(Hat tip to State Agency Database Highlights) 

Illinois has a new database for state contracts and campaign contributions.  OpenBook is a great new site where you can search by contract holder or contributor.  When you search for either the results will show you two columns. The first shows if the company or person has any state contracts and the second is what campaign contributions they have made.  This site allows people to see if a relationship could exist between contracts and campaign contributions.  It is simple to use and the easy to understand, which is pretty impressive for a government database.  Kudos Illinois!

0 Comments

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.

0 Comments

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 and I am taking the time each week to point out some highlights from around the country. As promised, here is this week’s update on Sunlight in the states.

In Alabama, Left in Alabama talks about how Gov. Riley is going to support Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham’s proposal to post, immediately, on the state’s Web site all flights using state planes, including information regarding passengers, destinations, and the purpose of the trip. The measure even goes as far as to penalize lawmakers if they do not reimburse the state for private trips. I’m sensing a recurring theme, considering the New York ethics commission also recently commented on the use of state planes for political purposes.

In Hawaii, there have been some discussions regarding the definition of journalism because of a proposed shield law, which would legally safeguard journalists from disclosing the sources of both published and unpublished information in state courts, but would not offer the same protection for bloggers. The official Hawaiian House blog recently defined Hawaii’s reasons for this decision, which blogger Poinography disputed in a very good point-by-point rebuttal.

In Illinois, Woodfordtaxfacts.org has been keeping tabs on the progress of Woodford County’s official Web site, which, deserves kudos for providing RSS feeds and a eLibrary with minutes from County committees and the County Board. Woodfortaxfacts.org also deserves a tip of the hat for emphasizing that transparency and access are important so people can take ownership of their government.

Thanks to Tom Cusack for alerting me to his blogs, Oregon Earmarks Blog and Open the Government News and Issues. These are great examples of a local blogger working toward transparency.

Keep up the great work on the local level. My love of reading blogs cannot be squelched, so please keep recommending local blogs that do a great job talking about local level issues affecting government transparency, ethics and technology.

0 Comments