Via IEC Journal comes word of this Government Accountability Office report written up in this Government Executive article by Elizabeth Newell on the post-employment trends of 400 top former Defense Department officials -- all of whom were subject to a one-year ban on lobbying their old colleagues. Newell offers this staggering finding:
Approximately 65 percent of those former officials were employed by one of seven contractors: Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC); Northrop Grumman Corp.; Lockheed Martin Corp.; Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.; L3 Communications Holding Inc.; General Dynamics and Raytheon Co. All but one of those companies, Booz Allen Hamilton, ranked in the top 10 of Government Executive's Top 200 Contractors list in 2007. Booz Allen Hamilton was 24th on that list.USASpending.gov, maintained by Office of Management and Budget, ranks all of those seven contractors in their top 20 for 2007. Newell quotes Cristina Chaplain, the report's author, as saying, "Our results indicate that defense contractors may employ a substantial number of former DOD officials on assignments related to their former DOD agencies or their direct responsibilities." Continue reading
NetSquared Year 3
I’m in
Follow the minute by minute conference action as updated by N2Y3 attendees, bloggers and vloggers.
What's happening at N2Y3 will be updated by their dedicated bloggers and vloggers (tagged n2y3media). These posts will be unedited so a well balanced perspective is ensured.
Watch interviews with attendees on the NetSquared blip.tv channel, follow real time updates on the Net2 Twitter feed.
It’s all about the 21 Featured Projects.
Telecom’s K Street Buy
Glenn Greenwald's latest column illustrates how telecom companies are attempting to buy amnesty from Congress through a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign. He is dead on by calling the effort "a perfect microcosm for how our government institutions work."
By accessing the Center for Responsive Politics' lobbying database, Greenwald reports that in the first three months of this year, three telecom companies (AT&T, Verizon, Comcast) have spent a combined $13 million lobbying Congress. If they maintain this pace throughout this year (and what's to stop them?), the three companies will spend $50 million. Nonprofit groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are leading the fight against amnesty. Greenwald links to a post by Kurt Opsahl, EFF senior staff attorney, on his organization's Deeplinks Blog. Opsahl makes the point that "AT&T's spending for three months on lobbying alone is significantly more than the entire EFF budget for a whole year, from attorneys to sysadmins, pencils to bandwidth."Wanna place any bets on the outcome of this one?
Continue readingDepartment of the Interior Reconnects
You can't make this stuff up.
Earlier this month, a federal judge's ruling lifted a seven-year court order that prevented 10,000 federal employees in hundreds of offices nationwide to be connected to the Internet at their desks. he employees work for five agencies within the U.S. Department of the Interior, with the Bureau of Indian Affair being one.
The ruling came out of a class-action suit brought by Native Americans who charge the Interior Department has botched trust records and accounts dealing with their land. Employees will now be connected to the Internet and email at their computers, and will no longer be forced to leave their desks to use a set of limited number of computers and fax machines.
Sp much for government working in the connected age.
Hat Tip: Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Continue readingShow Us the Real Story
Nick Penniman, my friend and former colleague, has launched American News Project, a promising venture that's moving into the online video journalism world.
During the development of this project, Nick and I discussed how important it is to focus on the frequently overlooked stories and to show up, ready to film, where "traditional" journalists fear to tread -- covering Washington's behind the scenes decision/deal-making. Think of all the congressional hearings that aren't front page news, but should be, or advisory council meetings where corporate lobbyists advise policy makers out of the public's view. Lobbyists on their way into and out of the Capitol should be buttonholed: who are you meeting with and what did you talk about (maybe a regular feature?); lawmakers should be asked why they voted ‘yea' or ‘nay' on legislation as they leave the floor after a vote or what the last favor was they did for a "constituent." (Surely they would admit to some.) Freshman lawmakers should be interviewed about their vision for serving their constituents and their constituents should be interviewed to see if their expectations are the same.
The American News Project can make the information in databases come alive. Imagine looking at the wealthiest or poorest members of Congress and then showing us the homes in which lawmakers. Put some faces to the names of those who've been through the revolving door from the Capitol to K Street. Let's see footage of the private jets that ferry some members (still) in and out of Washington. Give some texture to earmarks with footage of the roads and bridges widened or bombers being built. Show us what our money buys.
Continue readingLike Swimming in Molasses
We are not naïve. At Sunlight, when we learned that Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was convening a task force to address the issue of earmarks, we knew the odds of progress were slim. McConnell is an appropriator, a champion of earmarks and an ardent foe of almost every conceivable good government reform. He also has a keen political ear. So by forming a task force on earmark reform, he could arguably demonstrate action without actually moving. As "The Hill" reports here, Senator McConnell not only continues placing obstacles to moderate reform, but he is resisting a push for earmark transparency coming from within his own party.
How did McConnell undertake the issue without putting his caucus at risk of actually having to change its ways on earmarks? He appointed a working group with members on such opposite ends of the earmark spectrum odds were against success. Then he told them to come up with a unanimous recommendation. When they did that, McConnell moved the goal line again, saying he would attempt to work with the Democratic Leader to consider creating a Senate Rule the encompassed the suggestions. Even the most casual political observer wouldn't be surprised to find that those "negotiations" came to nothing.
Continue readingLocal Sunlight
Big PhRMA, Disclose Thyself
The Hill reports on what appears to be a “man bites dog” story, a reversal by the pharmaceutical and medical... View Article
Continue readingDay by Day
OpenSecrets.org has one of the most granular looks at fundraising by the Democratic candidates that you can get. Keep an eye on their new blog. Terrific stuff there.
Continue reading
Wither the FEC?
Maybe we'll have a functioning Federal Election Commission, after all.
Continue reading
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