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2Day in #OpenGov 2/1/2012

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Here is Wednesday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:

Campaign Finance
  • Barack Obama has relied heavily on bundlers to pull in huge donations for his reelection campaign. Notable new bundlers in the most recent FEC filings are a one-time chief of staff to former President Clinton and "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria. (Washington Times)
  • New analysis shows that Stephen Colbert's focus on super PACs have had a real effect on his audience. Search traffic spikes whenever Colbert mentions the groups on his show. Meanwhile, his own super PAC raised over $1 million in 2011. (Washington Post)
  • Some major Democratic super PACs and nonprofits reported raising over $19 million last year. This figure puts them far behind the top Republican groups. (iWatch News)
Government
  • Federal investigators found that the Air Force illegally retaliated against four whistleblowers who revealed misconduct at the Dover Air Force Base mortuary. The U.S. Office of Special Counsel recommended disciplinary action against three officials accused of retaliation. (Politico)
  • Data.gov has seen mixed results with its launch. Some agencies actively post new data sets in machine-readable formats on a regular basis. But, others have lagged behind in making their data accessible. (Government Executive)
  • The British government is testing a new web platform. Gov.UK is open source, mobile friendly, and open for feedback. (O'Reilly Radar)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/31/2012

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Here is Tuesday's take on transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:

Campaign Finance
  • CREDO Mobile, which donates some of its revenue to progressive causes and supports efforts to repeal Citizens United, launched a super PAC to target 10 Tea Party affiliated lawmakers. (National Journal)
  • A study by the Wesleyan Media Project found that outside spending on political ads is up 1,600 % in the Republican primary over the same point in 2008. The surge is contributed, in large part, to the rise of super PACs. (Politico)
Lobbying
  • Lobbying and communications firm Venn Squared Communications is holding a cocktail celebration for Sen. Al Franken's (D-Minn) new Chief of Staff. Franken's previous Chief of Staff left for a job with energy company Solazyme, a major client of Venn Squared. (Roll Call $)
  • A former special assistant to the president and director of Cabinet communications, Tom Gavin, is leaving the White House to join the Information Technology Industry Council as their vice president for external affairs. (The Hill)
Government
  • The Senate voted 93-2 to move forward with debate on the STOCK act. The act is intended to prevent members of Congress from participating in insider trading. (Politico)
  • The announcement that U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra have caused some to worry about the future of the open data movement within the federal government and others to argue that more emphasis should be placed on using data to make government services and operations cheaper and more efficient. (Government Technology)
  • 15 members of Germany's Pirate Party, who won seats elections in Berlin last year, are receiving renewed attention following the shutdown of file sharing site Megaupload. The party consists of open-source advocates who hope to create a more transparent government and use online systems to enhance democracy. (Miller-McCune)

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/30/2012

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Here is the week's first look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:

Campaign Finance
  • Democratic politicians have assaulted Republicans over their use of "unlimited secret money" in recent days. At the same time, the party has been working to build their infrastructure to compete with Republicans in the unlimited money race. (Politico)
  • So far this election cycle super PACs have been most well known for their negative ad attacks. But, they are beginning to participate in other activities including phone banking, field organizing, polling, and other operations more closely associated with traditional campaigns. Not all candidates are happy about this. (Politico)
  • Senator John McCain, a longtime champion of stronger campaign finance rules, attacked the Supreme Court and guaranteed that the influx of unlimited, barely regulated money would lead to scandal. (National Journal)
Lobbying
  • A new report found that at least 5 former lawmakers have collected lobbying fees from organizations that they secured earmarks for while in office. (CREW)
  • The Obama campaign is sticking to its policy of not accepting donations from registered lobbyists by returning five checks totaling $2,250. The Center for Responsive Politics first shed light on the donations. (The Hill)
  • Retired General James Cartwright, who was previously America's second-highest ranking military officer, is joining the board of directors at Raytheon, a major defense contractor. (POGO)
International
  • Ethiopian journalist and blogger, Eskinder Nega, has been detained by authorities at least 7 times in the past twenty years. Most recently in September 2011, when he was jailed for publishing a column calling for the government to respect freedom of speech and assembly. (Committee to Protect Journalists)
  • Twitter's announcement that they could censor tweets in specific nations where the content might break laws was met with outrage from many around the globe. But, one country, Thailand, has come out in support of the policy. Thailand has blocked more than 1,156 websites for "anti-monarchy" content since December. (AP/Yahoo)
 

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2Day in #OpenGov 1/27/2012

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Here is the week's last look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup:

Government
  • It is being reported that Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra will announce his resignation today. Chopra has served as CTO since 2009. (Fed Scoop)
  • The Senate is prepared to act on the STOCK act next week. The act, which President Obama indicated he would sign during his State of the Union Address, aims to ban insider trading by members of congress. (Politico)
Campaign Finance
  • The Obama campaign is taking advantage of the SOPA/PIPA fight to raise money in San Francisco. The campaign's top technology advisers will be available to talk to members of the tech community who are willing to donate. (Tech President)
  • One of Rick Santorum's major financial backers, and the top donor to the Red White and Blue Fund super PAC that is backing the former Senator in his bid for the Republican nomination, announced that he would continue to provide financial support through nominating contests in February and March. (National Journal)
  • The FEC has a page full of interactive maps to track information for the 2012 presidential, senate, and house races. (Lobby Comply)
International
  • Twitter announced that it built the capability to remove certain messages from user's timelines based on the laws of their countries. The company expressed their wish to be as transparent as possible about the process and requests to withhold tweets will be posted to Chilling Effects. (Tech President)
  • Newt Gingrich released his recent tax returns before his rival Mitt Romney, but he failed to disclose where much of his income came from. (AP/Yahoo)

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