This week, new details emerge about the plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow, reports show investigations into Scott Pruitt, the former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have ended due to his resignation, and a judge has ruled the New York Attorney General’s lawsuit against the Trump Foundation can proceed.
Continue readingComey’s testimony is another important step in transparency
Today's open hearing with the former director of the FBI in the United States Senate Intelligence Committee was a signal moment in modern American history,
Continue readingOn truth, justice and the American way
In 135 cities around the United States today, including Washington, DC, Americans are marching for truth. The coalition behind the... View Article
Continue readingInvestigate corrupt cash overseas with Sunlight and TI-Russia’s new webinar series
Ever wanted to investigate corrupt cash overseas but didn’t know where to start? Now, we're partnering with Transparency International Russia to provide peer-to-peer learning experiences. Sign up now!
Continue readingCrowdsourcing to Fight Corruption: Aleksei Navalny and the RosPil Experiment
A few weeks ago, Russia’s most popular and controversial opposition figure, anti-corruption activist Aleksei Navalny, was tossed in prison on charges of conspiring to steal money from a state owned lumber corporation -- only to be set free less than a day later pending action from a higher court. The shocking turn of events has once again thrust Navalny and his campaign against public sector corruption into the global limelight. While Navalny’s legal future may occupy the headlines, we wanted to focus on Navalny’s anti-corruption website RosPil, a state procurement monitoring site where troves of government contracts and tenders are scrutinized by eager volunteers searching for signs of corruption.
Could the United Nations squelch freedom on the Internet?
Activists expressed concern this week that several United Nations proposals to regulate the Internet would undermine freedom and give too much control over the World Wide Web.
Proposals to centralize Internet regulation will be discussed at the two upcoming U.N. winter conferences -- the Internet Governance Forum in November and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) meeting in December.
But panelists at “Clear and Present Danger: Attempts to Change Internet Governance and Implications for Press Freedom,” a National Endowment for Democracy forum in Washington argued for maintaining a more decentralized Internet.
“We see the potential to shift Internet governance away from ...
Continue readingForeign Transparency Policies the US Government Could Learn From
The White House blog recently wrote about Obama’s trip to India and mentioned that US-based organizations could learn from Indian... View Article
Continue readingWashington Post cites Russian role in Kyrgyzstan unrest
The Washington Post reports that "Kremlin-friendly television stations and newspapers" and Russian economic sanctions played a key role in the toppling of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
Though Bakiyev fled the country on April 7, he has refused to resign his post.
Kyrgyzstan provides a key air base to U.S. forces engaged in Afghanistan. Allegations of corruption in supplying the base by officials figured in the toppling of both the previous government and that of Bakiyev, according to the New York Times.
The effort to topple Bakiyev, the Post reported, "...was a sharp departure from Russia's traditional support for ...
From Russia With Love
Bribes, congressional wives, lobbyist children, far-flung countries, and jet-setting congressmen. Add it all together and you’re reading the ingredient label... View Article
Continue readingEarmarks Unrelated to Campaign Contributions, Earmark Recipients Claim
In the Denver Post, Anne C. Mulkern reports on the earmarks of Rep. Doug Lamborn and finds one of those "only in Washington" wordings that make the head spin:
Lamborn made seven requests for projects tied to specific companies. Of those, five were to businesses whose political action committees had given him campaign contributions. Officials with two of the companies, Goodrich Corp. and Aeroflex Inc., said there's no connection between their contributions and their requests for earmarks. The political action committees support lawmakers who back defense spending, both said. The committee wants to help lawmakers who are the most responsive to their business needs, said Thomas Bezas, Aeroflex's vice president of government and trade. "We want to do everything we can to make sure they stay in office," Bezas said. "The longer they stay in office, the more it benefits our company."So they make contributions to a member who's most responsive to their business needs, who supports defense spending, but their business needs have nothing to do with earmarks, and awarding defense earmarks is unrelated to defense spending? Continue reading
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