As stated in the note from the Sunlight Foundation′s Board Chair, as of September 2020 the Sunlight Foundation is no longer active. This site is maintained as a static archive only.

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2Day in #OpenGov 10/25/2011

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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:

Super Committee 
  • GOP Governors have joined the list of groups lobbying the Super Committee. The Republican Governors Association has sent a letter urging the committee to cut spending by rewriting Medicare laws. (Politico)
Government
  • The Justice Department has proposed a rule that would allow Federal agencies to tell people making FOIA requests about certain law enforcement or national security related documents that no such records exist, even when they do. (ProPublica)
  • The House Ethics Committee may be ready to launch a full scale investigation into allegations that Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) pressured her staff to engage in banned political activities while on government time. The committee has been quietly looking into the claims since last year. Politico)
  • The Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is calling on the Defense Department to do a better job tracking domestic violence incidents involving military service members. They want DOD to institute a central database to track and target domestic violence in the armed services. (Government Executive)
  • A new report suggests that Federal agencies are struggling to compile substantive and useful mobile applications. (ExecutiveGov)
State and Local
  • The San Francisco Ethics Commission has approved a new set of campaign finance laws. The measure includes new disclosure requirements for 3rd party spending relating to a candidate, and an affirmation of a $500 individual contribution limit. (Lobby Comply)
  • The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices is working on new rules for using social media in campaigns. The current laws were crafted primarily for radio, TV, and print media. The rules are being revised in response to complaints about the use of email and social media. (Lobby Comply)
International
  • A new website allows Chileans to investigate possible conflicts of interest between their elected officials and business interests. The site includes data from financial disclosure reports. But, those have been found to be inconsistent. Data is also pulled from three other independent sources, to correct for inconsistencies in the disclosure reports. (techPresident)

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2Day in #OpenGov 10/24/2011

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

Super Committee 
  • The Super Committee's secrecy continues to irk lawmakers, journalists, and the public, but shows few signs of stopping. (National Journal)
  • Nearly 200 companies and special interests have reported lobbying members of the Super Committee in the six weeks since its inception. Health Care interests are leading the charge with the defense, transportation, energy, telecom, and education industries not far behind. (Politico)
Access to Information
  • WikiLeaks is facing financial difficulties and may close down by the end of the year.  Major financial institutions have been imposing a "financial blockade" on WikiLeaks, according to a post by founder Julian Assange. (Politico)
Lobbying
  • Herman Cain is making waves as an outsider running for the Republican Presidential Nomination, but his first serious exposure to politics was at the National Restaurant Association, which he helped transform into a major lobbying force. (New York Times)
  • Overall, lobbying expenditures were down in the third quarter. But, major tech firms, including Google, Facebook, and AT&T continued to spend rapidly as they face scrutiny from Congress and Federal regulators. (National Journal)
  • Senator John Kyl has hired Dave Hoppe, a longtime lobbyist for Quinn Gillespie, to serve as chief of staff in the Republican Whip's office. Hoppe previously worked on the hill for more than two decades before becoming a lobbyist. (National Journal)
Technology
  • New York City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin has launched an online platform for her constituents to share ideas and voice concerns about neighborhood issues. Lappin wants to use the technology to help her constituents break down the barriers keeping them from government bureaucracy. (techPresident)
  • MC Hammer, who has traded in his hammer pants for a career as a tech entrepreneur, talked about how social media and technology can help citizens touch their local governments at the 2011 web 2.0 summit in San Francisco. (govfresh)

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Redesigning Sunlight Foundation

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new sunlight foundation logo

Around this time last year, after taking over the look and feel of the Foundation instead of just the Labs, I decided to do a small refresh of the main Foundation site. The goal of this refresh was to make sure we were displaying our content in a consistent way and to make the front-end code not only cleaner but updated to use HTML5. Since that time I've settled into the position of Creative Director, we've built a small but great design team, and we've been able to start building interest around the Foundation to do a greater redesign of our brand and other main sites. The time has finally come...

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