This week I have highlights from Idaho, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Washington.

In Idaho, IdaBlue, has a new blog roll category, “legiblogs”, this lists all the state legislators that have blogs (or blogislators). There are four blogs currently listed and they all seemed to be updated regularly. It’s great to see elected officials considering blogging as a way to communicate with their constituents.

In Louisiana, Blagueur, highlights a Washington Post article talking about Rep. Richard H. Baker who is in talks to become president of a hedge fund lobby. Also in Louisiana, In the Loop highlights the historic state house organizational session. This included a day long briefing on Louisiana’s Code of Governmental Ethics. This was meant to lead the State Reps through the ethics code and educated them about the requirements for financial disclosure and lobbyist regulation. This was a great opportunity to learn Louisiana’s Ethics Code before the special sessions in February on ethics reform.

In Missouri, the Turner Report, talks about how State Rep. Dwight Scharnhorst introduced bill HB 1548, which, he admitted was written by a lobbyist. This bill would exempt sales tax on purchases of “equipment, machinery, materials, supplies, fixtures, and shoes used in the sport of bowling.” A little more research shows that this bill was previously submitted last year by Rep. Ron Richard, the House Speaker-elect, who happens to own a chain of bowling alleys. How convenient.

In Nebraska, Smith Watch, has a very interesting summary of Rep. Adrian Smith’s first year in Congress. Complete with voting summary and some analysis of who gave him money and how often he voted in their favor.

In New Mexico, LP at New Mexico FBIHOP, highlights the very cool The Santa Fe Reporter’s Muckraker’s Guide to New Mexico. The guide has links to campaign finance, earmark, crime, and various other information any good muckraker would want.

In Washington, Olympia Time, highlights how the state legislature now has RSS feeds for bills which will allow people to subscribe to bills and track changes.

Earmark Corner

The usual ruckus around earmarks has slowed to a disgruntled murmur with people mostly focusing on the election. I did want to highlight a great summary done by Smith Watch on Rep. Adrian’s Smith earmark requests and his opinion on the status of earmarking.

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I have been keeping track of local blogs that do a great job of informing people about what is happening in Congress, state level, and local level politics. These blogs provide valuable information which I highlight each week to bring you news of transparency from around the country. Here is this week’s update on Sunlight in the states.

In Missouri, the Turner Report discusses the Democratic nomination of Michele Kratky to a Missouri House seat. The strange part is that she is being nominated to replace her husband, Fred Kratky. Why you ask? Mr. Kratky is leaving his state house seat to be a lobbyist for the St. Louis Association of Realtors. What is the problem? Mrs. Kratky just happens to be a lobbyist for the St. Louis Association of Realtors. What a strange game of musical chairs.

New Mexico’s Mario Burgos cites a poll in the Albuquerque Journal saying that 88% of Democrats support stricter ethics laws. He goes on to discuss that morality and ethics can’t be legislated but can only come about by voting out the corrupt. While Mr. Burgos makes an interesting point I ask him to go further and actually ask voters to start keeping elected officials accountable. In order to change a corrupt political culture you have to keep tabs on those who are in charge by gathering and monitoring information about them. This allows citizens to ensure their elected officials uphold a high standard of ethics instead of voting them out after the fact.

Virginia has lost a transparency in government advocate to retirement. Bacon’s Rebellion does a short profile on Mr. Frosty Landon’s retirement. Among his accomplishments, he helped launch the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, which actively defends the Freedom of Information Act. I have to say I don’t know Mr. Landon, but he definitely seems like a Sunlight kind of guy.

DemocracySpace.org has a great post on public officials that blog. Specifically of note is Nils Ribi, a city councilor in the state of Idaho, who live blogged coverage of a recent fire in the area to communicate to residents news updates, recent photos of the fire, and other important information to keep people safe.

In Illinois, 11^th Dem at Prairie State Blue talks about how Congressman Weller (R-11) is under investigation for not properly reporting his involvement in Nicaraguan land deals.

That’s all I can do this week. Keep letting the sunlight shine on local bloggers.

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