Making Government Transparent and Accountable
The Sunlight Foundation uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable. Underlying all of our efforts is a fundamental belief that increased transparency will improve the public's confidence in government
The Sunlight Foundation Blog
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Tweet Success! Boxer and McCaskill to Support 482
Yesterday, we announced a campaign to pass S. 482, the Senate electronic filing bill. There are two tacks to this campaign: one involves calling your senators and seeking support for the bill and opposition to a potential poison pill amendment, the other involves “tweeting” to the 17 senators on Twitter to try and secure their support for the bill or thank them for cosponsoring. After one day, we have already received positive responses from both Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Claire McCaskill. Both stated their support for the bill over Twitter:
clairecmc: I’ve supported electronic filing of campaign reports for a long time. It’s embarrassing that we are not required to file electronically.#482
Barbara_Boxer: Thanks to all who tweeted me about e-filing of campaign finance reports. I was a cosponsor of S. 482 before and will do so again.
In less than 24 hours,
2 out of 15 of the senators on Twitter who had not cosponsored are now cosponsors. (UPDATE: Sen. McCaskill has not yet officially cosponsored the bill and simply stated her support, Sen. Boxer officially cosponsored the bill yesterday. We hope that McCaskill turns her support into being an actual cosponsor soon.) In terms of grassroots outreach that is an amazing turn around. (See also, Clay’s post at Sunlight Labs.) In both the Boxer and McCaskill responses we can see that Twitter is a great way to communicate with constituents. Thanks to everyone who helped “tweet” these senators.We still your help in making telephone calls to Senate offices. So far, 67 calls have been made. We need to keep the pressure on to make sure that this bill finally passes. Go to the Pass 482 site and follow the instructions to call your senators. It’s very easy.
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Help Lobby Congress on S. 482!
Update: Please send your thanks to @Barbara_Boxer and @clairecmc (Sen. Claire McCaskill) for agreeing to cosponsor S. 482.
The legend of lobbying in Washington, DC states that President Ulysses Grant would take a jaunt over to the Willard Hotel to smoke cigars and enjoy a glass of brandy. Waiting in the hotel’s lobby for the President would be agents of all the big industries and causes seeking an audience. Today, you don’t need to come to Washington or wait for politicians to leave their security bubbles to get a word in edge wise, all you need is to connect with them on Twitter and keep the lobbying to 140 characters or less. In our quest to pass S. 482, a bill to require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically, we are taking our lobbying, with your help, to Twitter.
