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Tag Archive: Uncategorized

2Day in #OpenGov 10/29/2012

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

Government
  • Group with Obama ties talks tax breaks with Treasury: A group with ties to President Barack Obama talked to the administration about tax breaks for its clients, according to the Treasury Department. The communications firm was trying to secure tax breaks for offshore revenues. (New York Times)
  • Former McCotter staffer sentenced: A staffer for former U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter (R-MI), who resigned from Congress in light of revelations about false petition signatures, was sentenced to 20 days in a work program for involvement in the fraud. Two other former McCotter staffers are still facing sentencing for their involvement. (The Hill)
  • WaPo calls for better congressional ethics: A Washington Post editorial called for better policing of congressional ethics in light of an investigation that found many members of Congress could have benefited from legislation they sponsored. The Post suggested increasing the power of the Office of Congressional ethics. (Opinion - Washington Post)

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2Day in #OpenGov 10/26/2012

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

Government
  • Congressman broke ethics rules in state legislature: U.S. Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) was charged this week with 11 counts of violating state ethics laws related to financial disclosure, campaign funds, and a $1 million consulting contract he had while serving as a state legislator.  The FBI and IRS are also investigating. (The Miami Herald)
  • Postal Service loses FOIA lawsuit: A U.S. district court has ruled the U.S. Postal Service must tell a California group how many pieces of mail a former school board member sent under a bulk mail permit, which is allegedly connected to shady election maneuvering. USPS had asserted that the information was exempt from disclosure and that releasing the information could cause some customers to stop using USPS services because of privacy concerns. (Federal Times)

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Outside Money in the House: Six Graphs and Seven Takeaways

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Outside money is flooding into U.S. House races, primarily from party committees, but also significantly from dark money groups and super PACs. And though Democrats need to win 25 seats to take back the House (which most forecasters deem unlikely), nobody is giving up on anything, judging from the recent cash infusions. We are now at $218.8 million in House outside spending, with almost one-third of that money coming in the last 10 days, and more than half of it coming since October 1. Republicans lead in outside money $119.6 million to $96.7 million, including a two-to-one lead in dark money. Democratic super PACs, meanwhile, have outspent Republican super PACs. What this money all adds up to, we are still waiting to see. For now, the best we can do is to give our best take on the current state of play.

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2Day in #OpenGov 10/25/2012

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NEWS ROUNDUP:

Campaign Finance
  • Obama has more ads despite less spending: President Barack Obama's campaign and its allies have run more ads in battleground states than challenger Mitt Romney's campaign and supporters despite being outspent. Some 915,000 ads have run in total this campaign season. (Washington Post)
  • Third-party candidates dig on campaign spending: Four third-party presidential candidates railed on the state of campaign finance at a recent debate. Each of the candidates expressed concern about the corrupting role of money in politics.  (Public Integrity)
  • Supreme Court keeps limit for now: The U.S. Supreme Court denied an application to vacate a stay that keeps limits on campaign contributions in Montana. Montana has been the site for many tests of campaign finance issues. (Lobby Comply Blog)

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Learning how to navigate Congress.gov

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The new and much improved location for Congressional information, beta.congress.gov, has plenty of resources to offer users. Now the Library of Congress (LOC) is offering webinars and in-person training to help users navigate the expanding website. We applaud LOC for providing a variety of training opportunities for those seeking a better understanding of the information available.

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The News Without Transparency: Reports highlight lack of information available on 501(c)4s

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Recent reporting and analysis by ProPublica and the Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group have brought a certain dark money group, the Government Integrity Fund, into the light.

The Government Integrity Fund is registered as a 501(c)4, a type of nonprofit permitted to run issue ads to influence the outcome of elections without disclosing the names its donors to the Federal Election Commission.

Thanks to a long-anticipated ruling by the Federal Communications Commission in August, broadcast stations are now required to make information about political ad buys available online. That FCC decision, along with efforts by the Sunlight Foundation’s Political Ad Sleuth and ProPublica’s Free the Files projects to aggregate the more than 30,000 filings on the FCC database so far, have helped to shed more light on the money these groups are spending and the people and interest groups behind the influence.

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2Day in #OpenGov 10/24/2012

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NEWS ROUNDUP: Government

  • FTC offers prize for blocking robocalls: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is offering $50,000 to whoever can make the best robocall blocker. The challenge is open through January 2013. (GovTech)
  • .gov links targeted in spam scam: Government websites with a .gov URL are being targeted in a spam scam, according to Symantec.  (GovTech)
  • Whistleblower pleads guilty: A former CIA officer accused of leaking the identities of two former colleagues to journalists pleaded guilty to one charge, but prosecutors dropped several other charges. John Kiriakou will be sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison under the plea deal. (New York Times)

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Influence Explored: Big Ag Lobbies Against Prop 37 in California

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A recent New York Times Magazine article by Michael Pollan highlights the potential momentum for a new “food movement” in America if California voters decide to enforce the labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMO) foods by passing Proposition 37, the Genetically Engineered Foods Right to Know Act next month. Proposition 37 proposes to label all GMO foods, including processed foods that contain GMO ingredients, and to prevent GMO foods from being labeled or advertised as “natural.” Agriculture industry giants opposed to Prop 37 are pouring money into California to defeat the ballot measure. According to the California watchdog group, Maplight, agribusiness giants have already sunk $35.6 million into defeating the prop with agrochemical titans Monsanto and DuPont emerging as the top two proponents with contributions totalling $7.1 million and $4.9 million, respectively. The bulk of that money has gone to the committee, No on 37: Coalition Against the Deceptive Food Labeling Scheme, Sponsored by Farmers and Food Producers. Other agrochemical and agroscience institutions like BASF Plant Science, Syngenta Co., Bayer Cropscience and Dow Agrosciences LLC have each contributed $2 million to the cause. Meanwhile, advocacy and industry groups in support of Prop 37 have only managed to raise $7.7 million in support.

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