Senators Wyden and Murkowski have offered a proposal to shine a light on dark money, and opened it up to... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/15/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Some major Washington trade groups are looking for new leadership and there is no shortage of recently retired members of Congress jockeying for the jobs. Groups that could look to former lawmakers to fulfill their needs include the American Gaming Association, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and the Fertilizer Institute. (The Hill)
- A new project aims to help the English-speaking world gain a deeper understanding of the conflict currently raging in Syria. Syria Deeply combines conflict mapping, analysis from correspondents on the ground, interviews with Syrians effected by the conflict, and more to provide a deeper look at the problem. (Tech President)
- If Senator John Kerry (D-MA) is confirmed as Secretary of State, and it is expected that he will be, the race to replace him is expected to attracted massive money, both from potential candidates and outside groups around the country. (Politico)
- Former Governor and GOP presidential hopeful John Huntsman and Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), the newly named leaders of moderate group No Labels, pledged to be transparent about their organization's finances. The group is not legally required to disclose its contributors. (National Journal)
- Silicon Valley Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), an early opponent of SOPA, discussed the open internet, copyright reform, and other issues that may or may not come up in the 113th Congress. (ArsTechnica)
- Reform groups are citing President Obama's loose rules on inauguration donations as only the most recent sign that the President doesn't care about the issue of money in politics. (NPR)
In Tribute to Transparency Activist Aaron Swartz (1986-2013)
We are all very shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic death of our friend and colleague, Aaron Swartz,... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/14/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- The Office of Congressional Ethics was reauthorized in the House rules package for the 113th congress. Watchdog groups had feared that the, sometimes controversial, agency might be hamstrung. (National Journal $)
- Rhode Island is launching a new government information portal that will provide access to government financial data including contracts, audits, and financial documents. The portal will also allow users to file public records requests. (Public Integrity)
- Last week, President Obama signed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act, which establishes the Do Not Pay Initiative. The law is aimed at minimizing improper payments.(Federal Computer Week)
- Denmark is launching a database to make corporate tax records available to the public. The database will include figures for the past year of corporate taxation, including information on which companies did not pay taxes.(Tech President)
- New York Governor is planning to implement a statewide open data portal, making good on a campaign promise to focus on transparency. The portal will post budget data in machine readable and graphical formats. (Tech President)
- The National Institutes of Health hired a chief data officer to lead a strategic initiative aimed at making the most out of biomedical research data. (Federal Computer Week)
- Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced several measures dealing with campaign finance reform in the first week of the 113th Congress. The bills include 3 proposed constitutional amendments and an effort to require broadcasters to provide free air time for political ads. (Lobby Comply)
2Day in #OpenGov 1/11/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Open Government leaders are meeting in Chile this week to discuss Latin American plans and adding Argentina to the Open Government Partnership. The OGP also released a variety of statistics on its first 16 months. (GovFresh)
- The Chamber of Commerce, one of the countries most powerful lobbying forces, is gearing up to fight against recent policy changes through the legal arena as well, by hiring more lawyers and preparing to attach the Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank financial regulation law with lawsuits. (National Journal)
- Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum is publicly opposing Chuck Hagel, his former colleague in the Senate. Santorum announced that he is planning to run ads against Hagel's nomination to serve as Secretary of Defense. (Politico $)
- Former Representative Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly launched a super PAC, Americans for Responsible Solutions, that hopes for raise $20 million by the 2014 elections to provide a counterweight to the NRA. (Politico)
- A growing number of Mexican Twitter users are using the service to provide real time coverage of violent crime that has emerged as an alternative to traditional news media outlets that sometimes fail to adequately cover the country's devastating drug war. (Tech President)
- Several Democratic lawmakers have released emails that indicate high ranking Wal-Mart officials were aware in 2005 that the retailer was paying bribes in Mexico. Representatives Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) are investigating Wal-Mart's Mexico division for bribery. (Washington Times)
Opening Government: Oakland’s First CityCamp
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by the guest blogger and those providing comments are theirs alone and do not reflect the opinions of the Sunlight Foundation or any employee thereof. Sunlight Foundation is not responsible for the accuracy of any of the information within the guest blog.
Spike is the Director of Research & Technology with Urban Strategies Council, an Oakland based social justice nonprofit and speaks nationally on data driven decision making and open data. He is the co-founder and captain of OpenOakland, a Code for America Brigade. An Aussie native, he became a dual US citizen last year and voted in his first ever American election.
I recently co-founded an organization called OpenOakland with former Code for America fellow Eddie Tejeda. One of our passions was that we both believe that government can and should be much more than a vending machine. Those of us in OpenOakland (all 20+ volunteers) dig the idea of government as a platform: a platform that supports safe communities, job growth, excellent schools, strategic business development and innovation. When our government operates more collaboratively and genuinely engages with our communities (as opposed to acting as a barrier), it facilitates so much more that can benefit our communities. To many, this is a new concept, but we believe that it matters how we perceive our governments. It's no secret that current local governments have a ton of changing to do, but it's unlikely that these changes will come about swiftly without all of us being involved and engaged and supporting our government staff and leaders to make these changes.
Access to Legislation Gets Better, Promise of More to Come
Earlier today, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor and the Government Printing Office announced an improvement in how legislation is made publicly available. Starting in the 113th Congress, GPO will make all bills available for bulk download in XML format. While this doesn't change much from a technological perspective, it does mark a significant change from a policy perspective.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/10/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP: Major public procurement reforms were recently passed in the Czech Republic after an anonymous whistleblower worked with Transparency... View Article
Continue readingLearn How to Use the Capitol Words API on Codecademy
We’re excited to announce that we’ve partnered with Codecademy to make our Capitol Words API easier to learn and use.... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/9/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- The first of several projects associated with the Legislative Branch Bulk Data Task Force rolled out this week, according to John Boehner's office. House floor summaries are now available for bulk download in XML format dating back to the 109th Congress. (Tech President)
- The Corporate Reform Coalition, comprised of corporate investors, shareholders, activists, and academics pushed the Securities and Exchange Commission to move quickly on rules to require greater disclosure of corporate political spending. (Roll Call)
- Recently retired Representative Steve LaTourette (R-OH) is starting a new lobbying firm along with his wife, who has lobbied on transportation issues in the past. He will also helm the Republican Main Street Partnership, where he plans to launch a super PAC supporting moderate Republicans. (Politico)
- President Obama is showing signs that he plans to take on two of Washington's most powerful lobbying forces early in his second term. He has already signaled his intention to tackle gun control, and his nomination of Chuck Hagel to be defense secretary is a sign that he is planning to change tone on Israel. (National Journal)
- New start up Captricity aims to make it easy to transfer data from paper to electronic formats. They hope to help government agencies that still rely on paper based data collection systems to accurately and quickly translate their information into machine-readable formats. (GovFresh)
- Madison, Wisconsin passed an open data ordinance and is launching an open data platform. Local leaders say they based their program off of New York City's model. (Government Technology)
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