The Reason Foundation has been getting the presidential candidates to talk more about transparency on the campaign trail by asking them to sign a pledge to run a transparent administration and fully enforce the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, also known as Coburn-Obama. The FFATA requires the Office of Management and Budget to disclose all federal funding contracts, grants, and earmarks in a searchable database. The Sunlight Foundation was a part of a coalition of groups that worked to pass the bill, in particular working to out the Senator with a secret hold on the bill. So far, three candidates - Barack Obama, Ron Paul, and Sam Brownback - have signed the pledge. It's great to see transparency taking a hold as an issue in the 2008 presidential election. Hopefully, we'll hear from more candidates on the issue soon. For now, check out below for the statements made by the three pledge signees.
Continue readingTa Da: Interview with Greg Elin
Greg Elin -- Sunlight's Chief Data Architect -- did a fascinating interview with Jon Udell last week. I have the daily benefit of Greg's insights and so I want to share this very insightful interview so you can too.
Jon has blogged about the interview here. Udell is an author, information architect, software developer, and groupware evangelist himself. He writes a monthly column for the O'Reilly Network. It's worth a regular read.
Update:
SOP. No Email Address
I was in Louisville over the weekend and had a chance introduction to freshman Rep. John Yarmuth. Even though our families have been acquaintances for years, I am pretty certain this is the first time we've met, even though we both grew up there. I told him about Sunlight and suggested we get together when he returns to Washington so I could tell him more.
To make a note about following up, I just pulled out the business card that he gave me -- standard issue no doubt. Guess what? No email address!
It's little stuff like that that reminds me just how Congress has insulated itself from the public and 21st century technology. I'm betting on people like Yarmuth to change that.
Continue readingDisclosure is Step One to Earmark Accountability
Friday's edition of The New York Times ran a piece by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) where he brags on passing earmark transparency and makes the case that disclosure is reform. We agree. If disclosure works as it should kudos are in order for all Members of Congress of both parties that supported this key reform.
Emanuel's take on earmarks is close to my own. Earmarks themselves are not necessarily bad way to allocate federal money, but lack of transparency and accountability about them has been a huge problem. "There was no opportunity to review either their sponsorship or their merit before their passage," Emanuel wrote.
Continue readingFriday YouTube Fun
What happens when the entire Internet crashes? The Onion News Network reports:
Continue readingHe Will Come, If They Build it
Talking Points Memo's Muckraker has a stunning post from Laura McGann and Paul Kiel about U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and his cross-country money fundraising tour. In 2005, a huge transportation bill was being assembled in Congress, and Young, as chair of the House Transportation Committee, used the opportunity to travel the country reaping in campaign cash. Developers and other business executives from Florida to Wisconsin turned the famous line from the film "Field of Dreams" on its head, "If he comes (and we give him loads of cash), they will build it."
A $40,000 fundraiser in Florida resulted in funding for an interchange. A series of contributions totaling $22,000 from a Wisconsin trucking company executive and his associates resulting in the chairman inserting favorable trucking legislation in the bill. Arkansans contributed $66,000 to Young and were rewarded with a $72 million extension of an interstate. Also in Arkansas, Wal-Mart's PAC and execs gave Young $14,000 and suddenly a $35 million widening of the street leading to Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville found its way into the bill. And the New Jersey Alliance for Action held a luncheon for Young, where he collected $29,500 in contributions. The Garden State was rewarded with 179 earmarks totaling $550 million, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. Now that's a lot of action!I don't know what databases TPM used to explore these connections beyond those of earmarks at Taxpayers for Common Sense, but I'd wager they were looking at numerous ones at the Center for Responsive Politics too. There's gold in those numbers.
Obviously, this type of legal bribery is not unique to Young. But it is shocking, nonetheless, when it's exposed in all of its gore. The temptations are great to misuse the power that resides with committee chairs. This is why openness and transparency is key to keeping Congressional leaders honest. We hope the new earmark disclosure requirements help. Congress can and should take other important steps. Both parties, on taking control of Congress, pledged to end corruption. But history has shown the temptations too enticing to resist. Transparency is the means for Congress to protect itself from...Well, itself.
Continue readingMAPLight.org Launches Presidential Fundraising Widget
Insanely Useful Site MAPLight.org is launching an awesome new widget for anyone to put on their blog or Web site. The presidential fundraising widget allows anyone to track fundraising by the presidential contenders while customizing the information to their own personal preference. MAPLight also announced that they are making FEC information available in an API and will soon be launching a widget on "Money and Votes". For now let's look at the presidential fundraising widget. I customized my widget with only long shot candidates like Mike Gravel and Ron Paul (you can make your widget at http://www.maplight.org/widgets):
Continue readingTed Stevens’ Financial Disclosures
After filing for extensions, Sen. Ted Stevens' (R-AK) personal financial disclosure forms for 2007 were available with the Senate Office of Public Records this week. Scanned PDF's are here. On the same day, July 17, there were also a few amendments that were filed that are here. (Most of them are about rifles presented to the Senator by the Kenai River Sporting Association.)
Continue readingLobbyist Registration Policy: Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Review
(Cross-posted from the Open House Project blog.)
The Senate Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill (reported out of committee on June 21st) provides a revealing look into the priorities that Congress sets in funding its own operations. The House and Senate pass separate appropriations bills; this page on THOMAS organizes the appropriations bills for each fiscal year in a remarkably useful manner.
While the majority side of the Senate Appropriations committee did include a brief review of their bill (as did their House counterpart), I’d like to give my impressions of the appropriations from the perspective of an advocate for public access and transparency, using the Senate report as a guide. (The Republican websites don’t feature any press releases, which isn’t surprising, given the minority’s smaller staff and budget, comparative lack of clout in controlling committee functioning, and their opportunity to add dissenting views to the report, as I discovered in reading the House report.)
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