Tomorrow, a Senate Judiciary Committee subcommittee will hold a hearing on televising Supreme Court proceedings. This is an important issue,... View Article
Continue readingHouse Holding Wonk-a-thon on Public Access to Congressional Info This Wednesday
This Wednesday, the House of Representatives will host an unprecedented public meeting from 3:30-7:30 to discuss how the public can... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 12/5/2011
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: Government
- Several federal agencies have recently started blogs on the Tumblr platform. Agencies with successful Tumblr blogs include the GSA, the departments of Defense and State, the Peace Corps, the National Archives, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. (Federal Computer Week)
- A new dashboard created by Expert Labs, a nonprofit, ranks 125 federal agencies based on their public engagement via Twitter. (Nextgov)
- The Obama administration launched a new dashboard to track priority infrastructure projects. (Federal Times)
- The American Legislative Exchange Council creates model legislation that is introduced, and sometimes passed, in states around the country. ALEC does its best to hide information about its 300 corporate, think tank, and trade group members, who fund 99% of the group's yearly activities. (Business Week)
- Sacramento County, CA launched a new website in November that aims to help residents stay informed and connected with elected officials. (Government Technology)
- Maryland joined California in allowing campaign contributions via text message. Contributions are limited to $10 per message. The State Board of Elections' director hopes that the change will allow more people to give small donations. (Lobby Comply)
- India is asking internet companies, notably Facebook and Google, to screen user generated content and "remove disparaging, inflammatory or defamatory content before it goes online." The companies are expected to argue that the request is unfeasible. (Yahoo/ The Atlantic)
Visualizing Similarities and Differences in the OGP Action Plans
On September 20, 2011 the Open Government Partnership launched with a series of meetings highlighting the transformative nature of open... View Article
Continue readingSunlight Weekly Roundup: Indiana narrows public’s ability to review government emails
Indiana’s new public access counselor has limited the public’s ability to request and review the email exchanges of government officials.... View Article
Continue readingThe Influence Around Us
For a few months now, Occupy Wall Street (OWS) has been garnering attention and support around a central frustration over... View Article
Continue reading2Day in #OpenGov 12/2/2011
It's Friday! Celebrate the end of the week with a look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government
- At a hearing to discuss the STOCK act, experts outlined a number of ways to strengthen the bill and suggested that it might not even be necessary. They were unanimous in calling for an online searchable database of Congressional stock trades. (Roll Call $)
- Conflicting reports about the amount of money the US government spends on nuclear weapons programs have made one thing clear: the government has never been fully open about the costs associated with them. (POGO)
- Opinion: Fix government by creating a new "user interface" for it. (Wall Street Journal)
- Political groups have already spent at least $35 million on the 2012 election and related policy issues. Spending is only expected to increase as the election draws closer. (The Hill)
- Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is turning to Wall street and K street for financial help fending off Elizabeth Warren, his 2012 challenger. (iWatchNews)
- The FEC deadlocked on a question of how closely Super PACs and members of Congress are allowed to work together on campaign ads. The non-decision is likely to turn lawmakers off from coordinating too closely with outside groups on advertisements. (National Journal)
- The FEC did decide that members of Congress are not allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts on behalf of other candidates. The commission unanimously rejected a request by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to use his leadership PAC as a Super PAC. (National Journal)
- This week, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) expressed concern about the way federal regulators treated AT&T's efforts to merge with T-Mobile. It was revealed yesterday that Blunt's son is registered to lobby for AT&T in Missouri. (National Journal)
Influence Explored: Coakely Sues Big, Influential Banks
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed a lawsuit yesterday against five major U.S. banks for violating the state’s laws to... View Article
Continue readingJ’Accuse…! Sunlight’s PAC Name Generator Inspires Real PACs
Exactly one year ago the Sunlight Foundation unveiled our Political Action Committee (PAC) Name Generator and today we revisit it with some shocking revelations.
Continue readingTools for Transparency: Capture Your Signature with OS X Preview
It’s often the case that your signature is required for various documents, whether paper or PDF, to carry out your... View Article
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