Reno paper appeals ruling on Gov. Gibbons emails

Yet another battle in the war for government transparency:

The Reno Gazette-Journal has appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court a Carson City judge’s decision to deny public access to nearly 100 e-mails sent by Gov. Jim Gibbons from his state account.

Now, if we could only get at those text messages...

Washington transparency reforms target tax information

Victor over at WriteOnNevada gave me the heads up on this one. The Washington Policy Center has put out a study [PDF warning] that details how there are over "1,790 taxing districts" in Washington State as of 2008. Jason Mercier, director of the Center for Government Reform, explains:

According to the Washington State Department of Revenue (DOR), as of 2008 there were 1,790 taxing districts in the state whose officials impose various taxes on Washingtonians. Unfortunately for taxpayers, there is no single comprehensive resource available to help individuals and businesses learn which taxing districts and rates they are subject to, and how much officials in each taxing district add to their total tax burden.

They then go on to suggest the creation of "an online searchable database of all tax districts and tax rates in the state".

It's encouraging to see these transparency efforts in Washington. Citizens in Washington and across the nation should have a right to this information, and we hope the legislators feel the same way.

Obama breaks promise on five days public notice

Unfortunately it appears that Barack Obama has already faltered in at least one of his campaign pledges. During the campaign Obama promised five days of public comment before signing any bill. Unfortunately, no such waiting period occurred for either the SCHIP insurance expansion or the stimulus bill.

The excellent Politifact ended up giving Obama their first "broken promise" over the whole deal.

Let's hope in the future he allows the five days of public comment before signing any—and especially important pieces of—legislation.

Sunlight Foundation solicits ideas for increasing government transparency

The Sunlight Foundation has created a place for transparency activists to submit and vote on ideas they would like to see implemented by Obama as per his desire to "promote transparency, participation, and collaboration".

Is there anything you would like to see implemented? What about on TransparentNevada?

Tracking the stimulus bill—wiki style

The Stimulus Bill was 1,073 pages long. It spent $787 billion. No one in Congress read it before they voted to approve it.

It's going to take the work of many people to get the information on what was in the bill out to the general public. And there is no better tool to help them collaberate than a wiki.

This is why the StimulusWiki makes so much sense.

The Stimulus Wiki was built to dissect and discuss the Stimulus Bill.

We maintain no political affiliations and will keep a strict neutral bias. We are simply here to watch, to learn, and to oversee. We are trying to understand for the first time in History exactly what a bill is going to do and make it easier to consume for the masses, like us.

The site is still a bit bare in some areas, but I fully expect it will become a vital resource for those looking to learn a bit more about what exactly the stimulus bill holds.

How D.C.'s tech czar is using technology to make government better

Here's a fascinating look at how technology is being used in Washington, D.C. to better facility communication between the public and the government. Vivek Kundra is the "tech czar" for D.C. and has shown a remarkable talent for using technology to power government.

In October, he launched a contest called "Apps for Democracy" to encourage developers to create applications for the Web and cellphones to give District residents access to city data such as crime reports and pothole repair schedules.

"I expected to get maybe 10 entries, but we got 47 apps in 30 days," Kundra said. He said he spent $50,000 for the contest and prize money, and estimates he saved $2.6 million over what it would have cost to hire contract developers.

As I have mentioned before, innovation in government transparency will come at least in part from third-parties. Just as some of the best ideas in computers have came from nimble startups, some of the best ideas in government oversight and transparency will also come from startup-minded people.

Sunlight Foundation on recovery.gov

Much has been written about the launch of recovery.gov to track the progress of the stimulus bill. Here is the Sunlight Foundation's take:

Overall, Recovery.gov provides a good beginning, but we’ll have to see how it rolls out the information once it becomes available. At this point, the myriad contracts have not been signed and the money is only beginning to flow out. Thus, we aren’t provided with the “maps, charts, and graphics” the site ensures they will create out of the data collected. When the contracts are signed there are a few important steps that the administration can take to truly fulfill their commitment to transparency

We here at TransparentNevada are in full agreement.

In addition, it is important that the data be presented in an open and freely exchangeable format. As the Sunlight Foundation article mentions, the true innovation will come from third-parties who take the data from recovery.gov and create mashups that will show the data in new and exciting ways. A mashup might be a bit foreign to you, but their basic idea is that you take data from one or more sources and create something new and exciting out of it. A mashup, for example, when it comes to transparency is to hook up the stimulus bill spending reports to Google Maps and find out which House districts are getting the most money and if their vote on the stimulus bill has any bearing on that fact. However, before any of that is even possible the data needs to be in a format that is easily understood by computers. Hence the need for an open and freely exchangeable format.

OMB director issues memo on transparency provisions in stimulus bill

The new incoming Office of Management and Budget director Peter Orszag has sent out a 60 page memo detailing the steps that all federal agencies need to take to stay in compliance with the transparency provisions of the stimulus bill.

The guidance issued today contains critical action steps that Federal agencies must take immediately to meet these objectives and to implement the Act effectively. Of particular note, the guidance addresses Federal agency requirements to provide spending and performance data to the “Recovery.gov” website. To deliver a website that allows citizens to hold the government accountable for every dollar spent, the law and guidance require Federal agencies to implement mechanisms to accurately track, monitor, and report on taxpayer funds.

As techPresident notes, the OMB was also the driving force behind USASpending.gov (whose creation was supported by then Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain). While it is still too early to tell if recovery.gov will be a success, the fact that president Obama has shown interest in transparency in the past can only bode well for the future.

Opening up government with open technologies

When most people talk about transparency in government, they often mean keeping track of how their tax dollars are spent and ensuring that they are spent responsibly. However, Washington, D.C. shows the possibilities of applying transparency to other domains.

D.C. started publishing crime reports in a format that is easily readable by computers. In short order someone created an iPhone app called "Threat Meter" that takes this data and determines exactly how safe you are in a given neighborhood.

Unfortunately, D.C. is the only place where the application works because it is the only locale that produces the data in the required format. But as portfolio.com explains, the obstacles are more cultural than technical:

The technical challenge is trivial: It simply requires already existing government data be released in machine-readable formats. The cultural challenge, however, is enormous. Bureaucrats on all levels—national, state, and municipal—must go from being archivists and data hoarders to being real-time disseminators of sharable, actionable information.

The article ends with what transparency activists hope is someday a reality:

The ultimate vision is of government that operates like a suite of iPhone apps. Pull out your handset, and not only is there a Threat Meter, warning you of crime conditions on the next corner but a full Bloomberg-like terminal of useful government information. Surfers, sailors, and fishermen will have customized tide forecasts and ocean buoy data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Farmers might have a mash-up of NASA-supplied satellite photos, National Weather Service forecasts, and Farm Bureau Reports that predict the price of corn come harvest time. Financial types will be able to know what the SEC knows, when they know it. If government data is given back to its citizens in a usable form, government services have the potential to become as good as the citizens they serve.

Introducing: The Truth-o-Meter

Here is something I think we can all get behind: a political Truth-o-Meter:

Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times examine statements by members of Congress, the president, cabinet secretaries, lobbyists, people who testify before Congress and anyone else who speaks up in Washington. We research their statements and then rate the accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter – True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True and False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get our lowest rating, Pants on Fire.

I've long wished for something like this. Too often politicians get away with promising something that never gets followed up on. Hopefully this'll keep their feet to the fire and force them to acknowledge their broken promises.

Should "goo-goo" go the way of the dodo?

Interesting story out of the land that is becoming synonymous with corruption: Do good government activists get a bad rap?

Belittling reform advocates becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. "Goo-goo" tells everyone—citizens and pols alike—not to take seriously the prescriptions of these hapless idealists, these mewling babes in the woods. It enables the rascals and crooks.

Honestly I was not too familiar with the term "goo-goo" (and the author notes how it is primarily used in East coast and Midwest newspapers), but the notion behind it must be familiar to anyone who has gone up against the powers that be. The effort needed to remind public officials that they work for us—not the other way around—sometimes can be overwhelming. That, in part, is why TransparentNevada was created.

Open government group publishes "10 most wanted" unclassified government documents

A government watchdog group has put out a bounty for the "10 most wanted" unclassified government documents:

ShowUsTheData.org, a project just launched by the Center for Democracy and Technology and Open the Government, has received more than 80 suggestions so far, with financial industry bailout funds and Congressional Research Service reports topping the list. Other popular requests include details on the rationale for and usage of USA PATRIOT Act powers, congressional voting records, and memoranda from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

What government documents would you be most interested in seeing?

President has yet to deliver on transparency promises

After running one of the most open campaigns in United States history, the Obama administration has so far yet to deliver on his promises of transparency:

In recent weeks, Mr. Obama's Justice Department has defended Bush administration decisions to keep secret many documents concerning the terror war.

The administration had said it would more liberally rewrite Freedom of Information Act guidelines to ensure taxpayers have more access to documents and information. But in more than a half-dozen times, the Justice Department has opposed delaying FOIA lawsuits so the new standards can be applied.

While we understand the need to give the administration time before passing judgement, we hope that the Obama administration lives up to its promises of having a more transparent government. Openness and honesty are vital to the continued success of representative democracy. Hopefully the Obama administration begins following through on its promises.

Obama launches Recovery.gov; promises accountability on stimulus bill

The Obama Administration announced today the launch of Recovery.gov.

Recovery.gov is a website that lets you, the taxpayer, figure out where the money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going.

Citizens will also be able to browse and/or search through the data when it becomes available in the coming weeks and months.

I'm definitely hopeful that this website accomplishes what it seeks out to do. With the price tag of the stimulus bill hovering around $790 billion, careful taxpayer oversight is going to be of the utmost importance.

PS: Maybe it is just the web developer in me, but I was actually disappointed not to see any RSS feeds on the site. Sure you can "get updates by email" but that strikes me as just so 1998.

Transparency victory in Nevada

The Las Vegas Sun reports on a victory for transparency advocates in Nevada.

A judge says a public watchdog is entitled to a year's worth of Clark County school board members' e-mails at no charge.

In an order distributed Tuesday, District Court Judge Susan Johnson ruled that the school district must first prove that individual e-mails are not public records before denying them to activist Karen Gray.

If the school district or other governing agencies were able to make public records prohibitively expensive, the whole purpose of public record laws—making records public—would be defeated.

This situation needs to be watched closely to make sure that the CCSD follows through and releases the emails.

Full disclosure: Karen Gray is a researcher for the Nevada Policy Research Institute, which hosts this blog.