In January of 2007, freshman Democratic congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand became the first member of the House of Representatives to post her daily schedule on her official web site, a historic step for transparency in Congress. At the time, many feared that this level of transparency would harm her reelection prospects in a mostly Republican district. Those fears turned out to be wrong. Last night, every non-retiring candidate posting their daily schedule online was reelected to Congress, proving that transparency does not harm electoral prospects.

Since Rep. Gillibrand’s daily schedule went online, eight other lawmakers (including Sen. Jon Tester, the first senator to post a daily schedule) began posting daily schedules - you can view a map of their meetings here. They include Reps. John Doolittle, Dennis Rehberg, Kathy Castor, Jan Schakowsky, and John Yarmuth and Sens. Tester, Max Baucus, and Bill Nelson. Of these lawmakers, Rep. Doolittle retired and Sens. Tester and Nelson were not up for reelection. Reps. Rehberg, Castor, Schakowsky, and Yarmuth and Sen. Baucus all joined Rep. Gillibrand in winning reelection.

From her first day, Rep. Gillibrand has been a leader on operating a unilaterally transparent congressional office. Aside from posting her daily schedule, she was among the first lawmakers to post on her web site a list of her earmark requests and her personal financial disclosure. Since then, unilateral transparency (the disclosure of information not required by laws or congressional rules) has become much more prevalent throughout the House and Senate.

Today, over forty lawmakers disclose their earmark requests to some degree, while dozens more provide some lesser form of earmark disclosure. Others post their personal financial disclosures and travel reports.

The movement towards transparency continues unabated. The proven ability of transparent lawmakers to win reelection provides further space for more lawmakers to operate in an open and transparent manner.

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True democratic government depends on citizens being able to monitor and participate in the actions and activities of their government.  And this is not only true in our country, obviously. Just like Sunlight, My Society in the UK and VisibleGovernment.ca in Canada are applying Web 2.0 tools to facilitate openness and transparency in their governments.

Jennifer Bell, VisibleGovernment.ca’s director, learned of Change Congress‘ national movement to end corruption in Congress. Specifically, Jennifer was impressed by Change Congress asking congressional candidates to make four simple commitments: No money from lobbyists or PACs; vote to end earmarks; support reform to increase congressional transparency; support publicly-financed campaigns. So inspired, her organization has launched I Believe In Open .ca where they are asking candidates to agree to five commitments: Support reforms that increase government transparency and accountability; make campaign promises specific and measurable, and report progress on promises and their metrics at least semi-annually; publish the content of his or her daily schedule (quite similar to our Punch Clock Campaign), including meetings with lobbyists and special interest groups; support reforms allowing free access to scientific and survey data gathered by government institution; and support reforms that make it easier for Canadians to obtain government information they have a right to know.

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Since its launch, on Tuesday, the Punch Clock Map has gotten some excellent support. The one of note is this editorial in Montana’s Helena Independent Record:

Delegation leads in openness
By IR staff - 12/13/07

Naively, no doubt, we were hoping that the Montana congressional delegation’s practice of posting their daily schedules on the Internet might catch on in Washington.

After all, it’s an easy way for members of Congress to show their commitment to transparency in government and maybe even help repair that institution’s tattered image.

No such luck. A national watchdog organization called the Sunlight Foundation recently applauded U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Sen. Max Baucus and U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg for being among only eight of the 535 members of Congress to post their schedules.

A foundation spokeswoman said congressional members often say they don’t want to reveal their schedules for reasons of security. That’s a particularly lame excuse. All they need to do is post their scheduled a day late, as the Montana delegation does. Yesterday’s schedule isn’t of much help to any bad guys lurking out there. The real reason so few are willing to make their schedules public is that they probably fear political operatives will be poring over their itineraries, searching for any ammo they can find for future attacks.But the main reason for elected officials to reveal their schedules is to be open with the people whom they represent. By showing the world how they are spending their days, politicians are proclaiming that they have no private agenda, are attending to the people’s business, and have nothing to hide.

In a Congress rife with influence peddling and worse, that’s of no small value. The openness of Tester, Baucus and Rehberg may not be the height of fashion inside the Washington D.C. beltway, but that’s all the more reason for folks back in Montana to be proud of them.

Montana should be proud of its delegation. These lawmakers decided to be ahead of the curve and brave the insecurity of being more transparent than anyone else. They have congressional guts. How do your representatives match up? Are they willing to be this transparent? You should call and ask them to post their schedules online.

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With the advent of Rep. Rehberg (MT) posting his schedule to his official congressional Web site, Montana bloggers and newspapers have asked if Sen. Baucus would join his fellow lawmakers and post his schedule, as well. Lawmakers who agree to share their schedule show that they’re responsive, open, transparent and above all accountable to their constituents. When citizens can find out who has the ears of their lawmakers they can fairly determine if those lawmakers are making fair decisions. The information is vital to a strong democracy because it allows, for the first time, a voter to engage in the daily life of their elected official. The Montana Standard agrees — on Sunday they printed an editorial making the point that

With just three people representing the fourth largest state in the country, our congressional delegation already faces a great challenge in trying to stay in touch with Montanans, and this one relatively easy way to keep people in the loop.

Given the distance between Washington DC and Montana it could be frustrating to a Montanan to feel connected to their representative. But, with a schedule, people know that members of Congress are, in fact, meeting with people in the district and keeping those needs in mind daily. Bloggers are also asking, Don Pogreba’s blog Intelligent Discontent

It's time for Senator Max Baucus to do the right thing. Following the lead of Senator Tester and Representative Rehberg, it's time for Max to start telling Montana voters how he spends his days in Washington.

and Jay Steven’s Left in the West "So you know what this means! Max Baucus is the only Montana federal-level representative hiding his business behind a cloud."

The value of a daily available schedule is not lost and constituents actually see the value and want to see all their Representatives do the right thing. We have seen the power that Montana Bloggers have in demanding accountability from their elected officials, and I am confident that Sen. Baucus will do the right thing by his constituents. There’s hope he’s already considering it. Today, the Billings Gazette published an editorial citing, Sen. Baucus’ spokesperson, Barrett Kaiser stating “…said last week that the senator is considering posting his schedule.”

The Billings Gazette continues saying:

“Max Baucus ought to join this bold minority movement in telling his employers (that's all of us Montanans) what he's doing in the job we're paying him to do. With Baucus disclosing his daily meetings, Montana would have the distinction of having the first entire delegation sharing this information publicly.”

Having an entire delegation posting schedules is not only significant it’s pioneering. Montana would have the advantage of being the only state where people can actually compare and contrast who all their representatives are meeting with. And while this doesn’t solve all problems it goes a long way to bring citizens into the process of lawmaking. By making sure that officials are soliciting a wide range of viewpoints, meeting with the humble as well as the high powered, a public schedule will demonstrate that, indeed, the member is doing the work constituents sent him to Washington to do.

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Rep. Dennis Rehberg is the 7th Member of Congress (and the second from Montana) to put a daily schedule online. Montana freshman, Sen. Jon Tester, made a campaign promise to post his schedule and he has been posting it since the beginning of his term. The existence of Tester’s schedule prompted the Helena Independent Record to ask Rep. Rehberg and Sen. Baucus if they were thinking of posting one also. Rehberg’s spokesman said his schedule was available to anyone who called his office and asked but when bloggers decided to take him up on that offer they found out that his schedule was available only if you were in Washington (more responses here). Later, an article in the Missoula Independent quoted Rep. Rehberg’s chief of staff saying that when the website was redesigned Mr. Rehberg’s schedule will be posted daily.

Now that the redesign is done there is a lovely schedule very conveniently located on the front page for all constituents to see here.

Wow. This is the power of citizens at work. It wouldn't have happened unless the citizens of Montana demanded it. Montana bloggers, both left and right, engaged each other and Rehberg’s office in a debate over the merits of posting a schedule. The debate started and ended with them.This shows that citizens and bloggers CAN make their congressman more transparent and responsive.

By fulfilling a promise of transparency, Rep. Rehberg has shown his commitment to a more engaging relationship with his constituents. Along with Sen. Tester, this effort  makes Montana the second state with two members of Congress punching the clock. (Florida’s Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Kathy Castor also post their schedules.)

Montana could become the first state with their entire congressional delegation punching the clock if Sen. Baucus were to post his schedule. So Senator, where do you stand?

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Since the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet’s John Neurohr is able to read our minds I figure that I ought to give a demonstration of what we have been doing with the daily schedules that some members of Congress are posting. Currently most members of Congress, the press, and partisan outfits see the daily schedules as a target for cherry-picking “gotchas” like the recent fuss about Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand’s schedule showing a fundraiser for the congresswoman in Europe. Look at the schedule as a whole and not a series of single events and you get a different picture. Instead of one event that may be unseemly you will be able to tell a story that explains whether or not, in the meetings that the congressperson is holding, the member is fulfilling their representational duty to work with individuals and groups in the district. That’s why we decided to see what a Google map of the schedule might look like.

As I said before, this is a demonstration and we are currently working on ways to show this data in more compelling ways. To begin with we’ve taken Gillibrand’s schedule and mapped the first two months of her meetings. We excluded from the map all congressional votes, committee meetings, fundraisers, and meetings with unidentifiable persons. This was done to focus on the people that Gillibrand meets with to do her job (i.e.: represent the people who elected her). The addresses represent where the individual or group is located and not where the meeting was held, except in some instances of district work. In a few instances I have not been able to find an exact address and thus have used a less-than specific address (i.e.: Dutchess County, NY) that is not entirely accurate but represents the town or county where the individual or group is located. Some meetings include individuals representing more than one group. For these meetings I have labeled them as “Joint Meetings”.

So, what do the first two months of Gillibrand’s schedule show? The majority of her meetings occur with groups based in New York State and, more specifically, in her district. The only area with any significant amount of groups that met with the congresswoman is Washington, DC. This makes sense as numerous groups that represent issues affecting her district are headquartered in Washington.

Zoom into any meeting placemark and find the text submitted by Gillibrand’s staff to her public schedule, the actual address of the organization, and the group’s Web site, if any exists.

Check out the two months of Gillbrand's schedule that we've mapped and let us know in the comments what kind of information you see. What kind of organizations did Gillibrand meet with in these two months? What appears to be her focus for her district? When I reviewed these meetings it appears that the majority of her meetings are held with business and labor leaders in New York State. This appears to accurately reflect her ideological positioning as a Blue Dog Democrat. What do you see?

Our excellent Labs staff is currently developing a way to make this information more open and more compelling. This will change the way that the daily schedule is perceived by members of Congress and their constituents. Hopefully, you will find cool and innovative new ways to present this data once we get it out there. Watch over the summer as we begin to get this information into a better format.

The ability to show this information in a variety of ways is really exciting in that you the constituent or you the online political junkie can create your own narrative of a congressperson's meetings. Of course, if the congressperson is meeting with certain individuals and groups over others than they will set the general narrative as Gillibrand does by predominantly meeting with groups from her state and her district and that fit into the ideological position that she has crafted for herself. Ultimately, this will take the air out of "gotcha" moments, like the aforementioned European fundraiser, due to the more compelling stories that constituents can tell themselves. The more information that members release about their activities the less they will have to hear, from the media and from constituents, complaints that they have lost touch with the district. How can someone say that you've "gone Washington" when you have a map to prove that you're still true to your district.

A final note: Due to this infiltration by the Institue for Politics, Democracy and the Internet we will be encasing our offices in tinfoil.

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UPDATE: Our intelligence tells us that the committee will vote off the floor around noon today.

Rules and Administration Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) just announced that Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) will drop his amendment allowing the electronic filing bill to move forwards. Feinstein agreed to hold a hearing on a stand alone bill of Bennett's amendment. And now Bennett cosponsors the bill, S. 223. Amazing!

However, not enough Democrats showed up for there to be a quorum so the meeting was adjourned without a vote on the bill. The committee will likely vote off the floor once they get enough votes. It’s ironic that a disclosure bill will be voted on behind closed doors. The bill should still move forwards.

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As an energetic promoter of lawmakers posting their daily schedules on line, we've talked about the terrific efforts made by Sen. John Tester and Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, the first two lawmakers to really give us some sense of who they meet with and what they do everyday. But today we realized that the schedules were not actually being archived on their sites, meaning that if you wanted to see how many citizen groups Rep. Gillibrand has met with over the long term, or how much time Sen. Tester spends working on legislation with his staff, you couldn't figure it out. No doubt this is an oversight on their part.

The problem's been rectified on their respective pages on Congresspedia which is now maintaining a complete archive of Tester's and Gillibrand's schedules.

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Look at what you can find out, when a lawmaker publishes his schedule.

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