Tag Archive: Transparency

It’s the Anonymity, Stupid. Keep Calling.

by Paul Blumenthal Apr 19, 2007 2:10 pm

Secret hold. Secret objection. Whatever you call it there is no reason for some anonymous Senator to secretly block any bill, let alone a bill that increases transparency. As Ellen said, “a hold is a hold is a hold, unless you want to debate what the definition of "is" is.” Instapundit agrees. But thanks to you, we’re getting closer to figuring out which Senator is anonymously blocking this bill. Currently we’ve crossed 56 Senators off of our list, 29 Republicans and 27 Democrats. We still need you to call your Senators and find out who the anonymous Senator is. Let’s finish this today!

Who Placed a Secret Hold on Sunlight?

by Paul Blumenthal Apr 18, 2007 12:41 pm

Yet again an anonymous Senator has placed a secret hold on legislation that would increase transparency. This time a secret hold has been placed on a bill, S. 223, that would mandate that Senators file their campaign finance reports electronically. This process would not only make these reports more readily available to the public but would also save money and resources.

Yesterday this bill was blocked by an anonymous Senator who placed a secret hold on the bill. Secret holds are so looked down on these days that earlier this year the Senate itself banned the practice, although the bill containing that provision has yet to become law. But until secret holds are banished forever, we need your help in exposing the culprit who is blocking consideration of the electronic filing requirement for Senate campaign finance reports.

We need your help to find out who placed this secret hold! Call your Senators and ask them if they are the one with the secret hold on S. 223. Then report back here in the comments with your findings or contact us using this contact form. Below is a list of Senators, organized by state, and their contact info. If a Senator issues a denial we will indicate that next to their name.

Advocacy Groups Attack Transparency Reforms

by Paul Blumenthal Apr 12, 2007 4:42 pm

In February the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform unanimously passed the Executive Branch Reform Act (H.R. 984) out of committee. The bill, sponsored by both Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ranking Member Tom Davis (R-VA), would require all political appointees and high ranking executive branch officials to file quarterly reports detailing substantive contacts they have made with persons seeking to influence policy and policy-making decisions. The legislation is intended to combat the corrupt activities of Jack Abramoff and his contacts in the Executive Branch and the secrecy of the still unknown list of energy industry executives who helped craft the President’s energy policy. Waxman has called the bill “landmark legislation” that would be the most important open government reform since the Freedom of Information Act. But even in these days where transparency is all the rage open government still comes with its own list of enemies.

Talking about public disclosure of information

by Paul Blumenthal Apr 10, 2007 1:06 pm

Writing in the Boston Globe, David Weil and Archon Fung dive into the new world of transparency and examine “a new idea of what public access to information really means.” While Weil and Fung don’t directly approach the topic of political information disclosure their analysis still resonates with the ongoing debate over transparency in Congress and in our political system.

State of Transparency Bills in the House

by Paul Blumenthal Mar 30, 2007 2:33 pm

Members of Congress are about to head back to their districts for two weeks of townhall meetings, meet-and-greets, and Easter egg hunts (or if they're like me they'll be eating a lot of hillel sandwiches) but they have yet to pass a complete lobbying reform bill. The problem is that S. 1, the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007, has been in stuck in the House of Representatives as the parties fight over Iraq funding. Once that issue is resolved the House is likely to discuss reforms, including, we hope, our transparency agenda. So far the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties has held one hearing on S. 1. The points of contention in the legislation were the disclosure of lobbyist bundling and the increase in the "cooling off" period from one to two years. Republican members of the subcommittee also raised concerns that the Democrats would try to include grassroots lobbying disclosure provisions in the bill. So far, this has been the only action in the House although there are a number of bills that have been introduced.

Quorum Found, Bill Moves to Full Senate

by Paul Blumenthal Mar 28, 2007 2:18 pm

Word from Adam Bonin is that Feinstein found 10 members of the Rules and Administration Committee on the floor of the Senate and they voted in a side room 10-0 to pass S.223, the Senate electronic filing bill, out of committee. This is excellent news. You can, and should, still sign the Sunlight Network's petition to your Senators urging them to support the bill when it comes up for a vote on the Senate floor. (Link to the petition.)

Bennett Drops his Amendment but No Quorum [Updated]

by Paul Blumenthal Mar 28, 2007 10:23 am

UPDATE: Our intelligence tells us that the committee will vote off the floor around noon today. Rules and Administration Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) just announced that Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) will drop his amendment allowing the electronic filing bill to move forwards. Feinstein agreed to hold a hearing on a stand alone bill of Bennett's amendment. And now Bennett cosponsors the bill, S. 223. Amazing! However, not enough Democrats showed up for there to be a quorum so the meeting was adjourned without a vote on the bill. The committee will likely vote off the floor once they get enough votes. It's ironic that a disclosure bill will be voted on behind closed doors. The bill should still move forwards.

Sunlight Network: Tell your Senator to File Electronically

by Paul Blumenthal Mar 27, 2007 11:42 am

Take action before the committee mark-up of the Senate electronic filing bill tomorrow by asking your Senators to support a clean bill. The Sunlight Network has a petition (click here for petition) ready for you to sign and send to your Senators asking them to support S. 223 with no additional amendments added. Currently the Senate files their campaign contribution reports on paper, costing an extra $250,000 and delaying the public availability of campaign contributors until after an election. This bill would solve those two problems by requiring Senators to file these reports electronically. Please go take action to help move the Senate into the 21^st Century. If you are from Hawaii, New York, or Connecticut your letters are incredibly important at this moment.

Sunshine Proposals from Open Secrets

by Bill Allison Mar 15, 2007 3:30 pm

Speaking of the Center for Responsive Politics, it's probably worth noting that they've issued some useful suggestions to increase government transparency and the ease of accessing government records, all in time for Sunshine Week. Also worth noting that they provide a list of contacts at the bottom of the page so you can pass on their suggestions. They're all good, but here's one that I think is tremendously important:

Politicians might call it party-building, but the contributions they make from their personal political action committees (a.k.a. leadership PACs) seem more like career-building, as they collect chits to secure a committee chairmanship or leadership position.
Continue reading

Action: Senate Electronic Filing Update

by Paul Blumenthal Mar 13, 2007 5:17 pm

Tomorrow at 10 AM the Senate Rules and Administration Committee will hold a hearing on Sen. Russ Feingold's bill to require Senators to file their FEC reports electronically. As documented in many different places this would save taxpayers at least $250,000 and would make tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions much more accessible and available to journalists, bloggers, and the public at large. It's a win-win. If haven't called your Senator to ask them if they support the bill (S. 223) you should. And report back to us (info@sunlightfoundation.com) about where they stand.

This is the first hearing into the bill which will be followed by a markup in a couple of weeks. The key for this bill to advance is for it to be unencumbered by other campaign finance related amendments. The bill must be reported out amendment-free or else it risks being defeated on the floor in the Senate.

Check out the Campaign Finance Institute for a wealth of research and information into this subject. (I've listed the current co-sponsors and the Rules and Administration committee members below the fold.)

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