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2Day in #OpenGov 11/10/2011

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This week is a short one, enjoy its end with Thursday's look at transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Super Committee

  • Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called for the Super Committee to open its doors last night on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (Politico)
  • Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) has a healthy fundraising schedule for November, with at least 4 events planned, including one to celebrate his 50th birthday. (National Journal)
  • Sen. Patty Murray's Washington state staff has a retreat planned for this week. It is being held at the offices of Strategies 360, a major Washington lobbying firm. (National Journal)
Government
  • Users are having trouble finding government information on the internet. Better search systems might help remedy the problem. (Federal Computer Week)
  • Senators Jim Webb (D-VA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) have called on the nation's Archivist to make the Commission on Wartime Contracting's records publicly available. The records are currently sealed for 20 years. (POGO)
Campaign Finance
  • Americans Elect, a group dedicated to electing a third party presidential candidate, is being targeted by campaign finance watchdogs for its tax-exempt status. Watchdogs are accusing the organization, along with Republican groups Crossroads GPS and American Action Network and Democratic group Priorities USA, of being too political for tax-exempt status. (Roll Call $)

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2Day in #OpenGov 11/9/2011

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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: Super Committee

  • Democratic lawmakers are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the Super Committee, arguing that it is anti-democratic and lacking in transparency. (The Hill)
Technology
  • San Francisco launched a mobile app this week. The city hopes to make it easier for citizens to access services and get help and information from the government. (Government Technology)
  • We The People, the White House's online petition site, has proved popular. So popular, in fact, that the White House has been struggling to keep up the pace with their responses. (Federal Computer Week)
Campaign Finance
  • After several slow years, the market for local television stations has picked up recently. Major increases in political ad spending are boosting revenue and making local stations more attractive to prospective buyers. (New York Times)
State and Local
  • Ten months ago, Alabama passed a new ethics law, capping the amount of money lobbyists are allowed to spend on public officials. Since then the Alabama Ethics Commission has received nearly 200 exemption requests. (Lobby Comply)
  • The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld North Carolina's ban on lobbyist contributions to candidates for the Legislature and Council of State. (Lobby Comply)

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2Day in #OpenGov 11/8/2011

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

  • American Crossroads filed an advisory opinion request with the FEC asking if independent expenditure-only PACs can use incumbent members of congress in their advertisements. The PAC admits that these ads would be intended to improve public perception of the member and seeks guidance as to how such ads might effect their ability to independently expend funds in support of the candidate. (Lobby Comply)
  • A new pro-Rick Perry Super PAC has emerged. Texas Aggies for Perry 2012 seems likely to focus on raising money from people with connections to Texas A&M, Perry's Alma Mater. (Washington Post)
Lobbying
  • Google's director of public policy and government affairs, Alan Davidson, is leaving his post after six and a half years. He was Google's first employee in DC and oversaw rapid growth in their government affairs operation. (Washington Post)
  • A battle is brewing between internet retailers and more traditional "brick and mortar" companies. Traditional retailers, who collect state sales taxes, want internet retailers to be subject to the same rules. Several bills have been introduced to this end and both sides are marshaling their lobbying forces. (Politico)
Technology
  • Many potential voters turn to the internet for information about polling places, issues, and candidates according to a recent poll by the Voting Info Project. The VIP aims to make this information easy to find through Google and other search engines. (techPresident)
  • The National Archives and Records Administration is gearing up to launch a Citizen Archivist Dashboard in December. The Dashboard will allow volunteers to tag, transcribe and write articles about scanned NARA documents. They hope to engage regular citizens who have an interest in archival research. (Nextgov)
  • Google has instituted a new search algorithm that may make it harder to find some government websites. The algorithm focuses heavily on newer content and could push pages that do not update very often down the list of search results. (Federal Computer Week)
  • Code For America has videos of 13 CFA fellows demoing their apps at the October Code For America Summit. (govfresh)

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2Day in #OpenGov 11/7/2011

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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: Government

  • The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee cleared the Government Results Transparency Act, which would "build a bridge between performance...and spending data," according to its sponsor, Frank Guinta (R-NH). (ExecutiveGov)
  • Opinion: Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) wants the federal reserve to be more transparent, and work for the American people, "not just the chief executive officers on Wall Street." (Politico)
Access to Information
  • A draft White House memo released over the weekend would require federal agencies to disclose special funding requests from members of Congress. The White House presents the memo as part of its ongoing efforts to reduce earmarks and increase government openness and accountability. (National Journal)
  • Last week, the Justice Department pulled a proposed rule that would have allowed them to mislead FOIA requesters about the existence of certain sensitive documents. Now, it appears that they may have been doing just that for the past 25 years. (POGO)
Lobbying
  • One of House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer's (D-MD) top aides is heading to K Street. Stacey Farnen Bernards will become a vice president of government relations at Honeywell International. (Politico)
  • Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) recently lost her communications director to the revolving door. Brendan Daly, who was Pelosi's messaging guru during the healthcare debate is now working for Ogilvy Government Relations. One of his clients is the Essential Health Benefits Coalition, a notable opponent of the healthcare law. (Politico)
  • Jack Abramoff criticizes federal lobbying laws in his new autobiography. He doesn't think they are strong enough to keep special interest power in check. (Yahoo/AP)

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