1) Weekend getaways with lobbyists during recessions tend to be bad ideas. Someone should have told that to the Democratic... View Article
Continue reading“Put it on CSPAN” Translated
Public appetite for transparent health care negotiations is driving us toward more transparency. While Congress has rightly responded to that... View Article
Continue readingSection 508 compliance is still easier than you think
This is part two of a two-part post. Part one covers the basics of web standards and progressive enhancement and Section 508 standards §1194.22 (a)-(f). Part two covers Section 508 standards §1194.22 (g)-(p).
Good news! Despite the excessive amount of time it took me to finish this post, Section 508 compliance is STILL easier than you think. Compliance does not preclude you from having an amazing web site. By following modern web standards, it is possible to create a site that is inherently accessible. Let's continue where we left off with (g)!
Continue readingBudget.Gov?
With the President’s budget scheduled for release next week, I’ve grown increasingly interested in how the sausage is made: each... View Article
Continue readingCould This Be the Future?
A corporation runs for Congress? Great spoof makes a great point about the absurdity of the Citizens United decision last... View Article
Continue readingSunlight in New Mexico is growing!
ULTRA LATE UPDATE: When you have a legislative session that only lasts 60 days, bills move quickly. All three bills... View Article
Continue readingA New Regime Required For Disclosure
As most of you know I have a long history in the campaign finance field as a founder of two... View Article
Continue readingObama asks Congress for real earmark disclosure
Right now, three years after Congress began trying to make earmarks transparent, I still have to look in three different places if I want to know how much money Rep. James Moran, D-Va., secured for particular beneficiaries in the Defense appropriations act. I have to read a sideways-posted PDF looking for Moran's requests (like the $1 million for the Ground Combat System Knowledge Center and Technical Inspection Data Capture), and match that project name to one of two enormous PDF files (the bigger is 75 MB) containing earmark disclosure letters from members of Congress (right-side up, but not searchable ...
Continue readingBuilding a National Campaign for Transparency
When we got back into the office here at Sunlight on January 4th, we knew 2010 was the year we needed to build a national campaign of people calling for an open, transparent government everywhere across the country. We've known for months in fact, but honestly, we had no idea how people would respond when we put the word out. Now, only three weeks later, a few very big events have unfolded, and each new event has created new opportunities - as well as more need for our collective action than ever before. In other words, it's abundantly clear that we're on the right track.
Continue readingOGD: Commerce repackages old data and offers broken links
To comply with the Open Government Directive, the Commerce Department released four high value datasets that require considerable technical sophistication on the part of users--and patience. Some of the files are so large and cumbersome they're very difficult to open and use; others require a great deal of explanation--and you can currently only find those explanations by digging through the agency's site. Still other entries feature broken links or only contain a fraction of the information described on Data.gov. The Commerce Department says they're working on all of these problems, so hopefully we'll see an ...
Continue reading
59063
