I am so pleased to see the Department of Transportation and Data.gov being so incredibly responsive to the concerns we... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 10/24/2011
It's Monday and this is your first look at the week's transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
- The Super Committee's secrecy continues to irk lawmakers, journalists, and the public, but shows few signs of stopping. (National Journal)
- Nearly 200 companies and special interests have reported lobbying members of the Super Committee in the six weeks since its inception. Health Care interests are leading the charge with the defense, transportation, energy, telecom, and education industries not far behind. (Politico)
- WikiLeaks is facing financial difficulties and may close down by the end of the year. Major financial institutions have been imposing a "financial blockade" on WikiLeaks, according to a post by founder Julian Assange. (Politico)
- Herman Cain is making waves as an outsider running for the Republican Presidential Nomination, but his first serious exposure to politics was at the National Restaurant Association, which he helped transform into a major lobbying force. (New York Times)
- Overall, lobbying expenditures were down in the third quarter. But, major tech firms, including Google, Facebook, and AT&T continued to spend rapidly as they face scrutiny from Congress and Federal regulators. (National Journal)
- Senator John Kyl has hired Dave Hoppe, a longtime lobbyist for Quinn Gillespie, to serve as chief of staff in the Republican Whip's office. Hoppe previously worked on the hill for more than two decades before becoming a lobbyist. (National Journal)
- New York City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin has launched an online platform for her constituents to share ideas and voice concerns about neighborhood issues. Lappin wants to use the technology to help her constituents break down the barriers keeping them from government bureaucracy. (techPresident)
- MC Hammer, who has traded in his hammer pants for a career as a tech entrepreneur, talked about how social media and technology can help citizens touch their local governments at the 2011 web 2.0 summit in San Francisco. (govfresh)
Wednesday: Sunlight Live to check in on super committee
When the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, or super committee, emerges from the shadows on Wednesday morning to hold its first public hearing in a month, the Sunlight Live team will be there to shine a light on who’s influencing the panel.
As the 12 members inch closer to proposing at least $1.2 trillion in federal cuts or new revenue sources before the end of November, little has come out about their ideas even as reports have surfaced about daily or twice-daily “unofficial” meetings.
More than 200 groups or people — with health care lobbyists leading the way ...
Bank executives plead case to administration officials over Volcker rule
Top executives with major banks met regularly with federal agency officials who were writing a draft rule meant to curtail risky Wall Street trading — known popularly as the Volcker rule, named for the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker — federal agency meeting records show.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler were among the agency leaders who met with CEOs from companies including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase since June 2010. Big banks are strongly critical of a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial law that calls for restricting banks from trading for ...
Continue readingDon’t Forget: Our Open House is Tomorrow!
A gentle reminder: our open house is tomorrow starting at 6, and we'd love to see as many of you here as can make it. Beer has been ordered, candy is being acquired, and plans are afoot for a Kinect-powered haunted painting. In short: it's going to be great. RSVP, why doncha?
Continue readingSuper committee related issues feature in hundreds of lobbying reports
K Street firms got little respite this past quarter, between lobbying on the debt ceiling early in the summer and then quickly shifting their focus to the "super committee," recently released lobbying reports show.
A little more than 200 registrants listed either "Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction" — the official name of the powerful budget cutting panel — or "super committee" on lobbying disclosures filed with the Senate Office of Public Records. The filings were released on Thursday, Oct. 20. The third quarter reports also show some overlap between the organizations that listed both the debt ceiling and the super committee ...
Redesigning Sunlight Foundation
Around this time last year, after taking over the look and feel of the Foundation instead of just the Labs, I decided to do a small refresh of the main Foundation site. The goal of this refresh was to make sure we were displaying our content in a consistent way and to make the front-end code not only cleaner but updated to use HTML5. Since that time I've settled into the position of Creative Director, we've built a small but great design team, and we've been able to start building interest around the Foundation to do a greater redesign of our brand and other main sites. The time has finally come...
Continue readingThe News Without Transparency: A Congresswoman’s Cause is Often Her Husband’s Gain
The News Without Transparency: A Congresswoman’s Cause is Often Her Husband’s Gain Last month the New York Times looked into whether... View Article
Continue readingTools for Transparency: Chat With Your Audience on Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is an excellent free tool that lets you video chat anyone with an internet connection and a web... View Article
Continue readingSunlight Weekly Roundup: “Access is vital to the healthy functioning of a democracy.”
Delaware Governor Jack Markell signed an executive order today intended to simplify the process for citizens looking to access government... View Article
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