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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24 Days Of Local Sunlight – Days 8, 9, 10 and 11
Whew! It has been a busy week but don’t worry Local Sunlight fans I haven’t forgot who I am thankful for.
Pennsylvania’s Above Average Jane, Oregon’s Tom Cusak, South Carolina’s SC6 and Rhode Island’s Twelfth!
I have highlighted Above Average Jane a few times. I like her summaries of what is going on in the Pennsylvania State House and how she has looked into FEC data. This week she had a post highlighting an email about PA health centers that are getting stimulus funds. I think this is a great way to share information for a busy blogger. Sometimes all you need to do is repost because sometimes information shouldn’t stay in the inbox.
Tom Cusak goes above and beyond the call when it comes to blogging about Oregon. He has three blogs and I have highlighted them all: Oregon Earmarks Blog, Oregon Housing Blog, and Open Government News and Issues, Oregon. Tom’s perspective is interesting to me because he used to work for Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is interesting to see what a former bureaucrat cares about post retirement. He has done his own research into earmarks and spending as well as discuss open government issues in the state of Oregon. He is a great asset to Oregon’s blogosphere.
South Carolina’s SC6 is written by Mike Reino and is a great blog to read for a wide variety of political information; local and federal. He did a fascinating investigation into campaign donors. One of my favorite posts of his, is this post on a seemingly frivolous bill that was considered in the House. I really enjoy posts about people looking at bills being introduced and finding interesting things or ridiculous legislation.
Rhode Island’s Twelfth is a great hyper local blog by a woman named Eileen Spillane. Dedicated to all things in Rhode Island Senate’s 12th district she covers a wide variety of subjects. I like when she covers local transparency issues like open records issues and local Web site reviews. It is always nice to read hyper local blogs because it becomes less about pure politics but about people and how politics effects communities.
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The States Open Up Their Books
Since Congress passed the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, (also known as the Coburn-Obama bill) which mandated the Office of Management and Budget to create a searchable online database of all government spending (USASpending.gov), Betanews reports that Rhode Island is the latest state to build a similiar Web site. Rhode Islands is actually the 22nd state to have opened its books to the online world.
Betanews says that eight more have legislation pending to do the same. The article states that that Missouri’s Accountability Portal (Go Show-Me State!) is the most comprehensive of all the state online information sites.
This is a great development.
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Local Sunlight
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 Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, and Hawaii.
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Local Sunlight
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 Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Texas.
