We'll save transparency for next year
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Sat Aug 02, 2008 at 07:17:51 PM EST
The Washington Independent takes a look at the absurdity that is the U.S. Senate's continuing to file paper campaign finance reports, largely thanks to Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) blocking the bill that would make report filing electronic. It doesn't have to be this way. The House moved to mandatory electronic filing at the start of 2001. The Senate was exempt at the time (and remains so) because that law applied only to those filing directly with the FEC. (The Senate, recall, files first to the Sec. of the Senate.) Searchable House records are available online almost immediately after members file. Some people just really liked the 20th century and don't want it to end, I guess.
They've got a friend in Ted
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Tue Jul 10, 2007 at 12:07:22 PM EST
It's good to be a friend of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK). Just ask his busines partners, Leonard Hyde and Jonathan Rubini.
In 2004, two business partners of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) sold an empty lot in Anchorage to the National Archives and Records Administration for just over $3.5 million, more than doubling their year-old investment in the property.
Stevens earmarked the appropriation for NARA to purchase a site, although there is no indication he received any direct benefit from the deal and his spokesman said the Senator had nothing to do with the selection of the specific property.
This land deal is just one of several lucrative federal contracts Hyde and Rubini benefited from while Stevens, a major investor, served as the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. According to Roll Call, these investments turned Stevens into a millionaire, where he once had been at the bottom of Senate wealth rankings.
Most of the Senate Appropriations Committee members distanced themselves from or severed ties with people and firms that might benefit from federal contracts once they took their seats. Not Stevens, though!
The sad thing, however, is that by weak Senate ethics rules, Senator Stevens was allowed to work on this deal using his official capacity; why not recuse himself for having a conflict of interest, instead? But then again, why pretend like he has an interest in transparency and accountability?
Sen. Stevens may not have done anything illegal, but this is just one more reason why Congress must implement stricter ethics rules and standards - now.
Lots of Reform Talk but Little Action in Harrisburg, PA
By Erin Huckle -- Intern
Posted on Wed May 30, 2007 at 01:54:47 PM EST
Pennsylvania's State Legislature is taking positive steps to reform campaign finance, modify its internal rules, and expand Pennsylvania's Right-To-Know Law. Unfortunately, the Indiana Gazette Online reports that floor votes and real changes on these reform issues have been moving along at a frustratingly slow pace for months.
One of the major reforms proposed involves modifying the current Right-To-Know Law so that citizens can have access to records covering more than just accounts, contracts, minutes, or orders and decisions. If it passes, the extended Right-to-Know Law will be a significant step towards a more open political system in Pennsylvania, which is lagging far behind other states in allowing public access to government records.
How's this for refreshing?
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Thu Aug 03, 2006 at 12:23:36 PM EST
We hear so much about sneaky lawmakers these days that I thought I'd share some nice refreshing quotes from a couple of Colorado politicians. This week was the filing deadline for financial disclosure statements for city employees, and they include listings of gifts and freebies received. For example, my favorite-named American mayor, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, got free U2 tickets. But what I took away from this Rocky Mountain News article is the pleasure of reading politicans speaking favorably about transparency.
Lindy Eichenbaum Lent, the mayor's spokeswoman, said Hickenlooper "feels it goes with the territory" of being an elected official.
"Mayor Hickenlooper firmly believes that transparency is vital to public trust, and public trust is vital to everything that we try to do here in city government," she said.
For gifts, such as tickets and meals, only items worth more than $25 have to be reported. But City Attorney Cole Finegan, who is also the mayor's chief of staff, listed them all...
..."I obviously overdisclosed because I listed all of the breakfasts, lunches and dinners, including those that I paid for and those under $25," he said. "But I wanted to be as open and transparent as possible."
Wow. Wouldn't it be nice to see such attitude at all levels of government, and about all issues - not just those required by law?
FOIA turns 40
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Wed Jul 05, 2006 at 04:45:07 PM EST
Thanks to USA Today for reminding us of an anniversary that otherwise would have passed us by unnoticed -- the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is turning 40!
Signed by President Lyndon Johnson on July 4, 1966, FOIA openned up non-classified executive branch records to the public. By doing so:
Congress sought to address "the mushrooming growth of government secrecy" because it believed a "democratic society requires an informed ... electorate, and the intelligence of the electorate varies as the quantity and quality of its information varies."
And it worked. The public, including public interest watchdog groups like Common Cause, has used the Freedom of Information Act to make sure the government is working in the best interests of the people. No catastrophe occurred. The government didn't collasped amid anarchy. The result has simply been a more open and trustworthy government.
Until now.
In 2005, the executive branch made 14.2 million new decisions to classify information as secret. That's nearly double the number of secrets created in 1998. Much of this increase understandably can be attributed to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and increased military and intelligence operations since 9/11. But not all of it.
The Bush Administration has issued executive order after executive order classifying things that heretofore had been available to the public via FOIA requests. Whenever people wonder how illegal wiretapping got to be a big issue, one only has to ask if the true problem doesn't lie with an administration that has closed government's doors to the people instead of openning them.
Read the full op-ed for more details, and let us know what you think on this 40th anniversary of FOIA in our Comments section.
Reform in a vacuum
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Tue Jun 27, 2006 at 04:39:47 PM EST
The Pennsylvania House passed a lobbyist disclosure law last week, meaning the state would no longer be the only state in the nation where lobbyists can operate in secrecy.
If only the lawmakers who passed the law held themselves to the same standard.
The legislation to regulate lobbyists and report their spending was finally brought to the floor after a four-month buildup by Speaker John Perzel, who begrudgingly offered it to placate an angry press and public.
It seems Republicans worked out the final language of the bill shortly before tossing it onto the floor for a vote and without advance public review.
Amendments that would have toughened the law were knocked out by parliamentary maneuvers, leaving the version that Republican leadership sanctioned intact.
I guess the PA House is an irony-free zone.
Don't they know there's no such thing as a free lunch?
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Tue Jun 20, 2006 at 01:14:06 PM EST
Sunshine Laws are meant to insure that government work is conducted openly and fairly. They differ in particulars from state to state, but they share a common goal: to make sure that private interests cannot influence government decision-makers away from the public eye.
Florida has a Sunshine Law. So you tell me if this sounds legit:
The setting: a private room at the Governor's Club in Tallahassee.
Engineers, lawyers and contractors dined with two members of the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority.
The occasion?
According to a guest list: the authority's plans to build the first privately owned toll road in Florida.
On Friday, the authority will invite companies to bid on the project, which will connect Interstate 275 with Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, serving New Tampa commuters. Whoever wins the contract will stand to make millions in tolls, and will also be positioned as the leader in a new field within the state.
There's more after the jump.
Pennsylvania moves on to transparency
By Kirstin Ellison
Posted on Wed Jun 14, 2006 at 01:01:56 PM EST
The pay raise issue may be making its last stand, but reformers in Pennsylvania aren't wasting any time before moving on to the next big issue, and it's one that goes to the heart of the public dissatisfaction with the pay raises -- transparency. From an editorial in the Pocono Record:
Here's a legislative reform the public should be clamoring for. The time has come for lawmakers to put their expense reports online. Specifically, a monthly report that would detail the cost of all salary benefits and expenses paid during the previous month would give taxpayers information they need to understand what their elected officials are doing.
Excellent idea! The Legislature is already taking some steps to increase transparency, such as posting roll call votes and daily activity journals online. Now it's time to swallow their nervousness and put up expense reports for the public to easily access (the public can already access filed reports through a cumbersome process that involves appointments and travel to Harrisburg). If the public is skeptical after the pay raise scandal, what better way to earn back their trust?
|
Common Blog
