Part-Time Policy Wonk

From ProPublica:
Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli told (PDF) the Senate Judiciary Committee today that the Department of Justice is pushing federal agencies to be more transparent.
In a hearing on the Freedom of Information Act, Perrelli announced guidelines for reports that FOIA officers at each agency must send to the Department of Justice annually. The instructions [...]

From OMB Watch:
Transparency is integral to a responsive, accountable, and ultimately functioning government, but it is also a vital component of a functioning economy. Indeed, a number of federal institutions exist to ensure that depositors, lenders, and borrowers have access to relevant financial data that allows them to engage in mutually beneficial transactions. The Obama [...]

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
A judge ordered the government Thursday to release more records about the lobbying campaign to provide immunity to the telecommunications giants that participated in the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White ordered the records be provided to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) by October 9, 2009.

From Inside Higher Ed:
The presidents of 57 liberal arts colleges released an open letter on Tuesday endorsing the Federal Research Access Act of 2009, a bill aimed at increasing public access to academic research that is funded by the federal government.

From Computerworld:
One year after the Wall Street meltdown, Congress is considering a bill (HR 1242) that would build a massive database to track bailout funds.
As envisioned, the database will collect information from some two dozen federal agencies that administer various aspects of the $700 billion in the federal Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

From OMB Watch:
The Obama administration has made government transparency a high priority in its early months, and of all the federal agencies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appears to be making the quickest progress in turning rhetoric into action. Across a range of issues, the EPA is taking proactive steps to improve transparency, collecting [...]

From the Sunlight Foundation:
“Transparency in government, no less than transparency in choosing our government, remains a vital national interest in a democracy.”
That’s what the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit said in a critical ruling upholding disclosure requirements for organizations that actively participate in the planning, supervision or control of lobbying activities.

From the Contra Costa Times:
Today, we are launching a searchable online database with the salaries of more than 134,000 public employees — people paid with taxpayer money. The database is the result of work done by more than two dozen Bay Area News Group reporters around the region. Although we include 64 governmental entities, we [...]

From the White House blog:
We have previously reported six limited waivers that have been granted by the White House pursuant to the President’s Executive Order on Ethics for Executive Branch personnel – the strongest ethics standards in U.S. government history.  Three of these waivers involved lobbying-related issues and three did not. We blogged about them [...]

From the Wall Street Journal:
Rep. Ron Paul said he has a commitment from the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank, to advance the Texas Republican’s legislation opening the Federal Reserve to broader federal audits.
In an interview Friday, Mr. Paul said Mr. Frank agreed to allow a vote on the bill and to [...]