We are excited to announce the exciting lineup of experts and advocates from across the political spectrum that will be speaking at "Kick-starting the 113th Congress," the next Advisory Committee on Transparency event. The sixteen speakers will each have 3 minutes to present their actionable ideas to make government more transparent. The lineup includes representatives of the Cato Institute, the Center for Effective Government, the Center for Responsive Politics, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the Data Transparency Coalition, GovTrack.us, Judicial Watch, the New America Foundation, OpenTheGovernment.org, Princeton University, Robinson & Yu LLP, the Sunlight Foundation, the Sunshine in Government Initiative, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. The event will be held on Monday, January 28th in room 2203 of the Rayburn House Office Building and start at 2:00 pm. Please RSVP to http://snlg.ht/ACTCongress Read more for a full list of speakers.
Continue readingDear Philanthropists: How about One Percent for Democracy?
Here’s something I just learned: The annual budget for political reform groups in the U.S. is a combined $45 million, which amounts to roughly .01 percent of the $300 billion in total charitable giving in 2011. It's also less than one quarter of the Chamber of Commerce’s $200 million annual budget. This funding disparity is a jumping off point for a new symposium over at Democracy: A Journal of Ideas entitled “Everyone’s Fight: The New Plan to Defeat Big Money.” Most significantly, the issue includes a powerful call-to-arms from Nick Penniman and Ian Simmons for the philanthropy community to contribute “One Percent for Democracy”
Continue readingInside spending: super PACs, dark money groups dominated by political insiders
By suppressing the speech of manifold corporations, both for-profit and nonprofit, the Government prevents their voices and viewpoints from reaching the public and advising voters on which persons or entities are hostile to their interests.
-- from the majority opinion in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
When the Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision in the Citizen United case three years ago this week, the majority's expressed intent was to allow corporations--both for-profits like Exxon-Mobil and nonprofits like the Sierra Club--to add their voices to the public debate. In practice, an analysis by Sunlight finds, it has created ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/23/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- 75% of the $306 million spent on state political campaigns in Florida last year went to political committees, which fewer disclosure requirements, instead of candidates. (The Miami Herald)
- In her State of the State address on January 16, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley cited the Palmetto state's low grades in State Integrity Investigation while calling for major reforms. (Global Integrity)
- Hadithi, a new platform for hosting open access academic content is scheduled to launch on January 24th. The platform is Kenya, but will aggregate articles from research institutions worldwide. (Global Voices)
- The White House is partnering with Random Hacks of Kindness, Code for America, Innovation Endeavors, and several Federal agencies to host a National Day of Civic Hacking. The day of hacking will take place on June 1-2 and there are currently events planned for 27 cities. (Tech President)
- Former Senator Ben Nelson became the latest recently retired lawmaker to settle into a new office on K Street with the announcement that he will join public affair firm Agenda as a senior adviser. (Politico)
- The US Chamber of Commerce spent more than $100 million on lobbying in 2012, allowing the group to maintain its throne as the highest spending interest group in Washington. (Roll Call)
Inaugural party surprise: VIP room off limits to congressional VIPs
Celebrities from John Leguizamo to Marlon Wayans were bused to Washington D.C.'s Shakespeare Theatre Monday night for a gala to celebrate with the second inauguration of President Barack Obama but in an odd reversal of their usual good fortune, members of Congress found themselves shut out of the Creative Coalition's VIP party-within-a-party.
Continue readingA Decidedly Different Obama on Transparency
On the first day of President Obama’s first term, he had a lot on his plate. The economy was in... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/22/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- A bipartisan group of lawmakers urged President Obama to enforce enhanced whistleblower protections that were included in the recent defense authorization bill. The President spoke critically of the provisions while signing the larger bill into law. (Federal Computer Week)
- The 2012-2013 flu season has reached epidemic levels in the US, leading public health and local government officials to embrace new technologies to spread information and help citizens connect to health care. (GovFresh)
- The Center for Technology in Government is looking at considerations that government's should take before releasing data to the public. A paper on the issue, The Dynamics of Opening Government Data, evaluates open data releases from New York City and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Government Technology)
- Now that Obama for America is being converted into a 501(c)4 advocacy group many questions are being raised about the future of the group and its ability to focus primarily on politics. 501(c)4's are not supposed to have electoral politics as their main focus, but can run "issue ads". (NPR)
- Government watchdogs have found much to be disappointed with after President Obama promised to lead the most transparent administration in history. His record on ethics, campaign finance, and transparency looks decidedly mixed. (Roll Call)
- While few observers expect sweeping changes in the way that the Obama administration handles K street in its second term, many expect it to become easier for lobbyists to obtain waivers to work in the White House. (Roll Call)
Majority of states prohibit access to gun records
(Updated 1/19 7:25 a.m.)
Following a New York newspaper's controversial decision to publish the names and address of local gun owners, state legislators are moving to make such information private, even as a Sunlight Foundation analysis shows that in a majority of states, the data are already off the public record.
Forty states plus the District of Columbia do not make data available about who owns a gun or has received a state permit to carry a gun, according to Sunlight's examination of state gun laws. There are ten states that do make data available ...
Continue readingHow the Parties Flip-Flopped on the Debt Ceiling
Because of some the work we’ve done before on last minute negotiations and divided government, Sunlight prepared the following graphic... View Article
Continue readingWhat is a City?
As we expand on our vision for local government transparency, we realize we need to start with defining what we mean by local. The general scope of the work we’re taking on is targeted at the idea of “municipal” government, something we’ve been referring to internally as city government, though we’ve quickly realized it’s not that simple. Municipal government takes many forms, and if we’re being accurate, we have to set our scope a bit wider. In the United States, a municipal government is a local government that has been authorized or incorporated according to state constitutions and statutes. Depending on the state, a municipality could be a city, town, or village, or even a borough or township. There are more than 19,000 incorporated places (e.g. municipalities), according to 2010 U.S. Census data, and they vary dramatically in size, shape, and structure.
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