel has launched a new ad campaign to oppose former Sen. Chuck Hagel's nomination for secretary of defense, after the vote to confirm him was delayed in the Senate.
A decision by the Senate Armed Services Committee to postpone its vote on Hagel's nomination -- made because some committee members said they wanted more information about Hagel's speaking engagements -- gave the groups spending against him more time to place ads. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the committee, said he plans to hold the vote as soon ...
Continue readingOpenGov Voices: Building a Community of Data Professionals and Opening Government Data, One Meetup at a Time
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.
Sean Patrick Murphy and Harlan Harris wrote this post. Sean has served as a senior scientist at Johns Hopkins University for over a decade. When not doing research, he currently advises several startups and provides general data science and learning analytics consulting for EverFi. Follow him on Twitter (@SayHiToSean) or contact him at SayHiToSean@gmail.com
Harlan has a PhD in Computer Science (Machine Learning) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and post-doctoral work in Cognitive Psychology at several universities. He currently is Senior Data Scientist at Kaplan Test Prep, and co-organizes Data Science DC. Follow him on Twitter (@HarlanH).
Potential
The greater National Capital Region (i.e. the DC metro area), has always had a wealth of technical talent, waist deep in data, calling the region home. Whether launching satellites at Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt to decrypting messages at the NSA, this region is literally littered with three (or more) letter organizations -- NIH, JHU, DoD, DARPA, AOL, NIST, etc. -- working extensively with data.
Despite this intense concentration of professionals who share this common bond, these groups exist in isolated silos preventing the open dissemination of knowledge and best practices that would accelerate progress across industries. A rising tide of data-expertise would indeed raise all ships.
2Day in #OpenGov 2/8/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Lobbying revenues have been down for the past two years after a decade of steady growth. However, the changing nature of the influence industry has special interests relying more on public relations, grassroots organizing, mass media, and the internet. All told, influence spending up. (Washington Post)
- A group of anonymous donors in Germany are using a novel technique to promote their favored candidate. PeerBlog.de is funded by a shadowy group of businessmen and will produce content promoting the candidacy of Peer Steinbruck, a Social Democrat running to be chancellor. (Tech President)
- The State of the Union address is the Super Bowl of politics and many lobbyists work hard to get their products mentioned. Although, just like at the super bowl, a high profile commercial can back fire. Some lobbyists to advise their clients to try to avoid being mentioned in the speech in order to maintain support among the minority.(Roll Call)
- Karl Rove's new dark money group's goal is simple. The Conservative Victory Project is hoping to fend off unelectable candidates who thrive in conservative dominated primaries only to wither and die come general election time. One potential target, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is already using Rove's specter to raise money from his conservative base. (Politico, Politico)
- Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), who has been a vocal supporter of greater transparency in US Drone policy, pushed for more declassification in advance of the start of nomination hearings for John Brennan, who President Obama has tapped to be the next head of the CIA. (Politico)
- A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to make it easier for FCC commissioners to meet in secret. Currently, three or more commissioners cannot speak to each other in private, even if they are not taking any agency action. (The Hill)
- H.R. 539. The FCC Collaboration Act. To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to authorize a bipartisan majority of Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission to hold nonpublic collaborative discussions, and for other purposes.
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