Here is Wednesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. Here is the weeks first look! News Roundup:
Technology
- British officials are considering creating an Ipad app specifically for Prime Minister David Cameron. The App would be designed to deliver key data directly to Cameron's Ipad. (Yahoo/AP)
- 2012 looks like it will be a year of more data, but less money for government IT programs. Luckily, it is widely agreed that there is ample room for efficiency improvements. (NextGov)
- The battle over SOPA continues to develop and bloggers from all political sides are coming out against the legislation, some going so far as to argue that it would destroy the concept of blogging. (Politico)
Campaign Finance
- Over $10 million has been spent on political radio and tv ads in Iowa in the past month alone. Most of the money was spent by Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, and their affiliated Super PACs. (Politico)
- The Young Guns PAC, created to support a group of House Republicans only four months ago, appears to be disbanding already. (Politico)
International
- A new Taiwanese project is taking advantage of crowd sourced financing and ideas to spark a new wave of investigative journalism. (Global Voices)
- The Developing Latin America project, a public hackathon aimed at finding technical solutions to various public issues using open data, produced interesting results in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and other countries. (Global Voices)
2Day in #OpenGov 12/27/2011
Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here is Tuesday’s take on transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 12/26/2011
It's going to be a quiet week, but that won't stop us from highlighting transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. Here is the weeks first look! News Roundup:
International
- The eight countries to submit their Open Government Partnership plans have addressed the concept of transparency in a wide variety of ways. (NextGov)
- Two Bolivian groups organized a citizen journalism contest that wrapped up on December 1. The winners were just announced. (Global Voices)
- Agencies set up to deal with corruption in Nigerian politics struggle to fulfill their missions. (Sahara Reporters)
Lobbying
- The American League of Lobbyists has asked Kentucky's Legislative Ethics Commission to rescind their speaking invitation to Jack Abramoff. (Lobby Comply)
- Take a look at these Venn diagrams for a great visual of revolving door connections. (Tech Dirt/Lessig)
State and Local
- The man behind Stearns County, Minnesota's award winning website sat down to talk about the project, explaining why it was a success. (Government Technology)
- California's online campaign finance search system is 12 years old and showing its age. It crashed at the end of November and the Secretary of State's office hasn't been able to get it back up since. (TechPresident)
2Day in #OpenGov 12/22/2011
Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. I’m heading home for the holidays tomorrow, so here is the weeks last... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 12/21/2011
Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey wrote this post. Here is Wednesday’s look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 12/20/2011
Here is the Tuesday's take on transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Lobbying
- National political parties took more money from lobbyists in the first half of this year than in any other six-month period on record. Democrats raised 30% more lobbyist cash than Republicans. (Washington Times)
- Rep. Tom Cole's (R-OK) former deputy chief of staff is heading through the revolving door to join Steptoe & Johnson as a senior government affairs adviser. (National Journal)
Government
- Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced legislation as an alternative to the Protect IP and SOPA measures currently being considered. His OPEN act will soon be joined by a companion bill set to be introduced in the House by Darrell Issa (R-CA). (The Hill)
Campaign Finance
- Mitt Romney called recent changes in campaign finance law a "mockery" of campaign season and advocated getting rid of Super PACs. (Washington Post)
- A government watchdog filed a complaint with the FEC against Newt Gingrich's production company. The complaint alleges that Gingrich Productions made illegal contributions to Gingrich's presidential campaign. (National Journal)
- The International Association of Fire Fighters is coming back from a nine month hiatus on giving and donating to members of Congress. In the past, the association has been among the biggest PACs in terms of candidate contributions. (Politico)
International
- Representatives from member countries of the Open Government Partnership met in Brasilia, Brazil last week. There was plenty of Twitter chatter about the event. (Global Integrity)
- Libyans are excited to exercise new political freedoms, but are concerned about their lack of exposure to democratic practices and transparency in government. (NDI)
2Day in #OpenGov 12/19/2011
Here is the week's first look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Lobbying
- The Volcker rule, intended to block banks from the type of trading that triggered the 2008 financial crisis, has been the target of a massive lobbying campaign as well as heavy citizen input. (Roll Call $)
- LightSquared, the wireless firm that the GOP claims benefited from its White House relationships, have hired Patton Boggs, a leading lobbying firm. (The Hill)
- A U.S. Chamber of Commerce staffer is heading to the hill to work for Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL). Dave Natonski will become Schock's deputy chief of staff, he previously worked as the representative's communications director before joining the Chamber. (National Journal)
Government
- If the House stays in session through Wednesday the Judiciary Committee will resume its markup of the Stop Online Privacy Act. The markup has already stretched over two days, with opponents of the bill offering numerous amendments in hopes of changing provisions that they view as harmful to internet freedom. (The Hill)
- Meanwhile, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) vowed to filibuster the PROTECT IP act, the Senate's version of SOPA. (Politico)
- Starting January 1, the House of Representatives will make many of its legislative documents available online in open data format. (Tech President)
Campaign Finance
- Five major Democratic political groups are in talks to coordinate their strategies to raise as much money as possible in advance of the 2012 presidential election. the pro-Obama Super PAC Priorities USA and four other groups are hoping to target major Democratic donors that have, so far, stayed on the sidelines this year. (Politico)
Ethics
- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) has pledged to push legislation suppressing congressional corruption next year. His proposal will expand on the STOCK Act, which would only explicitly ban insider trading by members of Congress. (Politico)
- Four sitting members of Congress may have received discounted loans through a VIP program run by Countrywide Financial. The program was used to build relationships with government officials and other well positioned clients. (Politico)
2Day in #OpenGov 12/16/2011
It's Friday and this is week's final look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
Campaign Finance
- The FEC declined to write new rules that would require more information about donors backing political advertisements. The panel deadlocked 3-3 on the vote. (Politico)
- A federal judge struck down Alabama's ban on PAC-to-PAC money transfers. The Alabama Democratic Conference brought the suit, alleging that the law prohibited their PAC from accepting money from other PACs to use on voter communication and turnout efforts. (Lobby Comply)
Access to Information
- Massachusetts launched a new transparency website aimed to help users interpret state spending data. The site uses graphics and visualizations to break down the data. (Government Technology)
- The Army's case against Bradley Manning, accused of leaking thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, has been highly opaque. It will gain a bit of transparency at a public legal hearing scheduled for today. (Politico)
Government
- The Chairman of the Office of Congressional Ethics, Porter Goss, recused himself from the post because his son is running for Congress in Florida. He will remain on the board, but will not be involved in any investigative activities. (National Journal)
- The joint House and Senate 2012 appropriations bill released yesterday restores some funding to the E-Gov fund and ensures that it's budget will be independent from that of the Citizen Services Fund. (Nextgov)
- The Justice Department has recovered nearly $7 in fraud for every dollar it has spent on health care enforcement over the past three years. It also recovered more than $5.6 billion in criminal and civil fraud in the past year. (POGO)
International
- The British Lord Chief Justice issued guidance that will allow journalists in England and Wales to tweet from court. Previously, reporters had to make an application to the individual judge overseeing a case. (BBC)
2Day in #OpenGov 12/15/2011
Here is Thursday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
Campaign Finance
- Reform groups renewed their request for the IRS to investigate if nonprofits that spend millions on political activities are eligible for their tax-exempt status. In a letter, the groups called out organizations including Americans Elect and Crossroads GPS. (Roll Call $)
- A new report from POGO and CRP found that companies involved in the Joint Strike Fighter program contributed almost twice as much money to lawmakers who joined the newly-formed Joint Strike Fighter Caucus than they did to other lawmakers. (Government Executive)
- The DCCC has charted an aggressive fundraising course heading into 2012. They recently erased $19 million in debt and are almost debt free as they prepare to spend on 2012 races. (Politico)
Government
- A small language change in the defense bill sparked a large lobbying battle this week. The edit, backed by Florida lawmakers and lobbyists for Odyssey Marine Explorations, would have made it easier for the company to claim $500 million worth of treasure from a shipwreck. The Spanish government and the Obama administration opposed the language and it was eventually removed. (Washington Post)
- Code for America got a $1.5 million grant from Google to continue their efforts at making governments work better for people. (Government Technology)
State and Local
- California's online campaign finance database has been offline for the past two weeks and the Secretary of State doesn't know when it will be back up. (Lobby Comply)
- A Missouri State Representative introduced a wide ranging ethics bill that would ban lobbyist gifts, strictly limit campaign contributions, and prohibit legislators from working as political consultants. (Lobby Comply)
2Day in #OpenGov 12/12/2011
Here is the week's first look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Lobbying
- Last year, the Obama administration pledged to strengthen regulations on for-profit colleges. The industry responded by spending $16 million to lobby their case. The result: the Department of Education produced a weak plan that is likely to have much less impact that the administration initially planned. (New York Times)
- Former Representative and ambassador to India Tim Roemer (D-Ind.) joined public affairs firm APCO Worldwide as a senior vice president. (Roll Call $)
- The controversial Keystone XL pipeline has seen its fair share of lobbying, according to Senate records. 42 lobbying firms, associations, and companies have registered to lobby on the issue since 2009. (The Hill)
Campaign Finance
- Crossroads GPS, the outside group formed by Karl Rove, is preparing a $500,000 ad assault against Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), who is still deciding if he will run for a third term. (National Journal)
Government
- Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) released a report detailing earmarks included in this year's defense authorization bill. According to the report, the bill included 115 earmarks worth $834 million. (Washington Post)
- A new poll shows that the majority of average Americans think members of Congress have low honesty and ethical standards. The poll ranks members of Congress below telemarketers and lobbyists. (Politico)
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