Sen. Angus King responded quickly to the Supreme Court’s decision in McCutcheon v. FEC today, announcing the Real Time Transparency Act of 2014, requiring 48-hour disclosure of hard money campaign contributions of $1,000 or more.
Continue readingMeasuring Lobbyists with Raspberry Pi
A few of us in the labs dabble in hardware hacking, and we were all pretty excited by the debut of the Raspberry Pi. So when we saw that MAKE Magazine was running a contest for creative uses of the Pi, we figured we'd better enter. As it happens, I had picked up a handsome vintage voltmeter at Uncommon Objects during a recent trip to Austin, and had been toying with the idea of making it Pi-enabled. With this competition for inspiration I decided to take the plunge.
Continue readingNew York Proposed Regulations Move Toward Greater Campaign Finance Disclosure
Yesterday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman attempted to throw down the gauntlet on campaign finance disclosure regulations for New... View Article
Continue readingLobbying Reform in Delaware: One Step at a Time
Last week, the Delaware legislature sent an interesting bill to Governor Jack Merkell: SB 185, a short, targeted piece of... View Article
Continue readingTop lobbyist hones his craft on Twitter
Lobbying may be lagging behind other industries in its use of Twitter, as lobbyists favor more confidential communications, but that... View Article
Continue readingCalls and Calendars for Congress?
...the AP focuses on the results of an examination after they obtained Treasury Dept. records, but when it comes to transparency, the fact that the AP was able to obtain the records at all is perhaps even more important. In obtaining Geithners phone records through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the AP got a "behind-the-scenes glimpse at the continued influence of three companies..."
Continue readingTracking Lobbyists’ Real Influence
It's important we know lobbyists' REAL influence on the people we elect to represent us - and before today, that's not something we could really do. While yesterday you may have looked up a lobbyist online and seen only that the individual had contributed a couple hundred dollars to a senator, you can now see the entire 'bundle' of contributions around that lobbyist or company which can total in the tens of thousands.
Continue readingReal-Time Data Program Wins Innovation Award
I know this is a couple days old, but it hasn’t been mentioned here yet. The District of Columbia’s real-time... View Article
Continue readingWhat Can “You Lie” Tell Us About Real Time Disclosure?
Rob Miller, a Marine and congressional candidate in South Carolina’s 2nd district, probably didn’t expect to become an overnight star... View Article
Continue readingReturn on Lobbying Investment: 22,000%
There’s a reason why lobbying has boomed so much over the last decade. The potential return on investment is just... View Article
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