I've been fascinated by the Peer to Patent program in operation over at USTPO (and not just because my son-in-law works there). Beth Noveck highlights a very interesting video today that explains why this is a cutting edge project. We think it's a terrific model for collaborative government.
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FEC to Exist; Von Spakovsky Pulls Name
As Ellen wrote previously here, former Bush administration Justice Department official Hans Von Spakovsky's nomination to the Federal Election Commission was highly controversial due to concerns about stands he took on voting rights while in the Justice Department. These concerns led some Democrats to block his nomination. The President and congressional Republicans refused to hold a vote on any other commissioners without support for Von Spakosky, effectively freezing the Commission. The Commission is currently short on commissioners and is unable to issue rulings on a variety of issues including the filing of disclosure reports for bundled contributions from lobbyists. Moments ago, Von Spakovsky pulled his name from nomination all but clearing the way to a fully operational Federal Election Commission. His letter to President Bush is below the fold:
Continue readingThinking Like a Dandelion
Cory sez:
My latest column in Locus Magazine, "Think Like a Dandelion," came out of a talk I had with Neil Gaiman about the bio-economics of giving stuff away for free. Mammals worry about what happens to each and every one of their offspring, but dandelions only care that every crack in every sidewalk has dandelions growing out of it. The former is a good strategy for situations in which reproduction is expensive, but the latter works best when reproduction is practically free -- as on the Internet.But the disposition of each — or even most — of the seeds aren't the important thing, from a dandelion's point of view. The important thing is that every spring, every crack in every pavement is filled with dandelions. The dandelion doesn't want to nurse a single precious copy of itself in the hopes that it will leave the nest and carefully navigate its way to the optimum growing environment, there to perpetuate the line. The dandelion just wants to be sure that every single opportunity for reproduction is exploited!
Think about government data in just that way.
Continue readingOversight on the Office of Legal Counsel and Secrecy
After previewing it first, I attended last Wednesday’s Hearing by the Constitution Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee about “Secret Law and the Threat to Democratic and Accountable Government.”
For fuller coverage, see FireDogLake, the Guardian, ACS Blog, or the statements and testimony from the hearing (set off on the upper right).
While my coverage will be far from complete, I find the process of taking and then preparing my notes from committee hearings to be a great way to digest what was presented, and to start to work through some of the issues that relate to open government and accountability, which lie at the heart of this hearing. (more)
Ethics Watch News Feed
If you ever need to know what's going on on Capitol Hill in regards to ethics, corruption, or reform check out our Ethics Watch news feed down the right hand sidebar. The Ethics Watch news feed has been updated daily for almost two years now and it has an excellent archive of links to articles about congressional ethics, corruption, reform, and transparency. You can view the whole archive from October 2006 to today at this link. Below is a tag cloud visualization of all the words included in the news feed since October 2006. It provides a window into the stories that have dominated coverage of ethics and reform in Congress over the past two years. Click to make it bigger:
A SuperDelegate Widget
Check out the SuperDelegate Widget over at Congresspedia.
Government Adapts to Web 2.0
Labeling Lobbyists
Would you talk to this man?
The San Francisco Examiner reports on a proposed bill by San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly that would require lobbyists to wear identification badges when they contact city officials. This seems kind of silly to me. Lawmakers know these lobbyists and should know when they are being lobbied. They don't need to read badges to figure out what is going on. If anything greater and more timely, as in immediate, disclosure to the public should be implemented and not some sort of cattle branding.
(Pictured above: The Open House Project's John Wonderlich, our lobbyist for Big Transparency.)
Continue readingRepublicans Demand Campaign Cash for Votes
It looks like congressional Republicans have seen MAPLight.org - the insanely useful money-for-votes tracker - and they like the idea. (Also see: National Association of Home Builders.) That idea being that money equals votes and votes equal money and therefore interests that they vote in favor of should kick back some campaign cash to reward their votes:
With the House Democrats’ refusal to grant retroactive immunity to phone companies — stalling the rewrite of the warrantless wiretapping program — GOP leadership aides are grumbling that their party isn’t getting more political money from the telecommunications industry.
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Happy Birthday Jack!
Today is Jack Abramoff's 50th birthday. He'll be celebrating in a federal prison in Cumberland, MD.
In case you forgot what this was all about, or never followed the massive corruption scandal, the Washington Post has a feature on their coverage, which won the Pulitzer.
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