Today we're launching 6° of Corporations, a new micro-site that provides some insight into the complicated area of corporate identity. It may sound trivial, but uniquely identifying a corporate entity is not easy. For federal contracting data (like in USASpending.gov), DUNS numbers are used to (supposedly) uniquely identify a contractor. However, there are problems in not only how DUNS numbers are issued and maintained, but also with the agency's use of DUNS numbers. To help illustrate this, we’ve created a visualization that shows the relationship between company names and company DUNS numbers in USASpending.gov.
Continue readingNonprofit groups target super committee with billboard ads, don’t disclose donors
With so many vying for the attention of the 12 lawmakers charged with cutting up to $1.5 trillion from the nation's deficit, some groups have turned to plastering their messages to the "super committee" on billboards.
In New York City's Times Square and in Washington, D.C., the billboards tell the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that “Congress should cut spending like a Thanksgiving turkey” and “Before we cut turkeys, Congress must cut $1.5 trillion in spending,” referring to the deadline set for the super committee. The ads are part of a campaign called Bankrupting ...
Continue readingWe Can’t Have Corporate Accountability Until We Have Corporate Identifiers
Corporate accountability can mean a lot of things. To some people, it’s tracking the political influence of corporations via campaign... View Article
Continue readingHealthy Lobbying of the Super Committee
The healthcare industry is dominating lobbying activity before the Super Committee, according to third quarter lobbying reports. Almost 30 percent... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 11/1/2011
Welcome in November with a look at the day's transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government
- Legislators are going to have to avoid some strong blocking from lobbyists if they want to tackle tax reform. Most corporate groups say they support tax reform, but every tax break has a supporter prepared to fight to keep it in place. (The Hill)
- OMB Scorecards related to agency implementation of sustainability policies are not an effective transparency tool or means of informing the public, according to a new paper published by an American University professor in conjunction with the IBM Center for the Business of Government. (Fierce Government)
- Herman Cain has asked a lawyer to investigate reports that he might have used a tax-exempt charity to help his presidential campaign get started. The charity was started by Cain's chief and deputy chief of staff. (Yahoo/AP)
- A former aid to Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has launched the YG Action Fund PAC. The PAC will promote the "center-right" ideals of the Young Guns movement that Cantor helped launch. (Roll Call $)
- A pro-Rick Perry super PAC has its first ads up in South Carolina and Iowa. They are spending nearly $400,000 on their first salvo. (Politico)
- Many state and local governments have deferred or denied transparency measures because they are struggling to cover the costs. (Government Technology)
- Ten months after Alabama passed sweeping ethics reform, lobbyists and legislators are dealing with some significant changes in the way they do business. (Lobby Comply)
2Day in #OpenGov 10/31/2011
Happy Halloween! Here is Monday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government
- The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency held its 14th annual awards ceremony last week, honoring a broad range of watchdogs. (Federal Times)
- A new report outlines factors agencies should consider when developing mobile websites and apps, finding that agencies frequently put too much focus on getting apps online at the expense of ensuring that users have a successful experience using them. (GovTech)
- The Obama Administration is seeking an independent audit of the Energy Department loans made to the failed company Solyndra, while the Republican-led House Energy Committee has threatened to subpoena related White House records. (iWatch News)
- The Justice Department has stepped up enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. (The Hill)
- Obama's strict "no lobbyists" promises have turned him into a hypocrite. (National Journal)
- Senator Rob Portman's (R-Ohio) current chief of staff has gone back and forth through the revolving door several times. Most recently, he was making $440,000 as a lobbyist at Squire Sanders and Dempsey and had previously served as Portman's chief of staff in the House of Representatives. (Legistorm)
- iWatch News investigated the tricky line that 501(c)(4) organizations have to walk between issue spending and political spending.
- Civic Commons Managing Director Nick Grossman presents on "The Opportunity for Civic Startups." (GovFresh)
- State Rep. Terry Spicer is the fourth Alabama state representative to plead guilty to bribery as part of a federal investigation of gambling corruption at the statehouse. (The Republic)
- A county judge has rejected an Arizona measure intended to ban the spending of public funds for certain candidates. The judge claimed that it was unconstitutional, as it focused on more than one subject. (AZ Central)
- Montana's commissioner of political practices has plans to regulate a fast-growing component of campaigns: social media. (Missoulian)
- Nevada's Commission on Ethics is struggling to handle a heavy case load with too few resources. (Las Vegas Sun)
Back to the Source REDACTED: $52 Steaks on Menu as AT&T Feted Lawmakers During T-Mobile Push
Back to the Source REDACTED: $52 Steaks on Menu as AT&T Feted Lawmakers During T-Mobile Push Do you remember the... View Article
Continue readingSunlight Live Team to Cover “Super Committee” Discussion of Simpson-Bowles and Previous Debt Proposals
The so-called super committee will meet in public tomorrow for only the fourth time, when it looks at recent efforts to reduce the debt in a session titled “Overview of Previous Debt Proposals."
And the Sunlight Live team will bring you the events as it unravels in the hearing room and provide context to the discussion.
Key witnesses include Alan Simpson, former Republican Senator from Wyoming, and Erskine Bowles, a businessman and former White House Chief of Staff during the Clinton Administration. They served as co-chairs on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. President Obama appointed the two ...
Continue readingObama’s DOJ Seeks to Weaken the FOIA
Obama’s Department of Justice has proposed a new set of rules for how the agency fills Freedom of Information Act... View Article
Continue readingOpen States Source Visualized
Open States recently reached a milestone in that we now support 40 states (and DC and Puerto Rico) and at our current pace we'll reach our goal of all 50 states by sometime early next year. It is only due to the fantastic support of our community and indviduals who have showed up at hackathons or just started contributing on their own that this goal is now in sight.
I thought it might be fun to look back on how the project has grown, and luckily gource is a piece of software for visualizing the history of a repository can help do just that. Watch below to enjoy a visually stimulating look back through the last two and half years of commits to Open States. You'll see flurries of activity around our hackathons, the drastic increase in activity from 2009 to 2010 and how 2011 so far takes up more than half the video, and some of the big refactors that we've made along the way to scale the project to a size well beyond what we initially conceived of.
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