The New York Times reports:
...many on Capitol Hill, recalling the scandal that mushroomed around the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, are wondering who else will be ensnared in the investigation as prosecutors pore over the financial records and computer files of one of K Street's most influential lobbyists, known both for the billions of dollars in earmarks he obtained for his clients and for his open hand toward those he sought to influence.Former PMA staff members familiar with the inquiry say prosecutors' initial questions have focused on the possibility that Mr. Magliocchetti used straw campaign contributors " a Florida sommelier ...
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In Case You Weren’t Convinced
It’s been nearly two weeks since President Obama announced new rules to cover lobbying for stimulus funds and each passing... View Article
Continue readingWash. Times Supports S. 482
The Washington Times editorialized in favor of S. 482, the Senate e-filing bill, in today’s paper. Below is a section... View Article
Continue readingMust everything be earmarked?
Columnist George Will argues that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 -- the bailout bill that set up TARP, is unconstitutional because it delegates legislative power to the executive branch:
Congress did not in any meaningful sense make a law. Rather, it made executive branch officials into legislators. Congress said to the executive branch, in effect: "Here is $700 billion. You say you will use some of it to buy up banks' 'troubled assets.' But if you prefer to do anything else with the money -- even, say, subsidize automobile companies -- well, whatever."FreedomWorks, a Washington-based libertarian advocacy organization, argues that ...
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Next Week’s Hackathon
The PyCon hackathon is about to get underway in Chicago-- James and Josh will be manning that operation, and then next week, we'll be doing the Web2.0 Hackathon. At both hackathons, we'll be primarily focused on the 50 State Project and if time/resources permit, we may take on another project as well. We're really excited to have the support of the Web2.0 expo and PyCon crews for this next week of great open source development.
If you're in the bay area and want to come to our hackathon, please drop me a line at clay at sunlight labs dot com. I can give you a code that will get you a special pass into the hackathon room so you can join us.
Continue readingFollowing Dirty Money
I like the concept behind what appears to be a new Washington Examiner feature called "Dirty Money" (you can see the latest installment here; I can't seem to find a page where previous installments are archived). I'm not a hundred percent certain though of their methodology of determining why certain contributions are dirty--if it's merely a company or organization that had employees or members who've committed crimes (embezzlement is one listed), that doesn't necessarily seem to taint the organization's donations. I think a little more context is needed to determine whether the employees were ...
Continue readingMaking Government Web Sites Searchable – A Vital First Step
Last week, U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (Calif.) guest blogged on O’Reilly Radar and asked, “how can Congress take advantage of... View Article
Continue readingLast Weekend for Apps for America
This weekend is your last weekend for Apps for America work! So if you've procrastinated for the past three months, do some weekend planning and get it done. So far, we've got 7 entries and I've seen about three more on the web that haven't been submitted yet.
The apps so far are great! But I know you've got something great up your sleeve too, so make sure to set some time aside this weekend to crank out your project and make something great!
Continue readingFeds: Freddie Mac should hide info from SEC
Yesterday, we learned from the Chicago Tribune that Freddie Mac documents are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act because they contain or might compromise commercial information--that is, the proprietary insider information of a private company. Today, in the Washington Post, we learn that that private company was pressured to withhold negative information it was obligated to disclose under SEC rules. It seems that following government policy will adversely affect its bottom line, and the firm wanted to tell its remaining shareholders that.
Federal officials who took over Freddie Mac stopped short of nationalizing the company, leaving it partly ...Continue reading
Lobbyists May Subvert Disclosure Laws to Lobby on Stimulus
The Associated Press reports today that lobbyists engaged on stimulus projects may channel their outrage at the new lobbying rules... View Article
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