With 67 new representatives and 12 new senators just sworn in, it's likely that many members of the 113th Congress are still learning the way to their offices. As they get settled, here are 5 recommendations that they (and their colleagues) could implement right now to be more transparent. 1. Create an Online Guest Book Starting the day they they were sworn in, lobbyists, well-wishers, and constituents have streamed into member offices. While visitors to the White House are listed online, the same isn't true for visitors to congressional offices. At their front doors, representatives should set up an electronic guest book where visitors are encouraged to type in their names, briefly summarize why they're visiting, and say whether they're a federally registered lobbyist. That information should be posted on the member's website. In addition, members should post online their just completed daily schedule of activities, as maintained by their scheduler, at the end of each day. It will help people better understand what they do on a daily basis. 2. Who's Who in the Office Most meetings that take place in a congressional office are with staff, not the representative. Each staffer is the member's point person for a particular topic. All offices should post online a list of staff working in the office and the issue areas they handle. (Some already do this.) This info is already available from private companies for a fee, but it should be available for everyone.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/8/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP: The White House is updating data.gov to make it easier to put up new datasets and planning to institute... View Article
Continue readingTalk to Congress: Public, Orgs Invited to Share Transparency Ideas at Jan. ACT Event
The Advisory Committee on Transparency is excited to invite the public and advocacy organizations to speak directly to Congress about... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/7/2012
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Bringing back Congressional earmarks may help ease some of the gridlock and disfunction in Washington, according to this NPR piece on the history and current state of the practice. (NPR)
- The National Music Publisher's Association is losing its vice president of government affairs, Allison Halataei, to the Revolving door. Halatei will be joining the House Judiciary Committee as its general counsel and parliamentarian. (The Hill)
- With several high profile gubenatorial contests scheduled for 2013 outside money is expected to continue to flood American elections. Some of the major outside groups are considering turning their checkbooks to these state races and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has already seen millions of dollars of outside support. (Politico)
- Meanwhile, state officials from around the country are fighting dark money groups with court battles and new legislation to force political spending disclosure. (Roll Call)
- The FEC fined President Obama's 2008 campaign $375,000 for reporting violations following an audit. The fine is one of the largest ever levied against a presidential campaign. (Politico)
- Rep. Chris Van Hollen reintroduced the DISCLOSE Act in the House last week. The bill, identical to the one that failed to pass in the 112th Congress, has yet to be reintroduced in the Senate. (Roll Call)
Register Now for Big Money, Big Data and Datafest Hackathon Feb 2-3, 2013
Calling all open government, journalism and data geeks. Please join Sunlight and friends in a bicoastal hackathon on the campuses of Stanford University and Columbia University on Feb 2-3, 2013. Registration is now open.
Together, we will tackle how to create apps and sites that show what 2012’s political spending spree will mean for policy in 2013 and beyond.
Register now.
Do you write code or work with data? Do you want to learn how or enhance your skills? Join us to mine data for stories and visualizations that will help understand how money affects the issues that Congress and state legislatures will be taking up this year. Showcase your skills and knowledge and compete to win prizes.
DISCLOSE Developments
Representative Van Hollen reintroduced the DISCLOSE Act in the House, marking his continued support for legislation that would shine a... View Article
Continue readingCreating Tools for Civic Engagement and providing a home for activists and hacktivists
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.
Tom Tresser is the Chief Tool Builder at the CivicLab. He teaches civic engagement, public policy and creativity at several local universities. In 2009 he was a co-leader of the No Games Chicago campaign and in 2010 he was the Green Party candidate for Cook County Board President.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a place to connect with activists, practitioners of civic engagement, inventors and artists interested in social change? A place that is a combination of a lab, a lounge, a theater, a clubhouse and a school for social change. In Chicago there isn’t one that combines all this in a storefront space with a grassroots vibe that invites people to walk in and connect. A gang of like-minded civic scientists and makers are well into the process of designing and launching one!
The CivicLab will be civic maker space. Think of Pumping Station One meets FreeGeek meets 1871 meets the Knitting Factory with a dash of open source tool making and the Little Red School House plus CommuniTeach.
Chicago is the home of modern community organizing and has also been a hotspot of innovation and research. We want to be a meeting space where old school organizers and educators can meet with new school technologists and designers to do research, teach civics, and build tools that accelerate social change and community improvement efforts.
2Day in #OpenGov 1/4/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Nearly 100 ethics cases in 2012: The House Ethics Committee reviewed 95 cases in 2012 and handled at least 40,000 informal requests for guidance, among other tasks. (Roll Call)
- DC legislation receives bump in Congress: District of Columbia affairs will receive review from the full Oversight and Government Reform Committee instead of just a subcommittee. (Roll Call)
- Obama opposes more whistleblower protections: President Barack Obama issued a statement saying he objects to expanded contractor whistleblower protections. (FCW)
- Google settles with FTC in antitrust case: The Federal Trade Commission decided to take no action on the biggest part of a potential antitrust case against Google after the search-engine giant agreed to change some of its practices. (The Hill)
The Post-Election Politwoops of 2012
'Tis the season to lick election-loss wounds by covering your tracks. Since the November elections, our Politwoops project has kept an eye on how members of Congress and candidates communicate with the public through Twitter.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 1/3/2013
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Ethics board could be preserved: The Office of Congressional Ethics could be preserved with proposed rule changes that would remove term limits for board members. The panel had been in danger of ceasing to exist because vacancies were unfilled. (USA Today)
- Relatives lobby on bills before Congress: More than 50 relatives of lawmakers have been paid to lobby on bills in Congress, records show. Lobbying by relatives was limited after 2007, but has not been banned entirely. (Washington Post)
- National Archives recognized for innovation: The Administrative Conference of the United States presented an award for innovation to the National Archives' Citizen Archivist Initiative. (FedScoop)
- Political money news in 2012: Campaign spending in 2012 was the subject of many news stories, and Roll Call has highlighted some of the major related events. (Roll Call)
- DC under scrutiny: The District of Columbia continues to be under scrutiny from the federal government related to possible corruption. (Washington Examiner)
- California tries to stymie anonymous donations: California legislators are trying to make news laws aimed at stemming the flow of dark money into political campaigns. (LA Times)
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