As part of our initiative around procurement, we've been meeting with several experts, inside and outside the government, to get a broad perspective on contracting in the federal government. Many agree that federal procurement suffers from problems, whether it's over-budget, over-time contracts, the limited pool of government contractors, or the over-reliance of government on contractors to perform core governmental functions. What is the real source of these problems and how can we overcome them? Well the answer is pretty complicated, but over the last several weeks, the picture is coming into focus. Across all of these conversations we've had, there are several themes that have consistently stood out. Since we're making an effort to blog about our work as we go, I wanted to step back and summarize what we've learned. While there will be a host of problems specific to one agency or type of procurement, these themes seem to apply across the government, and aren't necessarily as earth-shattering as you might think.
Continue readingCoding, Not Just for the Boys
Instead of scheduling brunch plans or enjoying a lazy afternoon this weekend, close to 40 women took over the Sunlight conference room this past Saturday for an all-female software training program conducted by GeekChic. Here at Sunlight, we were happy to host the training and help cultivate more developers in the DC community with the hopes of increasing awareness of open data and turning these future developers on to our APIs and databases.
While many our developer colleagues were participating in the National Day of Civic Hacking, a number of us were here writing our first lines of code. In the seven-hour training intensive, we covered the basics of command line, learned to write and execute code in Python, got our style on with some basic CSS and HTML training as well as created our first web app on Django. (Whew, that was exhausting just recounting what we did.) Six Sunlighters, with a range of tech know how, participated in the training and here’s what we learned (and real life testimonials on why you shouldn’t be afraid to learn to code!). If you are interested in partnering with Sunlight to host technology workshops, please contact events@sunlightfoundation.com.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 5/31/2013
NEWS:
- Tobacco behemoth Reynolds American Inc. spent big to support a number of politically active nonprofit groups during 2012. The company sent $175,000 to Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform and $50,000 to the Koch brother's Americans for Prosperity. (Public Integrity)
- Chevron, on of America's most prolific corporate super PAC donors, faced a threat to their political largesse yesterday, but their shareholders did not give in to an attempt to ban the company from using corporate funds for political activities. (Public Integrity)
- Chicago is losing its Chief Data and Information Officer Brett Goldstein to the private sector. Goldstein is moving to a fellowship at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy where he will explore new ways to "marry data and government," for two years. (Government Technology)
- Republican Senator John Thune, the number 3 GOP Senator, isn't a big fan of super PACs and other outside political spending groups, but he seems resigned to their continue existence. (Roll Call)
- Former Bush administration official and executive at the American Hotel & Lodging Association is taking the reins at the Business Council, an influential group of business leaders who hold high-level policy discussions several times a year. (POLITICO)
- Ben, of Ben & Jerry's ice cream fame, is heading to Washington to speak in favor of getting money out of politics. In 2012 he started a campaign to "stamp money out of politics." (POLITICO) Continue reading
Note to Volcker Alliance: push transparency
When Paul Volcker announced this week that he was starting a new organization–the Volcker Alliance–whose goal is to “restore public... View Article
Continue readingSee You at National Day of Civic Hacking this Weekend
This weekend, patriotism gets a technical upgrade as civic hackers and open government advocates all across the U.S. will participate in National Day of Civic Hacking events. At Sunlight, we've witnessed (and encouraged!) the growth of the community of civic hackers, and are proud to sponsor and participate in several events this weekend.
Will we see you there?
Politwoops U.S. Turns One!
The Sunlight Foundation's Politwoops U.S. adaptation of the original Politwoops.nl turns one-year-old today and it has certainly made an impression.
Continue readingTransparency advocates from all around the world
A few months ago, we embarked on a journey to create a repository of civil society organizations working around transparency and open data issues from all around the world. With our annual TransparencyCamp having evolved into a significant hub for open government advocates alongside Sunlight’s growing involvement in the global and municipal open data movement, it seemed a logical next step to map the landscape of like-minded folks and create a single spreadsheet that tracks local and international players in the field.
Continue readingHouse’s Legislative Data and Transparency Conference a Success
Yesterday, the House of Representatives hosted its 2013 Legislative Data and Transparency Conference. More than 100 people attended, with speakers... View Article
Continue readingCalls for Reform of IRS Rules Face Resistance from Dark Money Advocates
Eight groups, including the Sunlight Foundation, sent letters to the House and Senate, urging Members of Congress to adopt legislation... View Article
Continue readingThe Political Spending of 501(c)(4) Nonprofits in the 2012 Election
Throughout the 2012 election cycle, Sunlight followed the unlimited money. From super PACs and corporations to unions and “dark money” we collected, in real time, the political spending reported by these outside groups. With the 501(c)(4) social welfare nonprofits back in the news again (and the IRS’s enforcement of them), we wanted to take a closer look at how these organizations spent money to influence the 2012 election. We often use the term “dark money” to describe these groups since they can spend an unlimited amount on independent expenditures and electioneering communications yet they do not have to disclose their donors. For more information on how to track all types of federal campaign finance disclosures, check out this handy infographic. Overall, dark money groups reported $300 million in independent expenditures in 2012. Of the 50 groups who spent the most, 15 are 501(c)(4) nonprofits. Using our Follow The Unlimited Money tracker, Political Ad Sleuth, Ad Hawk and return on investment calculations, here is how they made an impact in the race for the White House and Congress.
Continue reading
59063
