Sunlight surveyed Capitol Hill Web pages, finding only 15 percent of congressional websites are completely ready for HTTPS.
Continue readingTop target list for foreign interests includes some surprises
Sunlight used its new Foreign Influence Explorer to see which members of Congress had the most contact with foreign interests last year.
Continue readingComcast and Time Warner Cable give big to some senators reviewing merger
As the Comcast-Time Warner cable merger is scrutinized on the Hill, will their combined $42.4 million in political contributions and $143.5 million in lobbying sway lawmakers' opinions?
Continue readingImmigration: Give me your poor, your tired . . . your lobbyists?
Long before the last election put new political momentum behind the stalled efforts to enact a comprehensive update of the nation's immigration laws, Washington's influence industry was teed up to make it a titanic battle, an analysis of lobbying disclosures by the Sunlight Foundation shows.
Amidst widespread reports that bipartisan groups of lawmakers in the House and Senate are hoping to unveil immigration proposals after Congress's upcoming spring recess, research shows there is an army of lobbyists ready for action. More than 3,000 people were listed as lobbyists in forms which cited immigration as an issue ...
Continue readingOn Legislative Collaboration and Version Control
We often are confronted with the idea of legislation being written and tracked online through new tools, whether it’s Clay... View Article
Continue readingMerchants, Retailers Employ Revolving Door Lobbyists In Regulatory Fight
Merchants, retailers, and their trade associations have arrayed a team of former government officials turned lobbyists in one of 2011’s... View Article
Continue readingSenators Signing XML Vote Letter
Earlier, I wrote about a “Dear Colleague” letter circulating in the Senate written by Sen. Jim DeMint asking for roll... View Article
Continue reading“They Frankly Own The Place”
That title comes from the words of Sen. Dick Durbin describing the power of the bankers and financial sector over... View Article
Continue readingTelecom’s Got Some Dollars in the Fight
I've been following the issue of whether the telecommunications companies will get their desired immunity in the update to the foreign surveillance law. Last week, Bush said he would not sign any bill that did not provide retroactive immunity for them.
The House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees have so far resisted Bush's efforts to protect the telecom companies and voted down an amendment that would add telecom amnesty to the bill. The ACLU and other civil libertarian and watchdog groups have said they expect telecom companies to keep personal information private, and if they break the law, be held accountable.
Continue readingMore Observations on Legislation 2.0
When David All and I wrote in an Op-Ed for The Hill that “the time has come to re-imagine the world of the wired elected official,” I did not expect members of Congress to be so quick to pick up and use these new lines of communication. Halfway into the year more members of Congress are using their Web site to disseminate useful information and some, albeit very few, are actually communicating with citizens in meaningful two-way dialogue both on and off their member Web site. Perhaps the most innovative example of this is Sen. Dick Durbin’s effort to craft broadband legislation with the help of citizens online, which Ellen wrote about earlier today.
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