NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Tech industry learns Washington: The technology industry is likely to be a major lobbying force in Washington, DC, this year as several lingering disputes over security and privacy could come back up for debate in Congress. (New York Times)
- Most expensive races of 2012: There are different ways to calculate the costs of the races from 2012, but a few competitions stand out for how expensive they were. One race topped more than $85 million in total outside and candidate spending. (Roll Call)
- Bipartisan campaign finance disclosure: Two Senators have proposed bipartisan legislation similar to the Disclose Act that would require outside groups spending money on campaigns to make their funding public. (Roll Call)
- Municipal innovation in 2012: Many cities and towns took strides forward with technology in 2012, enhancing their connections with citizens in different ways. Code for America highlights some of the advances. (Code for America)
- Top tech and politics events of 2012: TechPresident has a list of some of the top technology and political moments of 2012. (TechPresident)
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The Fiscal Cliff Process was an Atrocious, Secretive Mess
As we expected, the culmination of the “fiscal cliff” negotiations was a rush to the finish line, in which policies... View Article
Continue readingHouse Rules for the 113th Congress: What’s New?
The House Rules Committee released a resolution earlier today that contains proposed rules for the House of Representatives for the 113th Congress. It also released a summary of the proposed changes. These standing rules govern most facets of how the House operates, and the House Republican Conference will meet on January 2nd to consider the proposal. (In addition to considering the rules for the House, we expect that the Republican Conference will adopt and then make its own rules available online for the 113th Congress.) In December, the Sunlight Foundation released recommendations on how the House should update its rules to be more transparent. We are pleased to note that the resolution would expand the House's anti-nepotism rule to include grandchildren and reauthorizes the Office of Congressional Ethics. We are still studying the other changes. We had hoped that the House would adopt a chamber-wide presumption in favor of public access to information as well as create a public index of the information it holds, but that doesn't seem likely at this time. When you add together the changes the House made at the start of the 112th Congress (which we redlined here and made recommendations regarding here), the 3 transparency conferences it held during the 112th (including a hackathon), the release of the transparency portal docs.house.gov, rules for publishing documents online, and much more, it's clear that the House in a number of respects has become a more transparent institution over the last two years. We hope that the leadership's enthusiasm for openness does not wane, which can become a concern the longer a party stays in power.
Continue readingWhich candidates spent the most per voter in 2012?
As we look back on the 2012 election as the most expensive in history, we will see that there were some very, very expensive races. Overall, there were 40 House and Senate races in which at least $20 was spent per eligible voter, and two races (the North Dakota and the Montana Senate races), where at least $50 was spent per eligible voter. The cocktail party tidbits are that in the Montana Senate race, campaigns and outside groups combined spent $64.41 per eligible voter; In the North Dakota Senate race, $56.17 per eligible voter. In the House, the most expensive district was FL-18, home to the controversial and losing Allen West (R). That district received $58.96 per eligible voter.
Continue readingIncoming FEC chair’s wish list for 2013
With the end of the year, the six federal election commissioners are preparing to play their annual game of musical chairs. That means a new chair of the commission for 2013. She has lots she wants to accomplish.
Continue readingFEC says yes to texting, no to Yamaha
At its last meeting of the year Thursday, the Federal Election Commission approved a new way to charge donors who want to give to political committees via text message. But it did not approve a proposed novel way for companies to bulk up their political action committees' receipts -- by soliciting independent dealers that sell their products.
The FEC gave the green light to an electronic payment processing company to process payments from political donors via text message. The company, Global Transaction Services Group, would charge the mobile customer's credit card. The FEC approved a slightly different form of charging ...
Continue readingInfluence profile: NRA spokesman Asa Hutchinson
Asa Hutchinson, the former Republican congressman who will be the face of the National Rifle Association's response to last week's schoolhouse massacre, received more than $30,000 in contributions from the gun lobby during more than a decade of running for state and federal office, data downloaded from Sunlight's Influence Explorer shows.
The largest single donation, $4,950, came in February, 1997, just after Hutchinson entered the House. He served three terms before resigning in 2001 to become director of the Drug Enforcement Agency under then-President George W. Bush. Later, Hutchinson became a top-ranking official in the ...
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 12/21/2012
Please note: Sunlight's offices will be closed next week and this roundup will be taking a brief hiatus. Happy holidays and see you in the 2013! NEWS ROUNDUP:
- American Community Survey goes online: The Census Bureau is hoping to improve its data collection while saving money by making the American Community Survey, one of its most important surveys, available online for respondents.(Federal Computer Week)
- From the jail house to the House of Representatives: Kandia Milton, a former aid to disgraced Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, jumped from the jail house to a job in the House with Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI). Milton served a year in jail for his role in a bribery scheme while working for Kilpatrick. (Washington Post)
- Opinion- Reform the House Ethics Process: The Office of Congressional Ethics should change its rules to allow more due process rights to subjects of its investigations. Members and staff who are subject to review are left in the dark for too long, hampering their ability to refute charges against them. (Politico)
- Mayors implement innovative policy: Mayors around the country are implementing innovative new policies in areas from digital government to education and public safety. (GovTech)
- Inside the battle for international internet governance: The UN based battle for international control of the internet had an important skirmish earlier this month at the World Conference on International Telecommunications, where the US and many other countries refused to sign an agreement that was put forth. (Ars Technica)
- Fighting for reform in Europe: The ongoing financial crisis in Europe has brought corruption and lack of transparency to the forefront of debate. NGOs and citizens are fighting for reform, but their is often a lack of political interest.(Global Voices)
Groups ask feds to investigate mystery corporate campaign donations
Election watchdog groups are asking the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission to investigate a mysterious series of large campaign donation first reported by Sunlight.
Continue readingToward Better Access to Regulations
Every day in Washington, DC, thousands of government officials are at work writing, revising, and publishing regulations affecting everything from... View Article
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