Here are Tuesday's transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government
- The Department of Health and Human Services released a progress report regarding its compliance with President Obama's Open Government Directive. (RegBlog)
- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission decided not to finalize a whistleblower provision at its Tuesday meeting. (Reuters)
- A whistleblower on army psychological operations filed a lawsuit for investigation results he previously requested through FOIA. (POGO)
- Opinion: A new bill by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) would eviscerate certain whistleblower programs at the SEC and CFTC that were created as a result of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul. (POGO)
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) called for an investigation into the House Ethics committee following a report of secretive, unethical actions taken in the committee. (Politico)
- Foreign entities spend millions of dollars to influence Washington elections every year, according to a Huffington Post report. (HuffPost) (The report cites our work on this issue from last December.)
- D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray accepted campaign contributions above the legal limit, the Washington Post reports. (The Washington Post)
- A Commons co-founder described in an interview what's next in the technological push for open government. (GovFresh)
- The Pew Research Center released a comprehensive review on Monday of 39 non-profit websites, including a section ranking the best state watchdog groups. (Pew)
- New Jersey Gov. Christie signed legislation that will provide greater oversight of spending for programs in urban cities and poor municipalities. (MoreMonmouthMusings)
- The Democratic Party of New Mexico criticized Secretary of State Duran for failing to follow through on Gov. Martinez's pledge to open government and transparency. (NMDemocrats)
- Opinion: The Minnesotan Capitol should be open to the public during the government shutdown. (TC Daily Planet)
- Watchdog groups have given Kenyan's open data initiative mixed reviews. (VOA News)
- The Brookings Institution suggested that Brazil is not fit to lead the Open Government Partnership. (Brookings)
- The Canadian Information Commissioner said that Canada could take a leadership role in the international open government initiative. (MetroTube)
- Opinion: Given the recent corruption, the UK should implement open government standards similar to those of Sweden. (Telegraph)
- Opinion: Ottawa's town hall should institute a lobby registry to enhance transparency. (Ottawa Citizen)
Alleged foreign agent Syed Fai gave $28K to federal candidates
Syed Ghulem Fai, who faces charges of not registering as a lobbyist for Pakistan under the Foreign Agent Registration Act,... View Article
Continue readingLobbyists swarm agencies as Dodd-Frank is implemented
Throughout the last Congress, which adopted far-reaching reforms of the financial sector through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, there were an average of 577 clients lobbying on issues related to the act. Eventually some 1,172 clients—including banks, ratings agencies, investment banks, securities firms and a host of other interests with a stake in the legislation—listed Dodd-Frank or related issues on their lobbying disclosure forms. And in 2011, lobbyists for some 488 clients are still lobbying on the bill, according to the most recent data from the Center for Responsive Politics.
The number of ...
Bills designed to alter or repeal Dodd-Frank
When Republicans took over the House after the mid-term elections in 2010, one of the first things on the agenda for some members was to alter or repeal the sweeping financial reform passed by the previous Congress.
In the year that has passed since H.R. 4173, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, was signed into law, there have been at least 12 bills proposed to alter or remove provisions from the law, with two of those bills proposing to repeal the legislation altogether. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., introduced the first of the two bills—H.R ...
Continue readingA State by State Look at Lobbyist Disclosure
by Eric Dunn, Sunlight policy intern All 50 states require lobbyists to disclose some information about their work. Some require... View Article
Continue readingInfluence Explored: Companies behind Harry Potter cast a spell on U.S. politics
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 has obliviated all previous box-office records in its opening weekend, grossing $168... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 7/18/2011
Here is Monday's look at the week's transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government
- Members of the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission leaked confidential information to partisan allies at think tanks and lobbying firms. (Huffington Post via POGO)
- Former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray will be nominated by President Obama to become the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (Politico)(Huffington Post)
- GovTech speculated on the agenda of the next CIO, following Vivek Kundra's departure from the position. (GovTech)
- An N.S.A. whistleblower will not face jail time for releasing information about the agency's Trailblazer program. (The New York Times)
- Lobbyists are not always required to disclose donations made in the form of honorary contributions to lawmakers' favorite charities. (Huffington Post)
- Key staffers on the House Ethics committee may have compromised the extensive investigations of Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel by engaging in inappropriate ex parte communications. (Politico)
- Only a few U.S. senators have filed their second quarter fund-raising numbers electronically. (OpenSecrets)
- Nearly half of Obama's campaign cash has come from bundlers, or well-connected individuals who raise money through their networks of wealthy friends. (The Washington Times)
- After the Obama campaign released its list of fundraising bundlers, we ran the list through our influence tracking tools and published the results online. (Sunlight Blog)
- Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA) released a statement on Friday afternoon saying he would not release his second quarter fund-raising numbers before the midnight deadline. (National Journal)
- Government transparency adviser Tim Kelsey said that releasing open data will generate “vast markets.” (Information Age)
- Opinion: Releasing troves of data is not equivalent to transparency, especially when individuals do not know how to utilize that data. (Wired)
- The Koch brothers have spread their message of no unions, low taxes, and minimal government regulation to more states, beyond their well-publicized involvement with movements in Wisconsin and Ohio. (Bloomberg)
- A Tennessee legislator worked with a lobbyist on legislation but says he was unaware that the legislation was identical to a model drafted by ALEC. (Knoxnews)
- A Texas county defended its hiring of a legislative lobbyist to work on environmental review process issues. (Statesman)
- The Prime Minister of India has placed a live webcam in his office as an anti-corruption tool. (New York Times).
- Opinion: Russian transparency lags behind the rest of the EU. (Epsiplatform)
Goldman Sachs, financial firms flood agencies to influence financial law, new Dodd-Frank tracker shows
Investment bank Goldman Sachs, one of the major players in the crisis that led to the economic meltdown of 2008, has had more meetings with government officials about the implementation of the law intended to reform the financial system than any other company or organization, an analysis of nearly a year’s worth of financial agency meeting logs shows.
The Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group has made those logs--published by five separate federal agencies--available in one location in and easy-to-search format, updated to include the most current information on contacts between officials and private interests seeking to influence federal regulators.
Agency ...
Continue readingDodd-Frank: Will the bill overturn decades of industry influence?
The financial crisis had several authors--federal policies that opened the door to predatory mortgage lending, unregulated financial products, integrated firms that borrowed heavily from one another to invest in the "sure bet" of mortgage-backed securities, and hedge funds and insurers that sought to profit by mitigating risk through complex financial instruments. In the aftermath of the crisis, Congress passed and President Obama signed on July 21, 2010, the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to set new safeguards for the public, to rein in financial firms, to ensure oversight of new types of financial instruments, and to ...
Continue readingAgencies slow to provide new data required by Dodd-Frank
One year after passing Dodd Frank Financial reform, much of the work of reforming America’s financial system still lies ahead. This is not too surprising considering the sheer size of the legislation. The law created 243 rules and requires agencies to produce 67 studies, according to Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. One-hundred-twenty-two deadlines are due between July 16 and July 21.
The law also requires agencies to make new data from disclosures filed by financial firms public, but to do so agencies must overcome obstacles such as lack of funding and limited bureaucratic capacity ...
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