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:
Campaign Finance
- House Democrats are pushing Dan Lungren (R-CA), Chairman of the Committee on House Administration, to hold an oversight hearing on super PACs and the role of undisclosed money in the American political system. (The Hill)
- PG&E, a controversial California utility company, donated $10,000 to a super PAC supporting Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA). His primary opponent, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), is using this connection in a new piece of attack mail. (Politico)
- Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY) asked President Obama to exclude HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius from a new policy allowing administration officials to attend fundraisers for pro-Obama super PACs. He claims that her participation would present a clear conflict of interest because she is overseeing the roll out of health care reform. (National Journal)
- The Federal government has taken many steps to make information available online. But, the goal of a fully transparent federal budget publicly available online is still far from fruition. (Federal Computer Week)
- Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is losing his Chief of Staff to the revolving door. C.R. Wooters is leaving to join Purple Strategies. (Roll Call $)
International
- Europeans view corruption as one of the most important challenges facing the continent, according to a new survey. (Transparency International)
- From September 17th to 22nd, 2012 Helsinki, Finland will play host to both the Open Government Data Camp and the Open Knowledge Conference. (Open Knowledge Foundation)
- Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) asked Twitter for more information about the company's new policy to censor some tweets in certain countries. They also urged Twitter to join the Global Network Initiative, a voluntary code for tech companies to protect human rights. (The Hill)
2Day in #OpenGov 2/15/2012
Here is the Wednesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
Campaign Finance
- Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who is running for Congress in Illinois' 8th district, took a cue from the Massachusetts Senate race and challenged her primary opponent Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) to reject super PAC contributions. (National Journal)
- President Obama spoke publicly for the first time about his change in opinion on super PACs. He stressed that he would not back down while his opponents utilize the funding mechanisms. (Politico)
- The Justice Department won this years Rosemary Award, presented by the George Washington University-based National Security Archive. The award honors the agency that has done the most to enhance government secrecy and keep the public in the dark. (Washington Post)
- Performance.gov currently lacks performance data about federal operations. But, President Obama's budget proposal appears to aim at publishing agency goal progress by the fall of 2012. (Fierce Government)
- On his last day as Federal CTO, Aneesh Chopra unveiled an Open Innovator's Toolkit to highlight best practices and address the shift and expansion of open innovation. (Fierce Government)
State and Local
- The State Integrity Investigation has released extensive data on transparency in U.S. State Governments. (iWatch News)
- Frederick, Maryland's government spending data is now available online through the new Transparent Frederick portal. Additional features are expected in the coming months. (Government Technology)
- The open source platform DistrictBuilder, was created as part of the Public Mapping Project to allow citizens to have their voices heard in the redistricting process. (Gov Fresh)
2Day in #OpenGov 2/14/2012
Here is Tuesday's take on transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
Campaign Finance
- Most Republican presidential candidates have declined to disclose the identities of their bundlers. (Yahoo/AP)
- At least four Cabinet secretaries have signaled their willingness to participate in activities aimed at helping Democratic super PACs raise money. (iWatch News)
- The Obama administration's 2013 budget proposal does not include a previously considered plan to require contractors to disclose political contributions when submitting contract bids. (Federal Computer Week)
- Civic Commons, created to foster the use of open-source technology in government, will become part of Code for America. Civic Commons work helping governments build open software that can be shared among jurisdictions will be discontinued. (Tech President)
- The Open Source Digital Voting Foundation is working to make election software more open and secure. (Gov Fresh)
International
- India is the first major democratic country to request that internet companies institute sweeping content filtering policies. Google, Facebook Twitter, and other companies are slated to present plans for filtering "offensive content" by February 21. (Global Voices)
- Brazil, a co-chair of the OGP, is scheduled to host a meeting of more than 50 participating countries in April. But, they have struggled to secure broad citizen participation in their own OGP plans. (Observing Brazil)
2Day in #OpenGov 2/13/2012
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:
Campaign Finance
- A major donor to the Rick Santorum supporting Red, White, and Blue Fund, Wyoming Millionaire Foster Friess, was at CPAC last week to introduce the former Senator. (National Journal)
- Editorial: The DISCLOSE Act is desperately needed. (New York Times)
- The New Hampshire Legislature passed a law to make open data and open source software included by default in the state's procurement process. (Tech President)
- A former legislative adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services is joining Group Health Cooperative as its director of federal government relations. In addition to HHS, Madeline Otto has previously worked as a legislative assistant to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL). (National Journal)
- The Aerospace Industries Association hired their new vice president of acquisition policy from the House Appropriations Committee. William Greenwalt has deep government procurement experience. (Federal Computer Week)
International
- After a year of high profile anti-corruption protests, a new report shows that state-owned companies have made progress becoming more open. (Transparency International)
- Iran appears to be instituting an internet blackout in advance of protests planned for Tuesday. (Global Voices)
- America Speaks and Global Voices are hosting a webinar to explore how Open Government Partnership countries can more effectively engage with their citizens while developing their OGP Action Plans. (Global Integrity)
2Day in #OpenGov 2/10/2012
Here is the week's last look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
Government
- Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) is under investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics for possible insider trading violations. (Washington Post)
- The House Administration Committee and the Library of Congress are trying to make it easier to find live video streams of house committee hearings. They created one centralized site to hold all relevant links. (ICT Parliament)
International
- A 2006 court case in Chile paved the way for access to public information laws throughout Latin America. Currently, 14 of the regions 19 countries have laws on the books, more than any other developing region in the world. (Open Society Blog)
- Brazil requested an injunction from Twitter to stop users from tweeting about police roadblocks, radar traps, and drunk-driving checkpoints. It appears to be the first time that a country has taken Twitter up on its plans to allow censorship of tweets that might break local laws. (Yahoo/AP)
State and Local
- The office of the New York City Comptroller currently provides comprehensive, daily updates on almost every check issued by the city. Now, they revamping their website and preparing to release the source code under an open-source license. (Tech President)
- The Washington, DC Attorney General ruled that a proposed ballot initiative to ban corporate donations to city candidates is eligible to move forward. Initiative organizers will have to gather 22,000 signatures to gain ballot access. (Washington Post)
2Day in #OpenGov 2/9/2012
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
- Senator John Tester (D-MT) took a cue from Senate candidates in Massachusetts and publicly challenged his Republican opponent, Rep. Denny Rehberg, to sign a pledge publicly rejecting TV and radio ads from third-party groups. (Politico)
- Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) endorsed Mitt Romney in advance of the Michigan Republican primary. The same morning, Upton had a fundraiser hosted by Romney's campaign lawyer Ben Ginsberg. (Republic Report)
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce jumped into the 2012 House and Senate elections. The Chamber will spend $10 million to advertise in eight Senate and 12 House races. (National Journal)
- There are currently 12 vacant Inspector General positions across the federal government. Where Are All the Watchdogs tracks the vacancies and provides information on the necessity of IGs. (POGO)
- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint against Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) over allegations that he accepted illegal campaign contributions. The story first came to light as part of a New York Times report. (The Hill)
International
- Users of the Chinese microblogging service Weibos who are located in Beijing are being required to post under their real names or be banned from the service. (Yahoo/Digital Trends)
- South Korean prosecutors indicted a freedom-of-speech activist for retweeting messages from an official North Korean government twitter account. The activist claimed his actions were meant as satire. (Global Voices)
2Day in #OpenGov 2/8/2012
Here is Wednesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
Government
- Conference committees, meant to reconcile differences between House and Senate bills, have proved less and less useful in recent years. More often deals are being cut behind closed doors and away from public scrutiny. (Washington Times)
- A new report found that, despite an earmark moratorium, a number of lawmakers directed tax dollars to a variety of programs that benefit their family members and areas near where they own property. (Washington Post)
- An amendment to the STOCK act will require political intelligence professionals to register under the lobbying disclosure law. But, they will not be subject to a cooling off period if they leave the Hill to work for a political intelligence firm. (National Journal)
- Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) hired Blue State Digital's client manager and senior communications strategist, Alex Kellner, to be her new digital director. (Tech President)
International
- Mzalendo is a transparency website dedicated to monitoring the Parliament of Kenya. It has been around for several years, but recently undertook a major overhaul. (My Society)
- Ghana's president, up for reelection this year, is facing a massive corruption scandal that has already led to the resignation of two cabinet ministers. (Sahara Reporters)
2Day in #OpenGov 2/7/2012
Here is Tuesday's take on transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
Campaign Finance
- More than a third of advertising related to the presidential race has come from nonprofit groups that can keep their donors secret. (Washington Post)
- Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, regularly raises money from the defense industry. This year the industry found another member of his family to court, donating more than $19,000 to his wife Patricia, who is running for a seat in the California Legislature. (Republic Report)
- Former Senator Russ Feingold (D-Minn) a longtime advocate of campaign finance reform, came out strongly against President Obama's decision to promote the super PAC supporting him. (Politico)
- The Department of Energy recently launched a new web portal. They have run into some problems with data access and are still migrating some of their information. Additionally, the DOE has large amounts of information that they do not release to the public. (POGO)
- Federal CTO Aneesh Chopra covered a wide range of topics, including SOPA and open government, in his first major interview since announcing that he will step down. Wednesday is his last day as CTO. (The Atlantic)
International
- Russia is in the process of becoming a full party to the OECD's Anti-Bribery Convention. Bribery has been a problem in Russia for some time. (Transparency International)
2Day in #OpenGov 2/6/2012
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:
Campaign Finance
- Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, expressed his concern over the potential influence of outside spending on Congressional elections this year. (National Journal)
- Two new super PACs were registered last week, both opposed to the growing influence of money in politics. Citizens Against Super PACs intends to raise money and run ads to educate the public about super PACs and support candidates who support a constitutional amendment limiting or banning the groups. (Washington Times)
- Football related organizations have been spending record amounts on lobbying as Congress has stepped up its oversight of the game over the past few years. (Politico)
- Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) is losing his top health aide to the revolving door. Tyler Thompson is leaving Isakson for the health care practice at the Bockorny Group. (National Journal)
International
- Regards Citoyens, a French organization promoting open data, is holding an international conference on opening legislative data. The event will take place July 6-7 in Paris and feature the unveiling of a new legislative evolution monitoring tool. (Open Knowledge Foundation)
- A survey is being conducted, in preparation for the release of the World e-Parliament Report 2012, to measure progress of e-parliament and recent technological developments. (ICT Parliament)
- Following a regime change in 2011, many Tunisian politicians are turning to twitter and other social media to connect with citizens. (Global Voices)
2Day in #OpenGov 2/1/2012
Here is Wednesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:
Campaign Finance
- Barack Obama has relied heavily on bundlers to pull in huge donations for his reelection campaign. Notable new bundlers in the most recent FEC filings are a one-time chief of staff to former President Clinton and "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria. (Washington Times)
- New analysis shows that Stephen Colbert's focus on super PACs have had a real effect on his audience. Search traffic spikes whenever Colbert mentions the groups on his show. Meanwhile, his own super PAC raised over $1 million in 2011. (Washington Post)
- Some major Democratic super PACs and nonprofits reported raising over $19 million last year. This figure puts them far behind the top Republican groups. (iWatch News)
Government
- Federal investigators found that the Air Force illegally retaliated against four whistleblowers who revealed misconduct at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel recommended disciplinary action against three officials accused of retaliation. (Politico)
- Data.gov has seen mixed results with its launch. Some agencies actively post new data sets in machine-readable formats on a regular basis. But, others have lagged behind in making their data accessible. (Government Executive)
- The British government is testing a new web platform. Gov.UK is open source, mobile friendly, and open for feedback. (O'Reilly Radar)
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