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

• The Department of Health and Human Services released a progress report regarding its compliance with President Obama's Open Government Directive. (RegBlog)

• The Commodity Futures Trading Commission decided not to finalize a whistleblower provision at its Tuesday meeting. (Reuters)

• A whistleblower on army psychological operations filed a lawsuit for investigation results he previously requested through FOIA. (POGO)

• Opinion: A new bill by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) would eviscerate certain whistleblower programs at the SEC and CFTC that were created as a result of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul. (POGO)

Ethics

• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) called for an investigation into the House Ethics committee following a report of secretive, unethical actions taken in the committee. (Politico)

Campaign Finance

• Foreign entities spend millions of dollars to influence Washington elections every year, according to a Huffington Post report. (HuffPost) (The report cites our work on this issue from last December.)

• D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray accepted campaign contributions above the legal limit, the Washington Post reports. (The Washington Post)

Technology

• A Commons co-founder described in an interview what's next in the technological push for open government. (GovFresh)

State and Local

• The Pew Research Center released a comprehensive review on Monday of 39 non-profit websites, including a section ranking the best state watchdog groups. (Pew)

• New Jersey Gov. Christie signed legislation that will provide greater oversight of spending for programs in urban cities and poor municipalities. (MoreMonmouthMusings)

• The Democratic Party of New Mexico criticized Secretary of State Duran for failing to follow through on Gov. Martinez's pledge to open government and transparency. (NMDemocrats)

• Opinion: The Minnesotan Capitol should be open to the public during the government shutdown. (TC Daily Planet)

International

• Watchdog groups have given Kenyan's open data initiative mixed reviews. (VOA News)

• The Brookings Institution suggested that Brazil is not fit to lead the Open Government Partnership. (Brookings)

• The Canadian Information Commissioner said that Canada could take a leadership role in the international open government initiative. (MetroTube)

• Opinion: Given the recent corruption, the UK should implement open government standards similar to those of Sweden. (Telegraph)

• Opinion: Ottawa's town hall should institute a lobby registry to enhance transparency. (Ottawa Citizen)

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

• Members of the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission leaked confidential information to partisan allies at think tanks and lobbying firms. (Huffington Post via POGO)

• Former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray will be nominated by President Obama to become the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. (Politico)(Huffington Post)

• GovTech speculated on the agenda of the next CIO, following Vivek Kundra's departure from the position. (GovTech)

• An N.S.A. whistleblower will not face jail time for releasing information about the agency's Trailblazer program. (The New York Times)

Lobbying

• Lobbyists are not always required to disclose donations made in the form of honorary contributions to lawmakers' favorite charities. (Huffington Post)

Ethics

• Key staffers on the House Ethics committee may have compromised the extensive investigations of Democratic Reps. Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel by engaging in inappropriate ex parte communications. (Politico)

Campaign Finance

• Only a few U.S. senators have filed their second quarter fund-raising numbers electronically. (OpenSecrets)

• Nearly half of Obama's campaign cash has come from bundlers, or well-connected individuals who raise money through their networks of wealthy friends. (The Washington Times)

• After the Obama campaign released its list of fundraising bundlers, we ran the list through our influence tracking tools and published the results online. (Sunlight Blog)

• Rep. Jeff Landry (R-LA) released a statement on Friday afternoon saying he would not release his second quarter fund-raising numbers before the midnight deadline. (National Journal)

Access to Information

• Government transparency adviser Tim Kelsey said that releasing open data will generate “vast markets.” (Information Age)

• Opinion: Releasing troves of data is not equivalent to transparency, especially when individuals do not know how to utilize that data. (Wired)

State and Local

• The Koch brothers have spread their message of no unions, low taxes, and minimal government regulation to more states, beyond their well-publicized involvement with movements in Wisconsin and Ohio. (Bloomberg)

• A Tennessee legislator worked with a lobbyist on legislation but says he was unaware that the legislation was identical to a model drafted by ALEC. (Knoxnews)

• A Texas county defended its hiring of a legislative lobbyist to work on environmental review process issues. (Statesman)

International

• The Prime Minister of India has placed a live webcam in his office as an anti-corruption tool. (New York Times).

• Opinion: Russian transparency lags behind the rest of the EU. (Epsiplatform)

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

• House Oversight Chair Darrell Issa questioned CFPB head Elizabeth Warren on an “inadequate” repsonse to FOIA requests in a heated hearing yesterday. (The Washington Examiner)

• CIO Vivek Kundra unveiled a seventeen-member task force charged with eliminating unnecessary government websites and determining how to prevent future “bloating of government URLs.” (GovTech)

• The House Appropriations Committee will require the GAO to investigate and report what steps have been taken to prevent mistakes after the Office recently released an error-ridden report on for-profit colleges. (The Daily Caller)

• The GAO is encouraging tipsters to come forward with knowledge about government waste. (ExecutiveGov)

Revolving Door

• Opinion: the new rule proposed by FINRA designed to protect against the revolving door does not go far enough. (POGO)

Lobbying

• Wall Street lobbyists have put their influence tools into full gear, seeking to ease the impact of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul on their investment bank clients (The New York Times).

• Wachovia lobbied heavily for its loans to be bought up in TARP. (Charlotte Observer)

• Opinion: the current legislative standstill in Congress should make issue groups re-examine the value of their influence and lobbyist efforts. (The Hill)

Campaign Finance

• It is still up in the air whether presidential candidates in 2012 will reveal the names of their top "bundlers," individuals who reach their maximum donation levels and turn to their networks for other contributions, submitting all the checks in one bundle. (OpenSecrets)

Ethics

• Rep. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) stepped down from the House Ethics Committee yesterday due to her upcoming senatorial election campaign, noting that the non-partisan role of the Ethics committee could conflict with her bid. (Roll Call)

Technology

• In a House Oversight hearing on federal information technology yesterday, CIO Vivek Kundra identified what he considers the ten principles of federal transparency. (Sunlight Blog)

Access to Information

• A University of Michigan professor is demanding that the FBI and CIA respond to his FOIA requests for information about the government secretly investigating him due to his outspoken criticism of President Bush. (Courthouse News)

State and Local

• Dozens of state legislatures adopted anti-environmental regulation bills that were authored by the American Legislative Exchange Council. (The LA Times)

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