From the Washington Post:
Robert Shea is a Republican insider with a head for business and a yen for federal program performance standards. Gary Bass is a government watchdog with a mean bite who wants openness and knows how to get it.
Official antagonists, political opposites, brought together by a wild, crazy idea: federal budget transparency. Online [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Watching the Government category.
OMB Offers an Easy Way to Follow the Money
Let Congress Know You Are Watching
From OpenCongress:
We are really excited to be releasing our latest widget today. Our new “Congress, I’m Watching” widget lets you announce which bills in Congress you support or oppose, while also sharing links to clear, up-to-date information that encourages others to get involved the legislation themselves.
Any blog, membership group, or other organization can customize the [...]
Revamped WhiteHouseForSale Web Site Tracks 2008 Presidential Candidates’ “Bundlers”
From Public Citizen:
Public Citizen today unveiled a Web site that provides an up-to-date listing of the 2008 presidential hopefuls’ “bundlers,” the super-fundraisers who are powering the billion-dollar race for the White House. The revitalized site, an expansion of Public Citizen’s similar effort during the 2004 campaign and the only such clearinghouse for the 2008 campaign, [...]
Anonymous message board for congressional staff members launched
The Capitolist FAQ:
The Capitolist is an anonymous, uncensored message board for congressional staff members. Contributors are welcome to express their views and opinions on congressional affairs, politics or any other subject of interest. We encourage contributors to discuss their first-hand experiences with lawmakers and to report on the events of the day.
Defense Contractors Reap Windfall in 2005 Earmarks
From the Sunlight Foundation:
The nation’s top defense contractors were also the biggest beneficiaries of congressional earmarks in 2005, an analysis by the Sunlight Foundation has found. Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics led the pack. Those four corporations collected a combined $1.09 billion in earmark awards. Overall, the top 20 corporate recipients [...]
FEC maps show you the campaign money
From Federal Computer Week:
With the 2008 presidential race already on the fast track, the Federal Election Commission has developed an online mapping application that will make it easier for the public to track where — literally — presidential candidates are getting their money.
The application, scheduled to debut June 12 on the FEC Web site, will [...]
Tracy, CA case tests the power of government officials to avoid disclosure of their emails on public business
From the California First Amendment Coalition:
Those enterprising members of the Tracy City Council have come up with a strategy to hide from public view all their written communications about government business. With a bit of legal legerdemain, they claim to be able to evade state open-government laws, transforming their communications from public records into private [...]
Following the Money Trail Online
From the New York Times:
The first step to solving a problem is recognizing that you have one.
That’s what I keep telling myself, anyway, to avoid becoming depressed by Maplight.org.
It’s a new Web site with a very simple mission: to correlate lawmakers’ voting records with the money they’ve accepted from special-interest groups.
All of this is public [...]
Two examples of citizen volunteers improving access to government information
From Daily Kos comes the DOJ Email Database related to the U.S. Attorney firing scandal
To my knowledge, this is the first and largest collective effort by volunteers to assimilate open source data and convert it into a public, referenced, research tool. . .
. . . This database includes all of the 2086 unique emails included [...]
League Launches Government Transparency Handbook
League of Women Voters Press Release:
The League of Women Voters (LWV) is pleased to announce the release of Observing Your Government In Action: Protecting your Right to Know. This comprehensive resource guide, part of the League’s Citizen Transparency Initiative, provides useful best practices and tips for observing government activities and promoting transparency.