It looks increasingly likely that the supercommittee is going to fail to recommend a deficit reduction package to Congress. As it... View Article
Continue readingJustice Department’s New FOIA Regulations: Still Worse than Reported
Since the last time we wrote about the DOJ’s newly proposed FOIA regulations, as part of signing on to EPIC’s... View Article
Continue readingReporter’s Notebook: Understanding the automatic cuts if the supercommittee can’t deliver
With the supercommittee's deadline only five days away, the special deficit-cutting panel's chances of reaching a deal appear to be in doubt. And if no agreement is reached, more than one trillion dollars in cuts would be set in motion starting in 2013. That is, if the Congress and president allow the automatic trigger to take effect.
All of this is predicated on budget forecasting, a notoriously inaccurate art. As the CBO pointed out in a September report, an analysis based on projected baseline budgets and economic projections are “subject to a considerable degree of uncertainty.” Indeed, we ...
Continue readingSunlight Weekly Roundup: “anytime you have an entity that receives state dollars, there should be transparency”
Following the Penn State child sexual abuse scandal, lawmakers want to strip state-related institutions’ exemption from Pennsylvania’s right-to-know law. State... View Article
Continue readingWhipCast – Promotion Isn’t Transparency
On Tuesday, the House Majority Whip's office released a "WhipCast" app through the iOS, Android, and Blackberry app stores.
It contains updates from the House floor, and various documents and publications from the Whip's office. It's being billed by the House Republican leadership team as "a step towards fulfilling the House Republican's commitment to transparency and accessibility". Unfortunately, there's nothing transparent or accessible about the app. Most of the information available through the app is extremely partisan, and serves to push House leadership's talking points.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 11/18/2011
Here is the week's last look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government
- Henry Waxman (D-CA), ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, introduced an amendment to an FCC reform bill aimed at making the agency more transparent. If passed, the FCC would have to post consumer complaints about communications companies online on a monthly basis. (National Journal)
- Spencer Bachus (R-AL), chairman of the House Financial Services, will hold hearings on the STOCK act. The act is aimed at curbing insider trading by members of Congress. Bachus has recently faced allegations of improper trading. (Politico)
- The FEC issued an advisory opinion approving GivingSphere's plan to collect and distribute funds to candidates, committees, and PACs via their mobile-based giving platform. Currently, GivingSphere focuses on charitable donations. (Lobby Comply)
- VoterTide collects and presents data on the performance of political candidates on various social media networks. (Lobby Comply)
- The 15 freshman members of the Tea Party Caucus are turning to the usual suspects when seeking campaign cash. Combined, they have raised almost $3.5 million from almost 700 PACs, including many traditional Republican supporters. (iWatchNews)
- Labor groups have been giving less money than usual to members of Congress this cycle and a higher percentage of their donations are going to Republicans. (Politico)
- Charles County, MD has passed an ethics ordinance as mandated by the state, but not before removing an amendment that would have added stricter campaign finance and reporting requirements. The county commission plans to take up campaign finance and reporting in the future. (Lobby Comply)
- A judge has ordered Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie to release a list of state supreme court nominees proposed by the state's Judicial Selection Commission. Abercrombie had argued that releasing the list would deter potential judges from seeking nomination. (Courthouse News)
Unraveling Perry’s air travel using FEC disclosures
Earlier this month the New York Times revealed that Texas Governor and Republican presidential nominee-hopeful Rick Perry often uses the private planes of businesspeople — some long-time donors — to travel the country for free for various political events and even lobbying.
The use of the plane is legal under Texas ethics guidelines but it obviously raised some questions. A Perry spokesman said the governor was trying to save tax dollars. After the stories, Perry disclosed to the Federal Elections Commission some new travel-related campaign expenses — eight of them totaling more than $227,000, all travel costs.
Under FEC guidelines, candidates have ...
Tools for Transparency: 10 Tools You Might Have Missed
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a round-up of the latest Tools for Transparency posts. Take a look at... View Article
Continue readingBe Very Wary of the STOCK Act
Since the 60 Minutes expose on insider trading, the STOCK Act (HR 1148)has gained enormous steam in both the House... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 11/17/2011
Here is Thursday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Presidential Candidates
- Newt Gingrich earned more than $1.6 million from Freddie Mac during the height of the housing crisis. He claims that he never lobbied for the company, but did not address reports that he was tasked with building bridges to congressional Republicans and developing an argument in favor of Freddie Mac's public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives. (National Journal)
- A new ad from a pro Jon Huntsman Super PAC illustrates the close ties that exist between candidates and the "independent" committees supporting them. Our Destiny PAC's chief strategist helped create some of Huntsman's earliest commercials and may have violated the FEC's 120 day "cooling off" period before leaving the Huntsman campaign to work for the PAC. (Washington Post)
- Vice President Biden will be attending a meeting of the Government Accountability and Transparency board today. The meeting is closed to the press. (Politico)
- Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) reports that Congress has been shirking its oversight responsibilities. Coburn also criticized potential cuts to the Government Accountability Office, which is trying to maintain its pace of investigations with fewer resources. (Washington Times)
- Opinion: the upcoming Supreme Court arguments on health-care reform are a prime opportunity to start allowing cameras in the courtroom and televising proceedings. (Miller-McCune)
- A Philadelphia law requiring lobbyist registration will go into effect on January 3, 2012. (Lobby Comply)
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