NEWS ROUNDUP:
- House Ethics changes rules: The House Ethics Committee held a 5 minute long public meeting to approve a package of rule changes designed to streamline future investigations. One change relates to when documents and testimony should, or must, be released publicly. (Roll Call)
- Study panel STOCKed: The National Academy of Public Administration named the five experts who will study the possible effects of putting some federal personal financial disclosure statements online. Congress requested the study in response to repeated concerns about how the STOCK Act requirement could effect employee privacy and national security. (Federal Times)
- IT Dashboard not being updated: The Federal IT Dashboard, which contains the president's budget and interactive data on agency spending and is intended to help agencies address duplicative IT investments, has not been updated since August because of the continued spending standoff. (Federal Computer Week)
- EPA e-mail investigation: Lisa Jackson, the EPA administrator, is under fire from Congressional Republicans and the EPA's IGA for her use of a secondary e-mail account. Republicans are questioning how transparent the EPA has been while handling electronic records. Meanwhile, the EPA claims using two emails is a long standing practice. (Washington Post)
- Open data that appeals to city dwellers: Cities around the United States released datasets that allowed developers to create apps that were useful to citizens and improved public health and safety. (Atlantic Cities)
- Turkey fined for blocking sites: The EU has fined Turkey for blocking Google Sites, stemming from a 2009 case brought by a Turkish citizen. Turkey blocked all pages hosted on sites.google.com after finding one page that insulted Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Turkey's long history of internet censorship could be a stumbling block in its quest to join the EU. (Tech President)
The Sandy Hook Shooting, Speech, and Campaign Cash?
Do campaign contributions affect the likelihood that a member of congress has publicly spoken out after the Sandy Hook School shooting? The answer appears to be yes, and by a lot. Our review found that a representative who received significant campaign support from the NRA was more likely to keep his or her mouth shut about the shooting -- speaking out at 2/3s the rate of an average member of congress.
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 12/19/12
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Cabinet continues to opt for secrecy: Nine out of 15 cabinet offices have still not disclosed the cost of travel by top officials after Bloomberg asked for the documents under the Freedom of Information Act in June. (Bloomberg)
- House vote planned on Hatch Act changes: The House of Representatives planned to vote Tuesday on changes to the Hatch Act and another bill that would impact policies related to federal workers, political activity, and misconduct. (Washington Post)
- 10 years of e-government: Former government officials recently came together to discuss progress made since the E-Government Act of 2002, which was passed with the goal of making government more accessible online by the public. (FCW)
NRA’s allegiances reach deep into Congress
Just over half (51 percent) of the members of the new Congress that convenes next month have received funding from the National Rifle Association’s political action committee at some point in their political careers, an analysis by the Sunlight Foundation finds. And 47 percent received money from the NRA in the most recent race in which they ran.
The numbers give insight into the depth and breadth of support that the nation’s most powerful gun lobby commands. They also highlight the primary obstacle to quick action on gun control in response to last week’s massacre in Newton, Conn. – deep and long-lasting allegiances to the National Rifle Association.
A look at money, transparency and policy since Citizens United v. FEC
The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court ruling has left an indelible mark on U.S. politics. Since the January 2010 ruling outside groups and organizations have been able to promote their own special interests with neither accountability nor transparency. In the past three years, we've seen a flood of secretive money, the formation of super PACs and little done in the way of policy to reveal the source of the funding. Our timeline breaks events into four categories: Courts (major court rulings and cases), Disclose (legislation around greater disclosure of political contributions and spending), Super PACs (trend and news for independent expenditure only committees) and FEC (decisions made by the Federal Election Commission).
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 12/18/12
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- Conaway named House Ethics chair: U.S. Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) has been named the new chair of the House Ethics Committee by House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). (Roll Call)
- Owens, Schock cases go to ethics panel: Cases related to U.S. Reps. Bill Ownens (D-NY) and Aaron Schock (R-IL) have been sent from the Office of Congressional Ethics to the House Ethics Committee, which will announce its next steps by the end of January. (Roll Call)
- Closed-door fiscal talks OK? Government watchdog groups say that while some of the negotiations related to the fiscal cliff may need to be made in private, any legislation that comes out of the talks needs to be open for public review and comment. (NPR)
Gun Control and Gun Rights: Legislation, Policy and Influence
The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary has brought gun policy back to the forefront of our national conversation. As a nonpartisan, nonprofit Sunlight takes no stance on the issue, but we have put together a collection of resources looking at the legislation, policy and influence around gun rights and gun control, plus the groups and lawmakers involved. The Gun Lobby Sunlight Foundation Senior Fellow Lee Drutman reviews the political influence of the National Rifle Association and the leading gun control group, the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence. Read his full analysis in this blog post. Lee notes that when it comes to the debate on gun policy, Congress is pretty much only hearing from one side. The NRA spends 66 times what the Brady Campaign spends on lobbying, and 4,143 times what the Brady Campaign spends on campaign contributions. Since 2011, the NRA spent at least $24.28 million: $16.83 million through its political action committee, plus $7.45 million through its affiliated Institute for Legislative Action. According to Influence Explorer records, the Brady Campaign spent $5,800 this election cycle and reported $60,000 in lobbying costs.
Continue readingExplaining the power of the National Rifle Association, in one graph
In the wake of the tragic shooting in Newtown, one of the emerging debates is whether there will even be a debate. Past mass shootings have come and gone without any action. Many argue that the reason for this inaction is simple: politicians have been afraid to take on the National Rifle Association, the large and influential pro-gun lobby that spent at least $18.6 million this past election cycle - $11.1 million through its Political Victory Fund, plus $7.5 million through its affiliated Institute for Legislative Action.
Here are the data: The NRA has spent 73 times what the leading pro-gun control advocacy organization, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, has spent on lobbying in the 112th Congress ($4.4 million to $60,000, through the second quarter of 2012), and 4,143 times what the Brady Campaign spent on the 2012 election ($24.28 million to $5,816). (One caveat on the data is that the NRA itself does a very poor job of accurately reporting its spending, and we must rely on its self-reports.)
2Day in #OpenGov 12/17/12
NEWS ROUNDUP:
- CRS tax report revised: A report by the Congressional Research Service finding no correlation between top tax rates and economic growth has been re-released after it was pulled nearly three months ago. The report, though slightly different, comes to the same conclusion. (Roll Call)
- Performance.gov overhauled: Performance.gov, the website dedicated to showing progress in building a more efficient government, is changing to reflect more information about federal agencies goals, progress toward those goals, and any challenges along the way. (FCW)
- Alarm raised over FCC plans: A growing number of lawmakers are raising concerns about the Federal Communications Commission's plans to relax restrictions on media consolidation. (The Hill)
Sunlight Foundation’s 2012 Annual Report in Video
What a year 2012 has been! We faced an onslaught of unprecedented amounts of political spending. In this post-Citizens United... View Article
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