Sunlight Foundation

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

• Local Sunlight

  By Nisha Thompson on 11/20/08 @ 5:13 pm | 4 Comments

  Every week I climb into the depths of the local political blogosphere to find the Sunlight. I use this series to highlight local blogs that do a great job of covering local, state, and congressional political news. This week I have highlights from South Dakota, Texas, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Delaware, and Washington.
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• Local Sunlight

  By Nisha Thompson on 04/08/08 @ 2:21 pm | 0 Comments

  

  This week I have highlights from South Dakota, Tennessee, New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.

  South Dakota War College reported that the South Dakotans for Open and Clean Government ballot committee has gathered enough signatures to place the South Dakota Open and Clean Government Act on the November ballot. This legislation contains the following provisions:

  
  

  Taxpayer funds could not be used to lobby or campaign for partisan political agendas, including increased taxes.

  Legislators and their staff would be unable to use their legislative positions to secure a “golden-parachute”, state-contracted job.

  The “pay to play” system — where state contracts are traded for campaign donations — would be outlawed.

  A simple, searchable website with information on all state contracts over $500 (excluding employment contracts), would be launched so citizens can know how their money is being spent.

  War College also highlights some of the features of Legistorm including a map of the travel that Sen. Johnson and his staff have taken.

  South Dakota Watch has a great post about how much openness in government is too much and what should be considered bad transparency. This is in response to a article in the Argus Leader about the crimes that Sioux City Council candidates some of which are just traffic violations.

  BillHobbs.com, in Tennessee, wrote a great post about his efforts to get the state of Tennessee to respect his Open Records request regarding a tape of construction being done at the governor’s mansion. Even though the tape is state property and should be available under open records laws, the governor’s office wouldn’t let Mr. Hobbs obtain a copy of the tape unless he pays $200 for a DVD.

  In New York, Room Eight reports that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has formed fake organizations, that she can report to the council during budget enactment, that receive state money. Then for next year use the money given to the fake organizations to do political favors.

  In Pennsylvania, Policy Blog, is responding to an interest discussion on whether the budget process is legitimate if legislators list programs to be funded and then let the governor decide which ones get the money.

  In Delaware, Down with Absolutes goes through the process of winning a state contract.

  

• Local Sunlight

  By Nisha Thompson on 02/28/08 @ 3:57 pm | 0 Comments

  

  This week I have highlights from Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Florida and Minnesota.

  Oregon’s Earmark Blog posts a CRS report about the Executive Order restricting state agencies from considering earmarks not found in the historical texts of bills. Another example of how useful and informative CRS reports are.
  

  S.D. Watch posted a press release from South Dakota’s Secretary of State Chris Nelson. The press release states that the secretary of state has updated their website to include a free, searchable database of corporate records.

  South Texas Chisme posted about how the Harris County government is looking into closing a loophole that allows high ranking officials to not include personal financial information that could cause a conflict of interest.

  In Louisiana, Between the Lines, has a post on new ethics reform legislation going through the state senate. The legislation would limit gifts and meals from lobbyists and is being opposed by many lawmakers because it was cause hardship to their legislative life.

  KentuckyPolitics.org highlights the Kentucky Senate passing legislation that would require Section 527 groups to disclose their contributions.

  Florida’s The Buzz, highlights how the Florida House is now wireless. “Anyone with a wireless-capable computer can pick up a signal now in committee rooms, public areas, etc. No registration is necessary, says Jill Chamberlin, spokeswoman for House Speaker Marco Rubio.” Kudos to you Florida House.

  In Minnesota, MinnPost, is using Sunlight’s new Lawmaker Profiler. The Profiler allows you to find campaign contributions, earmarks, federal contracts, and lobbyist expenditures that are associated with a member of Congress. It is a great tool for any blogger or news organization who wants a new innovative way to see congressional data.

  

• Local Sunlight

  By Nisha Thompson on 02/19/08 @ 2:29 pm | 0 Comments

  This week I have highlights from New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Maryland, Delaware, Hawaii, Alabama, and Iowa.

   

  In New York, the Fighting 29^th, gives us an update on last week’s story about Rep. Kuhl’s trip to Brazil. The story produced by WHAM-13 notes that after the original story Rep. Kuhl’s office sent the news station a list of the expenses except for how much the air travel was. Apparently the government does not disclose how much military travel costs. After Rep. Kuhl’s office sent them an itinerary with flight hours they figured the airfare cost $28,000. I wonder why they wouldn’t disclose that?

  Keystone Politics in Pennsylvania highlights the open records legislation that has been approved unanimously by the state house and is being sent to the governor to sign. This right to know law makes all government records public unless the document’s custodian can prove that they are classified.

  Lowell at BadLand Blues highlights an interview with the governor about a bill regarding open government. The governor feels that open disclosure could violate privacy rights of citizens. The interview also gives the sponsor of the bill a chance to respond to the Governor’s accusations.

  The Howard County Maryland Blog highlights the Maryland Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2008. This bill is being sponsored by Howard County delegates and will allow citizens to see how the state of Maryland spends tax money.

  DelawarePolitics.net talks about the nepotism in Delaware. He would like to know how many family members of elected officials are being employeed by Delaware. Fair question maybe its time for people to investigate these links like we did in Congress is a family business.

  ILind.net of Hawaii talks about his involvement the Sunshine Blogger Project. The goal of the project is to find out whether America’s governors archive the e-mail correspondences that go into and out of their offices. More importantly can they provide copies of those e-mails when members of the public request them. ILind request covered all governmental emails sent or received by the governor’s office during the four day period of February 1-4, 2008. Hopefully the bloggers participating in this project can get some positive disclosure.

  In Alabama, Doc’s Political Parlor, talks about the new state senate bill that will ban PAC to PAC contributions. It does not, however, ban PACs from giving to political parties which could create a loophole. The loophole is being actively discussed and will be PACs contributing to parties, who will then, contribute to another PAC. Two steps forward one step back.

  In Iowa Cyclone Conservatives points people to the Facebook and MySpace pages of Reps. Steve King and Tom Latham and Sen. Chuck Grassly. It’s great to see elected officials taking advantage of a new medium to connect with constituents.

  

• Local Sunlight

  By Nisha Thompson on 11/16/07 @ 11:46 am | 0 Comments

  This week I have highlights from Iowa, Michigan, Hawaii, South Dakota, and Texas.

  Blog for Iowa, reports that the Iowan House of Representatives has a WordPress Blog! You can use it to get updates on what is going on in the Iowan house. The blog features audio from the House Chamber, calendar of events, and will also use content from YouTube and Facebook.

  In Michigan, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood has a great post investigating a few earmarks. The post talks about why a particular earmark is necessary and whether Rep. Rogers is playing both sides of the fence by being against certain earmarks but asking for some as well.

  Hawaii Blog reports that the Hawaii State Legislature is looking for a full time year round blogger. The position comes with full benefits! Today’s your last day to apply!

  In South Dakota, S.D. Watch reports a little transparency reversal. Apparently the State of South Dakota is suing a judge because he will not disclose information about a meeting with defense attorneys.

  In Texas, Big Houston talks about how the city of Houston is posting health inspection information online but isn’t posting all of them until some public pressure made them change their minds. So everyone visit Houston and avoid places that have health violations. I wonder if other cities do this.

  Shine on Sunlighters Shine on!

  

• Local Sunlight

  By Nisha Thompson on 10/19/07 @ 4:50 pm | 0 Comments

  This week I have highlights from Utah, New Mexico, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

  In Utah, Jen’s Green Journal discusses the undeclared conflict of interest for State Reps. Mike Noel and Aaron Tilton. Reps. Noel and Tilton are both on the Public Utilities and Technology Committee and the Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee (apparently these are two different committees). The conflict of interest is that these committees are considering a motion that would approve building a nuclear reactor in Utah. The conflict is spelled out at Deseret Morning News “Rep. Tilton is an owner of Transition Power Development, a private equity group that has signed an agreement to secure water rights for a nuclear power plant. If approved by water regulators, the plant’s enormous water demands would be supplied by the Kane County Water Conservancy District, whose executive director is Rep. Mike Noel.” In other words these two lawmakers would benefit from the building of a nuclear reactor and should probably declare a conflict of interest.

  New Mexico Politics with Joe Monahan talks about how since Sen. Domenici, announced his retirement the Senate Ethics Committee has decided not to go to the next stage of the investigation into his involvement in the US Attorney General scandal.

  South Dakota Politics blog has been talking about the farm bill recently and more specifically the $1.1 billion in subsidies that went to 172,801 dead people between 1999 through 2005. The discussion went into depth about whether these farmers were vampires or zombies. You be the judge.

  In Tennessee, Nashville City Blogs talks about whether part of the comprehensive state ethics bill is constitutional. Attorney General Bob Cooper says that the section regarding the political activities of family members of the Registry of Election Finance is unconstitutional. The current law prohibits them from participating in campaign activities, running for office, and lobbying. AG Cooper said that these bans are too harsh since these activities don’t really convey a conflict of interest with the Registry of Election Finance.

  In Arkansas, The Citizens Journal blog talks about how some Arkansas officials are being sued by two reporters for violating the state’s Freedom of Information Act by withholding information about which government computers were used to edit entries on Wikipedia. The complaint asks the officials to reveal what computers were being used to edit Wikipedia entries on Republican presidential candidates. It is an interesting case of Web 2.0 technology and how it affects transparency and FOIA.

  That’s all I got this week. Thank local bloggers for shining the Sunlight.

  

• Local Sunlight

  By Nisha Thompson on 09/24/07 @ 11:53 am | 0 Comments

  Every week I climb into the depths of the local political blogosphere to find the Sunlight. I use this series to highlight local blogs that do a great job of convering local, state, and Congressional political news. This week I have highlights from Arizona, Indiana, Maine, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
  
  In Arizona, Expresso Pundit posted a very interesting letter from the Arizona state legislature. It is an invitation to a legislative workshop. This workshop discusses; how bills are drafted and moved through the legislature, and also will demo the Arizona Legislative Information System, the Request to Speak Program (this link will take you to a manual about the program), and how to use the legislative website.

  Advance Indiana goes into some depth about how the city council of Lake Station, IN wants to ban private recordings of their meetings. The complaint, people are playing the recordings at local area bars to entertain customers.

  Spud1 at Turn Main Blue takes this opportunity to challenge some opinions Sen. Collins posted on her new blog. It is great that Sen. Collins has joined the growing number of elected officials’ blogging their opinion and giving constituents a chance to respond.

  I’ve been meaning to highlight Nebraska’s Smith Watch. Every week, they go through the actions of the House and highlight what Rep. Adrian Smith did. For instance, from 9/10 to 9/14 Rep. Smith did not submit or make floor statements but he did add his name to resolution H.Res.641, as a cosponsor.

  In South Dakota, Lowell from Badlands Blue highlights Tim Johnson’s new We bsite. There is one thing missing Sen. Johnson, a daily schedule! Let you constituents know who you’re meeting with every day, Punch the Clock.

  That’s all I have this week. Keep up the good work!