Here are Friday's transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government

• The federal government plans to close more than forty percent of its data centers by 2015. (ExecutiveGov)
• Design has played an important factor in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's efforts to enhance open government.. (GovFresh)
• One of Rep. Darrell Issa's top staffers on the House Oversight Committee maintains a “financial relationship” with a lobbying firm. (ThinkProgress)

• The House of Representatives defeated an amendment to slash funding for the Office of Congressional Ethics, but over one hundred representatives voted for it. (Sunlight Blog)
• A former whistleblower comments on his experience and what he has learned about the nature of whistleblowers in the finance industry. (Forbes)

• The Department of Justice's case against two unregistered Pakistani agents demonstrates the presence of foreign money in our elections. (POGO)
• Opinion: Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer argues that campaign finance reform is an urgent matter that must be addressed. (Boston Review)

• Wall Street's seven biggest banks have spent a combined $20 million on lobbying the federal government this year. (OpenSecrets)
• Narrow issues often involve the highest amounts spent on lobbying the federal government. (Roll Call)
• Both Google and Facebook spent record amounts of money on lobbying last quarter. (Tech Crunch)
• Opinion: The airline industry's stated commitment to reducing its environmental impact has been negated by its lobbyists' fight to cripple environmental regulations. (Reuters)

• Stateline released an evaluation of how many of the nation's governors are taking advantage of social media tools. (Stateline)

• Pennsylvania prosecutors are investigating whether a private email chain conducted through smartphones during a public meeting should have been on the public record. (techPresident)
• County officials in Martin County, Florida said that hiring a lobbyist is necessary for procuring federal funding. (Dredging Today)
• Opinion: The next mayor of San Francisco must be committed to open government. (HuffPost)
• Opinion: Ohio Gov. Kasich signing a bill to cap fines for destroying public records could keep “controversial public records in the dark.” (Sunlight Blog)
• Opinion: California's move to shut down its Recovery Act website is not good for transparency. (Clawback)

Here are Thursday's transparency-related news items, congressional committee hearings, transparency-related bills introduced in Congress, and transparency-related events. News Roundup: Government

• The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act of 2012, which includes amendments addressing opening CRS reports and funding for the GPO, was reported to the House on Wednesday. (THOMAS)  (We wrote about this legislation here)
• A new environmental de-regulation bill that the House passed last week bears a “striking resemblance” to model legislation authored by the conservative action group ALEC. (TPM)
• Opinion: The SEC is ineffective as a bloated, centralized bureaucracy, and should be localized and shrunk. (Forbes)

• The House Ethics Committee has hired outside counsel to probe whether or not the committee's investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters may continue. (Roll Call $)

• Finance industry leaders represent the top corporate donors for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, as Romney continues to criticize Obama's record of financial regulation. (The Washington Post)

• Lobbying groups are facing a slump in revenue, which they blame on legislative gridlock. (Politico)
• The Chamber of Commerce was a top spender in the second quarter, but its lobbying efforts have not reached levels of the health care debate. (Roll Call $)
• Newly released House records shed light on how much the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spends lobbying for amendments to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (Wall Street Journal)
• Lobbyists have slowed the implementation of financial regulations, according to our own Bill Allison. (Marketplace)
• The recent arrest of two foreign agents allegedly working for Pakistan has raised questions about how foreign influences may lobby the U.S. government. (The National Interest) Lawmakers have denied that their actions and decisions were influenced by these agents. (The New York Times)
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacked FINRA for being “out of touch” with the financial firms it regulates. (Thomson Reuters)
• Lobbyists and interest groups fear what the Gang of Six's proposed tax code overhaul could do for their clients and constituencies. (The Hill)

• House Majority Leader Eric Cantor took comments on Quora for a question about the debt crisis; Cantor's staff said it plans to continue experimenting with the forum tool. (techPresident)
• USA.gov has organized a hackathon for citizens to engage with federal data from its new URL shortener. (Governing People)

• Ohio watchdog groups met at the statehouse on Wednesday to advocate for greater transparency in the congressional re-districting process. (Daily Journal)