Transparency award given in secret

Amazingly, this isn't an early April Fools joke:

President Barack Obama has accepted an award for making the government more open and transparent - presented to him behind closed doors. No media coverage or public access was allowed at the ceremony.

The White House didn't immediately comment Thursday on the apparent discrepancy between the honor and the circumstances under which it was awarded.

Transparency Review (3/28 - 4/1)

Janet Napolitano

• A top official in the Department of Homeland Security emailed complaints that the review process for FOIA requests was "crazy" and warned the department might be sued over delays the reviews caused, the Associated Press reports. Chief Privacy Officer Mary Ellen Callahan wrote to her deputy, Catherine Papoi, that she hoped someone outside the Obama administration would discover that FOIA requests were undergoing unreasonable political reviews. Less than a week later, the AP formally requested records relating to the FOIA review process at the DHS. The emails show staffer's unease at the FOIA review process and allegations that Secretary Janet Napolitano's political advisors were hiding embarrassing or sensitive emails.

• The Supreme Court heard on Monday the most important campaign finance case since last year's Citizens United decision. At issue is an Arizona "clean elections" law that grants publicly funded candidates matching funds when their non-publicly funded opponent spends an amount over a certain threshold. Proponents of the law claim it gives publicly funded candidates the ability to keep parity against well funded opponents. Opponents of the law claim it infringes upon their free speech rights because they're penalized for spending money on campaigns as that spending triggers matching funds for their opponent.

Secretary of State Ross Miller
testifying on behalf of
AB 81 and AB 82
(Courtesy AP)

• A bill championed by Secretary of State Ross Miller that would revamp Nevada's campaign finance laws received a generally favorable hearing on Tuesday, the Nevada News Bureau reports. The bill, AB452, would make campaign contribution and expenditure reports available in an electronic format; move up campaign contribution and expense report deadlines so they're available before early voting begins; and institute a two-year "cooling off" period for former public officers before they could be paid to lobby where they formerly served. As Kyle Gillis mentioned previously on TransparentNevada's blog, requiring electronically searchable campaign finance data mirrors question #5 from our 2010 survey.

• As the redistricting process continues across the country, both parties are looking to raise millions of dollars for their efforts. The Democrats are aiming for $12.5 million in soft money while Republicans are looking for as much as $20 million. The money will go towards litigation battles over proposed maps, as well as making sure the parties have the best resources available.

• For the techies out there: Matthew Burton details the steps that are required to place the calendar of Prof. Elizabeth Warren, who oversees the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on the bureau's website. Publicly available calendars don't usually get as much attention as other types of FOIA requests or salary records, but they often contain interesting information about how a public official spends their day. You can view Warren's calendar here.

Miller pushes "slimmed down" campaign reports bill

Slowly but surely, Secretary of State Ross Miller's campaign finance reporting bill is making its way through the state legislature. On Tuesday, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported AB 452 is now a "slimmed down version of sweeping election reforms that Miller introduced earlier in the session." One part of the bill mirrors a question from TransparentNevada's 2010 transparency questionnaire.

The bill requires online reporting of campaign contributions and expenses, and imposes new reporting deadlines before early voting begins and four days before a primary or general election.

Miller's original bills, AB 81 and AB 82, were 155 pages long, but as of a March 24 Assembly Legislative and Election Operations Committee meeting, the new bill, AB 452, is now a comparatively sleek 48 pages. Despite the removal of over 100 pages, the bill still includes many of Miller's initial goals such as revising filing deadlines before primary and general elections, and listing the Secretary of State's office as the "clearing house" for electronic campaign contribution filings.

The bill remains with the Assembly committee, but it looks like the streamlined version has a better chance of passing when it's finally brought to vote.

Former Ensign aide indicted for improper lobbying

The wheels of justice keep turning:

Sen. John Ensign's former administrative assistant, whose wife had an affair with the senator, was indicted Thursday for allegedly lobbying Ensign and his staff in violation of federal conflict of interest laws.

Douglas Hampton is charged in connection with lobbying he did on behalf of a Las Vegas airline company and an energy company.

Federal law prohibits a senior Senate aide from lobbying the Senate for one year after terminating employment.

As others have said, this is basically Hampton getting charged for what he hoped to bring Ensign down with.

Transparency Review (3/21 - 3/25)

Cresent Hardy

• Hoping to make Election Day a "big deal" again, Assemblyman Cresent Hardy has submitted a bill that would end early voting in Nevada. Hardy believes the popular practice diminishes the traditional civic ritual that is Election Day and leads to possible voting violations.

• Kyle Gillis looks through some of the last-minute bills introduced in the Nevada Legislature and highlights some related to transparency and open government. Highlighted bills include AB159 which would treat oral requests for public records the same as written requests; AB195 ensures that court records are saved to microfilm or an electronic recordkeeping system prior to being destroyed; and AB239 which would "require all public bodies to post meeting records on their websites."

• The Las Vegas Sun examines Judge George Assad's re-election bid and the role that law enforcement endorsements play in it. If you had a court case in front of Assad and the other party had donated hefty sums to Assad's re-election bid, is it unreasonable to feel that you're going to face an uphill battle? It seems Assad should at least recuses himself from cases involving donors to his campaign.

• Nevada Journal takes a look at a "streamlined" redistricting proposal submitted by Democratic activists to the Legislature. The plan would create three Democratic-leaning districts and one Republican-leaning district. It also deemphasizes "minority districts."

• Washington lobbyists are flocking to jobs as Congressional staffers, the Washington Post reports. While ethics rules curtail the ability of former lobbyists to join the executive branch and former lawmakers from joining lobbying firms, no real rules are in place to block former lobbyists from joining the legislative branch. And as unseemly as it may look, I don't see it changing anytime soon. Despite their ugly reputation, lobbyists often are some of the most knowledgable sources when it comes to certain issues. If you're a lawmaker looking for the best and brightest -- especially on an issue that few really know about and understand -- a lobbyist could be your best choice.

GOP-leaning organization creates FOIA website

Crossroads GPS, a Republican-leaning advocacy group, today launched Wikicountability.org, a website designed to compile information received from FOIA requests submitted to the Obama administration.

According to this Politico article, in addition to compiling FOIA requests, the website also seeks to "spotlight what it suggests is the administration's poor record of compliance with FOIA — with a special section devoted to unfulfilled FOIA requests."

Some of the information the website reveals includes:

The Andy Griffith ad promoting Obamacare last year cost taxpayers $3.66 million – including $404,000 in production – according to records obtained from HHS in a FOIA request earlier this year.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis met with union bosses or attended their events on more than 40 separate occasions from February 2009-January 2010.

Among dozens of unfulfilled FOIA requests by the Obama administration: The Department of Education has yet to offer any response to a February 2010 FOIA request for Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s schedule and travel vouchers.

This website sounds like good way to keep track of how much information citizens are and aren't able to obtain from the Administration.

Nevada lawmakers introduce over 200 bills during Legislative session

While the last official day of winter was Saturday, state lawmakers saw another "last day" on Monday: the last day for individual lawmakers to submit bills for the 2011 legislative session.

According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, 231 bills have been introduced during the legislative session: 104 in the Senate and 127 in the Assembly.

Of the 231, here are the highlights of some bills related to transparency and open government:

AB 159: Introduced by Assemblyman Tick Segerblom (D), this bill would allow individuals to make oral public records request and require that pulblic entities must make copies for the public of the requested records. In some instances, government agencies have refused to make copies for the public, although that is allowed by state law.

SB 65: Introduced by the Committee on Government Affairs, this bill revises provisions regarding the publication of cities' financial information. If a financial statement is published in a newspaper, it would be a public record available by request.

AB 195: Introduced by the Judiciary Committee, this bill would allow courts to destroy records only if the record is first saved on microfilm or a computer file.

AB 239: Introduced by Assemblyman David Bobzien (D), this bill would require all public bodies to post meeting records on their websites.

These are just a handful of the 200-plus bills introduced this session. If you'd like to see more of the bills, visit the state legislature's website at http://www.leg.state.nv.us/.

Dropping the ball on public records requests

As Sunshine Week comes to an end, NPRI's Karen Gray takes a look at how quickly various state agencies respond to public records requests:

Take, for example, a recent NPRI attempt to understand the nuances of legal billing at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. In September 2010, the Institute filed a public-records request for onsite inspection of monthly billings by one law firm under contract with UMC. Finally, in the first week of March 2011 — more than five months and many, many e-mails later — NPRI received photocopies of the records — in which all references to services rendered had been redacted.

The public records law says quite clearly that after a government entity receives a written record request, it must, by the end of the fifth business day, produce the records or provide a requester written notice of the date and time the records will be available for inspection, if it has legal custody of the records.

Furthermore, say the statutes, if an entity must deny inspection of a record or part thereof because it is confidential, it must provide the requester a written "citation to the specific statute or other legal authority that makes the public book or record, or a part thereof, confidential."

UMC did neither.

Make sure to read the whole thing.

Transparency Review (3/14 - 3/18)

Dina Titus

• Former Congresswoman Dina Titus awarded her staff almost $155,000 in salary increases following her electoral defeat last November, the Las Vegas Sun reports. As LegiStorm details, for the first three quarters of 2010, the average staff salary in Titus's office was $11,485. But for the fourth quarter, the average staff salary was $20,782, an increase of over 80 percent. For comparison, representatives Shelley Berkley and Dean Heller had a fourth quarter salary increase of 23.05% and 22.82%, respectively. Titus can slice this anyway she wants, but the impression it leaves is clear — during the lame-duck period after she was defeated, but before Joe Heck was sworn in, Titus gave her staffers a bonus from her Congressional budget allotment.

• As Nevada begins its dicennial redistricting process, TransparentNevada has created a clearinghouse of information on the subject. We will be updating the page in the days and months ahead with news articles, analysis and maps of proposed plans.

• In honor of Sunshine Week, NPRI's Karen Gray takes a look at at Assembly Bill 159 which would strengthen Nevada's public records law. The bill, she notes, would treat oral requests for public records the same as written requests. The bill would also require the legal custodian of a public record to prepare a copy upon request, preventing "government bureaucrats from denying someone a copy of a record because the requestor has no way to make his or her own copy."

Tick Segerblom
(credit: Las Vegas Sun)

• Perhaps tired of the nearly single-digit turnout rates they achieve, Assemblyman Tick Segerblom has introduced a bill which would allow cities to hold elections in even-numbered years to coincide with state elections. The proposed change would only affect Southern Nevada cities as Northern Nevada made the switch years ago.

• The old maxim, "you're only as strong as your weakest link" came to mind as I read this Politico story the other day. While the Obama administration has made many promises of governmental transparency, their limited efforts are often hampered by data that simply does not live up to what has been promised. Data is entered into spreadsheets incorrectly and is sometimes wildly overestimated. Taxpayers remain uninformed as to how their tax dollars are being spent.

• Come on... did you really think it would last? "House appropriators from both parties are starting to push for a re-examination of the Republican-imposed earmark ban." I bet we'll start seeing a subtle shift in the classification of what is and isn't an earmark in the coming months.

• President Obama was to recieve an award Wednesday from a group of transparency advocates but had to postpone the event -- you can't make this stuff up -- due to an undisclosed scheduling conflict. I'm sure the President is a busy man and certainly has a lot on his plate with Libya and Japan right now, but his handlers have to realize that having the word "undisclosed" in a story about Obama recieving a transparency award is a political mistake and more than slightly ironic.

State level transparency still lacking

In honor of Sunshine Week, the Associated Press takes a look at state level transparency efforts and finds that while small advances are being made, numerous hurdles still remain:

More openness in government. Lawmakers across the country, including the Republicans who took control in many states this year, say they want it. But a survey of all 50 states by The Associated Press has found that efforts to boost openness often are being thwarted by old patterns of secrecy.

The survey did find signs of progress in a number of states, especially in technological efforts to make much more information available online. But there also are restrictions being put in place for recent electronic trends, such as limits on access to officials' text messages.

The piece even mentions how the Nevada Legislature is exempted from the state's open-meeting law, because it is not considered a "public body."

Obama administration slips on transparency pledge

On Monday, March 14, the Associated Press reported on the Obama Administration's failed promise of increased transparency in government.

According to the AP, last year people requested information 544,360 times under the United States Freedom of Information Act, but the government responded to only one out of every three requests.

Additionally federal transparency details included:

• The SEC averaged 553 days to respond to requests and the CIA took more than 3 months
• The State Department received three times as many requests in 2010 than in 2009 and had over 20,500 overdue cases in its backlog
• Ironically, the Obama Administration censored 194 pages of e-mails requested by the AP regarding the Administration's Open Government Initiaitive

The AP acknowledged various factors affecting the government's response time, such as lost documents, withholding documents containing information deemed "improper under the law," and people refusing to pay copying fees. The AP also included Obama's remarks on government transparency when he took office:

Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their government is doing

While it's not a "Read my lips" contradiction ala President George H.W. Bush, it is unfortunate the Obama Administration hasn't kept his campaign promise of promoting greater transparency.

Transparency Review (3/7 - 3/11)

In what can only be described as an attempt to evade Nevada's campaign finance laws, Jon Ralston reports that the campaign of former gubernatorial candidate Rory Reid (D) formed 91 shell political action committees for the November 2010 election. The PACs were then used to shuffle upwards of $750,000 to the former Clark County Commissioner's failed campaign. My colleague Geoff looks at the story and notes that maybe now is the time to examine the legitimacy of laws that limit an individual's right to donate money to political campaigns.

The story of Bell, CA, entered its denouement this week as residents voted Tuesday in a recall election to select five new city council members. Eight former city officials are currently standing trial for fraud after it came to light that they were making "six- and seven-figure salaries after creating secret boards and giving themselves outrageous raises."

NPRI's Kyle Gillis gets his hands on a report that gives a sneak peak at how state Democrats are gearing up for the redistricting battle. Key points: Steven Horsford is expected to make a run for the new congressional district and both parties are planning to create a "majority-minority" district.

The Sunlight Foundation sees a recent trend of governors in Utah, Maine, and Tennessee rolling back transparency provisions. On the bright side, though, North Carolina is debating whether to enshrine open government provisions in the state constitution.

The Supreme Court struck a blow for transparency on Monday by rejecting the government's use of an exemption in the Freedom of Information Act that allowed it to withhold documents from the public. In an 8-1 ruling, the Court held that the Navy could not use a FOIA exemption dealing with "personnel rules and practices" to withhold maps from a community activist because the exemption is only supposed to cover "issues of employee relations and human resources."

Horsford appoints "subcommittee" for examining state contracts

State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford (D-North Las Vegas) challenged the transparency of no-bid contracts awarded by the Department of Taxation and Division of Employment Security.


According to the Las Vegas Sun, the state tax department awarded a $5.89 million no-bid contract to JP Morgan Chase to process and set up tax return accounts.

Horsford's beef didn't just have to do with transparency, he also questioned why the departments didn't give "other firms a chance to bid and possibly give the state a better deal."

Horsford then "appointed a subcommittee" to "further look into the state's handling of the contracts."

It's encouraging to see lawmakers from both sides of the aisle acknowledge the importance of transparency. We'll be sure to follow up and let you know what the subcommittee finds.

Transparency Review (2/28 - 3/4)

• Clark County firefighter sick leave use has plummeted in the two pay periods following an arbitrator's finding of widespread abuse of the sick leave system, the Las Vegas Sun reports. Firefighters at McCarran International used 83 percent less sick leave, Laughlin firefighters used 63 percent less and Clark County firefighters used 43 percent less.

• Should concealed carry permits be a public record? David Bobzien (D-Reno) says no and has introduced a bill to block the public's access to CCW permit records. Supporters of the bill argue that public CCW permit information paints a target on their home for potential burglars. The bill has drawn support from conservative groups as well as the ACLU but opposition from the Nevada Press Association.

The Supreme Court

• The Nevada Ethics Commission has submitted its opening brief to the United States Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn a Nevada Supreme Court ruling, which ruled that a law governing when a politician must recuse themselves from voting was unconstitutional. The Commission argues the Nevada Supreme Court decision "is not only contrary to centuries of practices; it would be calamitous as a practical matter." You can read about the background of the case here.

• Shelia Leslie (D-Reno) has introduced a bill in the State Senate which would require lobbyists to report how much they spend wining and dining lawmakers year-round. Current law only requires lobbyists to submit reports during the legislative session.

Sen. John Ensign

• The Senate probe of Sen. John Ensign heats up as Politico reports investigators have interviewed Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) about the scandal. Coburn -- who shared a home in Washington with Ensign -- reportedly knew about the affair for over a year and has already turned over 1,200 emails to investigators.

• The Reno Gazette-Journal takes a look at the lobbying industry operating up in Carson City. Some highlights? Six hundred lobbyists have already registered with the state, and Legislative Counsel Bureau director Lorne Malkiewich predicts it'll be 900 by the end of the session. The lobbyist-to-legislator ratio is currently 10 to 1 and expected to inch even higher by the end of the session.

• Secretary of State Ross Miller has called on state lawmakers to make Nevada elections more transparent. In particular, Miller has sponsored proposals that would make campaign filings electronic, change the filing deadlines so voters could be more informed prior to voting and have his office be the clearinghouse for election information.

• NPRI's Karen Gray takes a look at a proposed Assembly bill which would force violators of the state's open-meeting law to pay a $500 fine and how it could allow Attorney General Masto to appear tough on open-meeting violators, while also evading the the state's stricter remedy -- "undoing an action."

Nevada lobbying by the numbers

Last week, the Reno Gazette-Journal ran an interesting story about Nevada lobbyists in the 2011 legislature. Some numbers from the story:

• 600 lobbyists, both paid and unpaid, have registered with the state during the first month of session
• Lorne Malkiewich, director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB), expects over 900 lobbyists by the end of session
• The current lobbyist-to-legislator ratio is 10 to 1, but is expected to be 14 to 1 by end of session
• To help the state's general fund, the LCB raised the fee for paid lobbyists from $120 to $300.
• As of the end of February, the LCB took in $140,000 in lobbying fees and transfered $100,000 to the general fund

Check out the RGJ's excellent job breaking down the lobbying efforts and showing how citizens are playing shorthanded against the special interest groups.