NEWS ROUNDUP:

• The Italian Senate began publishing all of its bills in XML earlier this month. They have also recently released an open data portal. (ICT Parliament)
• Federal agencies were required to file reports on how they handled FOIA requests by February 1. However, as of the 27th only five out of 15 cabinet departments have their reports publicly listed on the Justice Department's central site. (Investigative Reporting Workshop)
• Federal CTO Todd Park thinks that open-data innovation is going to unleash a "whole new wave of awesomeness for our country," from mapmakers and geospatial developers. (Federal Computer Week)
• A new report from Demos, a left-leaning nonprofit policy organization, suggests that recent changes in campaign finance laws have helped widen the power imbalance between wealthy and poor Americans. (Public Integrity)
• K Street is taking signs that Capitol Hill is preparing to deal with tax reform seriously. Lobbyists are stepping up outreach, trying to save their clients' preferred tax breaks. (The Hill)
• One of House Speaker John Boehner's closest advisers is heading through the revolving door and onto K street. Barry Jackson, who has worked with Boehner sine his first house race and most recently served as his chief of staff, will join Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a strategic adviser. (The Hill)
• Vassilis Papageorgopoulos, the former mayor of Greece's second largest city, and two of his top aides were sentenced to life in prison this week. They were convicted of embezzling more than $23 million in public money. (New York Times)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• A new study by the Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) found that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has failed to put many records from meetings, oral communications, and public comments related to agency rulemaking on its website. (Government Executive)
• Expected 2016 Republican presidential contender Marco Rubio isn't hesitating to start setting up his bid. In recent weeks he has been meeting with powerful GOP financiers who could provide him with crucial fundraising support. (Politico)
• Cook County Illinois CIO Lydia Murray sat down to talk about collaborating with the city of Chicago and the changing role of the CIO in municipal government. (Government Technology)
• A super PAC set up to target Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made it's already difficult job even harder through number of gaffes this week. First, the group came under attack from all sides for racist tweets about the Senator's wife. Then, word emerged that the FEC warned the group after they missed a required deadline. (The Washington Times)
• Robin Kelly, Michael Bloomberg's favored candidate to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. in the House, won the Democratic primary on Tuesday, almost assuring her a place on Capitol Hill. Bloomberg, whose super PAC spent around $2 million supporting her, plans to continue to support candidates that favor gun control. Washington Post)
• Represent.US and United Republic are planning a "Stop Lobbyist Bribery" K Street 5k run to raise awareness for their American Anti-Corruption Act. No word if Jack Abramoff, who supports the organizations, will be participating. (Roll Call)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• Lobbyists are getting nervous about the potential for the Supreme Court to strike down caps on individual contributions to lawmakers and parties in the coming year. They are worried that they will be courted for donations even more aggressively than they already are. (The Hill)
• Former deputy secretary of state recently rode back through the revolving door. Before serving in the public sector Nides was the chief operating officer at Morgan Stanley. He is heading back to the investment banking giant to serve as vice chairman. (Washington Post)
• The race to replace disgraced Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. probably doesn't feel that out of place to many of the district's voters. For the past three decades every person to represent Illinois' 2nd congressional district has ended up in legal and ethical trouble. (Politico)
• A group of former staffers on President Obama's reelection campaign are starting a group dedicated to making Texas more competitive for Democrats. Battleground Texas will focus on expanding the electorate by registering voters and turning on those who are unengaged. (Washington Post)
• The saga of Organizing for Action, the nonprofit spin off of President Obama's reelection campaign, continued today as watchdog group Common Cause called on the President to shut down the group. (Washington Post)
• Netflix may have decided to produce their new political drama House of Cards thanks to analysis of the flood of data that they collect about their subscriber's viewing habits. (MIT Technology Review)
• A recent study focusing on a World Bank project in Kenya used forensics economics techniques to spot numerical patterns in the project's accounts that helped identify clues to corruption. The technique could be used on future projects to spot irregularities before they become serious. (Trust Law)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• Special interests ranging from defense contractors to university professors and everything else in betweent lobbied against the sequester, which looks more and more likely to go into effect at the end of this week. (Roll Call)
• Georgian officials charged Tblisi mayor Gigi Ugulava with money laundering and misusing state funds. It is the latest in a string of charges levied against allies of President Mikheil Saakashvili. (Wall Street Journal)
• Nearly five months after passing legislation mandating it, San Francisco has not hired a chief data officer and isn't showing signs that they are in any hurry to do so. (GovFresh)
• The Supreme Court decided to limit the number of campaign finance cases they will consider this year. Yesterday they declined to take up a chalenge to the ban on direct corporate contributions to candidates and parties. They are expected to rule on a challenge to individual donation limits in the coming term. (Roll Call)
• White House press secretary Jay Carney denied that access to President Obama was for sale following reports that he would hold quarterly meetings with major donors to Organizing for Action, the new nonprofit rising from the ashes of his reelection campaign.  (Politico)
• Al Jazeera continues to add lobbyists to its bench as it ramps up its US operations. The network added the Law Offices of George R. Salem, PLLC to a roster that already includes DLA Piper, Global Policy Initiatives, and TCK International.(Public Integrity)
• New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed campaign finance legislation that passed the New York City Council 47-1 recently. The legislation would have weakened disclosure rules related to internal labor and corporate political messaging. His veto can be overruled by a two-thirds majority. (Lobby Comply)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• New York Governor, and assumed 2016 presidential candidate, Andrew Cuomo is planning a series of huge dollar fundraisers. He already has more than $22 million in his campaign account and no major challenger in his 2014 race for another term in the New York state house. (Politico)
• The leaders of Organizing for Action, the Obama campaign spin off that is looking to promote issues at federal and state levels, appear to be coordinating with just about everyone from Hollywood executives, to former members of the campaign's finance team, to the President himself as they plot their fundraising and action strategy. (Washington Post)
• Wireless company Qualcomm has agreed to ramp up disclosure of its political spending following a law suit filed by the New York State Common Retirement Fund. In exchange for the suit being dropped Qualcomm will post its political contributions and expenditures online. It will also disclose the money it spends to influence ballot measures. (The Hill)
• The White House released a memo directing federal agencies to create plans to provide free public access to the results of federally funded scientific research. The memo, which was released in response to a petition on the White House's We the People platform, is parallel to legislation that has been introduced in the House. (Politico)
• South Korea is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Unfortunately, there is a strong culture of government censorship and little has been done to use technology to increase transparency. A nascent group of NGOs is trying to change that. (Tech President)
• A top energy adviser to Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign is taking a lobbying job with a major natural gas company. Rebecca Rosen, who also previously worked on the Senate's energy committee, will join Devon Energy Corp. as vice president of federal government affairs. (The Hill)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• A bill being floated in the Kentucky Senate would prohibit lobbying during legislative sessions. If passed, lobbyists would face a $500 fine for each violation.(Lobby Comply)
• Photographer Misha Friedman was approached by the Institute of Modern Russia, a pro-democracy group, to shoot a series exploring corruption in Russia. The resulting photographs highlight the countries history, institutions, and ground-level realities. (Huffington Post)
• This week the Supreme Court heard arguments in McBurney v. Young, a case questioning whether states should be made to provide equal treatment to citizens and companies from other states with respect to public records laws. (Politico)
• Microsoft is looking to Washington for strategy, and personnel, in its battle against rival Google. They recently signed up Jonathan Collegio, who worked for conservative group American Crossroads during the last election. Indications are that he has been working to plant stories that are critical of Google. They also hired Mark Penn, a former Hillary Clinton strategist, to lead a $90 million negative ad attack against the company. (Politico $)
• Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), the front-runner to replace John Kerry in the Senate, expressed his support for a constitutional amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision this week. (Washington Post)
• Los Angeles is one of the last major American cities to have its own mobile app, announced earlier this month, but city leaders are confident that it will be one of the best around. The release of the app will coincide with a major overhaul to LA's website. (Government Technology)
• Opinion: The revolving door between banks and the government agencies and legislators tasked with regulating and overseeing them is as strong as ever. Recent staff changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and on the staff of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid illustrate the trend. (New York Times)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• David Axelrod, former Obama chief campaign strategist and current NBC News talking head, went on a twitter rant against money in politics that implied he would support unlimited, disclosed donations to candidates if it meant the end of super PACs and other outside groups. (Politico)
• It seems that Newt Gingrich has joined the Tea Party's war against Karl Rove and other pragmatic Republicans. Gingrich attacked the idea of using super PACs and other unlimited spending groups to promote more moderate, electable candidates saying "we don't want to become a party in which a handful of...bosses gather up money from billionaires in order to destroy the candidates which they don't like." (Washington Post)
• As the Supreme Court prepares to consider another case that could continue to erode limits on campaign giving, National Journal explores the possible implications of a decision in favor of the RNC and donor Shaun McCutcheon.(National Journal)
• The Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission have dropped a probe into allegations that Minessota-based 3M violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The company had disclosed, and investigated, possible violations at a subsidiary in Tureky. (Wall Street Journal)
• Oakland, CA is doing its best to out due its neighbor San Francisco in the open government arena, even if San Fran does have better PR. Oakland has a growing and robust open government community and is getting buy in from the local government. (Govfresh)
• The race to replace disgraced Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who plead guilty to campaign finance violations, has attracted almost $3 million in outside spending, most of it from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super PAC. (Public Integrity)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• The video game Minecraft is being combined with open data to allow citizens to "hack" their cities. Real-life locations can be created and edited within the game. (Tech President)
• The International Budget Partnership recently released the latest edition of their Open Budget Survey, tracking spending transparency around the world. 77 out of 100 countries failed to meet the survey's standards. (Huffington Post)
• The Supreme Court has agreed to consider a case challenging the limit on how much an individual can donate to political candidates or parties over the course of an election cycle. The Republican National Committee teamed up with a wealthy Alabama donor, Shaun McCutcheon, to bring the case. (Roll Call)
• It appears Rufus Gifford, who led President Obama's mammoth reelection fundraising efforts is going to rewarded for a job well done. Obama is rumored to be considering tapping the longtime fundraiser and gay rights advocate to serve as ambassador to Denmark. (Washington Post)
• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is suing the IRS, claiming that the agencies regulations for politically active nonprofit groups are currently out of line with tax law. (Roll Call)
• A number of government watchdogs are expressing their concern that the President's recent silence on campaign finance reform, combined with the creation of a group able to raise and spend unlimited funds from the remnants on his campaign apparatus, have resulted in a system over-ripe for corruption. (The Hill)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• Both major Democratic candidates vying to fill the Massachusetts Senate seat recently vacated by Secretary of State John Kerry have taken a page from previous contenders Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown and signed the "peoples pledge" to try and keep outside money out of their race. However, their Republican counterpart has refused to sign. (Common Cause)
• Changes in Yemen's government that came in 2011 have led to firsts in the way that citizens interact with their leaders. Last October, a series of live televised town hall meetings allowed citizens to discuss issues with their leaders. (NDI)
• A group of volunteers spread out across Abuja, Nigeria's capital city, to help flesh out the city's presence on Google maps. The planned city is still being built. (Tech President)
• A small group of special interests has spent money over the past decade to push the federal government to track near-earth asteroids and other space objects. The issues is getting fresh scrutiny following a widely publicized meteor landing in Russia last week. (Public Integrity)
• Former Representative Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-IL) is set to plead guilty to charges that he illegally spent $750,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses. Some of his purchases include fur coats, flashy watches, and Bruce Lee memorabilia. (Politico)
• Opinion: The People's Pledge taken by Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown was effective, leading to a more positive tone and significantly reducing the outside spending in the race. (Politico)

NEWS ROUNDUP:

• The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has some new members and subcommittee heads. Notably, Claire McCaskill (D-MO) will now have oversight of financial transparency, procurement, and contracting issues. (Federal Computer Week)
• Many major lobbying firms are facing shortfalls in their PACs following the 2012 election compared to previous cycles. The firms appear to have spent big while trying to keep up with the torrent of outside cash that flooded what was the most expensive campaign ever. (Public Integrity)
• Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) is planning to re-introduce the Federal Research Public Access Act. The legislation would require researchers who receive federal funds to make their final papers available for free online. Companion legislation will likely be introduced in the Senate. (National Journal)
• The IRS paid $125.4 million to whistleblowers in 2012, significantly more than in 2011. The boost was mostly due to a $104 million payout to former UBS banker and whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld. Over the past five years the IRS has collected almost $1.5 billion as a result of its whistleblower program. (Wall Street Journal)
• The OMB is pledging to improve the accuracy of spending data on USASpending.gov. Dan Werfel, OMB's Controller, highlighted transparency and the need for standardized data across government at a speech on Wednesday. (Federal Computer Week)