Whither transparency in the next Congress?

from OMB Watch:

When the 112th Congress convenes in January, attention will be focused on the newly Republican-controlled House. On transparency issues, House Republican leaders have sounded positive tones. However, it remains to be seen whether bipartisan consensus on meaningful transparency can be achieved or whether transparency will be wielded as a partisan weapon.

Undoubtedly, divided party control of Congress will mean a more adversarial relationship between Congress and the White House and between the House and the Senate. What remains unclear, however, is whether Republicans will support the administration's many positive efforts to improve transparency while criticizing the instances where it has fallen short or dragged its feet. The House could also fall prey to the political theater that often occurs when parties in divided government compete for the public spotlight.

Read the rest here.

U.S. Forest Service Employees on "Stand-Down" from Talking to the Media

The Rural Blog brings us this post about the U.S. Forest Service prohibiting its law enforcement and investigations (LEI) employees from speaking to local media without approval from Washington. The Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility obtained a memo outlining the policy, which critics say stifles access to government records.

"Until further notice all LEI employees are on stand-down from communicating with local and/or national media contacts without clearance from the Director, LEI and Press Office, Media desk in the Washington Office," wrote David Ferrell, the agency's LEI director in the Sept. 1, 2009 memo.

Massey Mine Disaster Investigation - Open or Closed to the Public?

The Charleston Gazette would like the federal and state investigations into the Massey Mine Disaster of April 11 to be public hearings. To allow investigative interviews to be conducted in the open, despite the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration's historic insistence that the proceedings be conducted behind closed doors. The question remains, will President Barack Obama's open government initiatives have any influence on the proceedings?

Read more here.

Round-up of the Sunlight Foundation's TransparencyCamp

The second annual TransparencyCamp highlighted several hot ways to mine government data. Check out these some of the websites discussed at the "unconference" for techie types and activists:

• OpenCongress.org - the group tries to bring transparency to Capitol Hill
• LittleSis.org - the answer to Big Brother, attempts to show ties between business and politics by serving as an "involuntary Facebook" where the public can post information
• TheVoterGuideorg - builds "hyperlocal" online election guides
• Data.gov and Recovery.gov - the sites try to make federal data about the Recovery Act accessible

Read more about the event here.

New Bipartisan House Caucus Formed to Promote Transparency

A 19-member bipartisan group of House Republicans and Democrats formed a congressional transparency caucus to promote laws requiring the free accessibility of federal information on the Internet. The caucus will work to educate peers and the public, legislate new policies, and oversee existing ones.

For a list of the caucus members and their guiding principles, click here.

Florida Bill Proposes Significant Public Records Reform

A proposed "Open Government Act" could make it easier to get public records in Florida. The result of Gov. Charlie Crist's Commission on Open Government, the measure would be a sweeping move toward transparency in government.

The Palm Beach Post reports the bill would:

• Require government officials to get training in open records and meetings.
• Bar agencies from charging for copies of records that take less than 30 minutes to duplicate.
• Prohibit agencies from charging for redaction of information that is personal in nature and exempt from public records laws and prohibit charging for any redaction fees of any records after Jan. 1, 2013.
• Require that all new exemptions be reviewed every 10 years after the initial five-year-review currently required by state law.
• Set uniform penalties, and attorneys' fees, for public records violations.
• Give circuit court judges jurisdiction to issue injunctions to enforce open records laws.

Read more about it here.

Yale Law School Launches Media Freedom and Information Access Practicum

Yale Law School has announced the launch of a Media Freedom and Information Access Practicum (MFIA). Law students aim to use litigation and policy work to increase government transparency. MFIA is an initiative of Yale's Information Society Project and the Knight Law & Media Program.

For more information, click here.

Columbia Journalism Review Rates Obama's First Year on Transparency Issues

The Columbia Journalism Review has issued its report card on Obama's first year in office, grading him on transparency and access issues and finding there's still plenty of work to be done.

Click here to see Obama's marks on use of the state secrets privilege, FOIA, the Open Government Directive, online data, White House Visitor Records, a journalist's shield law, and background briefings.

What French Toast Has to do with FL Commuter Rail Negotiations

A Florida state representative says the Department of Transportation used food names, like "pancakes" and "French toast" as the subject line in emails about the state's commuter rail negotiations in order to foil public records requests.

The DOT head counters, saying the food names were used simply to get his attention. But critics are skeptical, asserting that the DOT officials were actively circumventing transparency laws.

For more on the scandal, click here.

Open Government Initiative's Progress Report

The White House's Open Government Initiative published this post with a link to its Progress Report on Open Government to the American People regarding the Obama administration's goal to increase government transparency, participation, and collaboration. Check it out - it's quite good, actually.

Investigative Team Finds Pennsylvania Lacking in Transparency, Despite New Right to Know Law

Pittsburgh's Team 4 reports that despite a new Right to Know Law, aimed at improving Pennsylvania government transparency, the Legislature is not being forthcoming. For example, the Legislature doesn't post online all of its leases for lawmakers' district offices, citing the need to redact signatures from the leases, even though Team 4 reports the Legislature promised to post the records online. Get the full report here.

The investigative team wanted online access as part of its investigation that asks, "With our ability now to e-mail and get things done on the Internet, why do lawmakers still have so many district offices?"

Pennsylvania legislators are allowed to make their own deals with landlords for their district offices. An investigation into relationships found that 15 lawmakers in Western Pennsylvania have accepted campaign contributions from their district office landlords, and one state senator even had a financial interest in the group owning the building from which he leased his district office. Get the more details here.

Click here for the interactive map of district offices.

Reaction to Lessig's "Against Transparency" Argument

Responses keep coming to Lessig's New Republic article, "Against Transparency: The perils of openness in government." 

Carl Malamud urges caution and a measured response to the title of Lessig's article.  Malamud argues Lessig isn't against transparency per se, but against transparency "with no broader and deeper aims, [which] will no automatically produce good results, and may indeed produce randomness in our government or far worse."

Other commentators agree that the title to Lessig's article misses the mark, arguing that Lessig is truly against accountability and "that the subject of his concern is not openness in government; it is openness in politics."

They Say He's the Most Secretive Texas Governor (Hint: It's Not George Bush)

Texas Governor Rick Perry is being called the most secretive modern-day governor Texas has seen.  

The Dallas Morning News reports on Perry's latest public records squabble -- his refusal to release documents he reviewed before the July 2004 execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.   Perry has also fought to keep his itinerary private under the guise of security concerns and has his staff on a tight document retention schedule wherein e-mails are destroyed every seven days. 

For more on the Willingham case and its political implications for Perry, click here.  

An Argument Against Transparency

Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig brings us this really interesting article about transparency, and specifically about his concerns about the long-term consequences about transparency.   

Lessig argues "pathological transparency" or "naked transparency" alone will doom our democracy, much as it has our music industry as well as print and investigative journalism organizations.  The result of "naked transparency," writes Lessig is:  "The most cynical will be the most salient.  Limited attention span will assure that the most salient is the most stable.  Unwarranted conclusions will be drawn, careers will be destroyed, alienation will grow."

Read the whole article here. 

A How-To Guide for Creating Transparency in Government

Jerry Mechling, a lecturer in public policy and faculty chair of the Leadership for a Networked World Program at the Harvard Kennedy School, brings us his recommendations for governmental transparency and accountability initiatives.  His advice includes releasing data in computer-readable form, collaborating visibly, developing technology that balances privacy and security standards, and creating organizations that foster transparency.  

Follow this link for more detailed advice. 

Three Articles Regarding the Obama Administration's Efforts Toward Transparency

During his campaign, Obama pledged to run the most transparent administration in history. Nextgov.com reports that open government advocates are criticizing the administration's efforts in fulfilling this campaign promise, saying the administration is placing too much emphasis on building websites rather than publishing information.

But, in a break with previous administrations, the Obama administration will release the names of visitors to the White House beginning in mid-September, reports USA Today.

The Secret Service will disclose electronic visitor logs, including the names of the visitors and who set up the meeting as well as where it was held and for how long within within three to four months of the visit. Information relating to cases of national security, extreme confidentiality or strictly personal visits to the first family would not be released.

"We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside," Obama said. "Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process."

Archon Fung, a professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, offers his views on how the administration should go about fulfilling the campaign promise.

Wash. coalition releases results of candidate questionnaire

The Washington Coalition for Open Government has published its database of questionnaires answered by candidates across the state. Each was asked for their stances on six government reform issues dealing with open government.

As the 2009 campaign season heads into its crucial last months, Washington voters have a new, easy-to-use tool to help them choose candidates that are committed to open, responsive and accountable government.

Earlier this month, the Washington Coalition for Open Government (WCOG) submitted an open government questionnaire to candidates around the state and asked for their position on 6 key government reform issues identified by WCOG. Candidates were asked to take a "yes" or "no" stance on topics including recording of executive sessions of public agencies and requirement of open government training for government employees and elected officials.

Each candidate's individual survey has been posted on the WCOG Web site at www.washingtoncog.org.

"The Washington Coalition for Open Government is happy to be able to provide this service to our members and to the people of Washington so they will know more about where the candidates stand on government openness, transparency, and accountability," said Toby Nixon,
president of the Coalition. "I hope they will make note of which candidates failed to respond to our survey, and ask those candidates pointed questions about where they really stand on the people's right to know what their government is doing."

The Washington Coalition for Open Government is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting and defending the people's right to know in matters of public interest and in the conduct of the public's business. Members of the coalition represent a broad range of interests, including the news media, public affairs, law, current and retired public officials, business and labor.

More here.

Details of contract for transparency site not transparent

ProPublica and other organizations requested copies of the Obama administration's $18 million contract with Smartronix, a software company hired to build the Web site "where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money." However, the contract and related documents are heavily redacted. The General Services Administration justified the redactions by saying they are allowed if material "involves substantial risk of competitive injury" to a contractor. Of the 59-page technical proposal, 25 pages were completely redacted, and 14 pages had half or more of their content blacked out.

Back in July, a software company named Smartronix landed an $18 million contract to build a Web site where taxpayers could easily track billions in federal stimulus money. It was just another part of the Obama administration’s ongoing effort to bring transparency to stimulus spending, we were told.

But it seems the drive for transparency doesn’t cover the contract itself.

After weeks of prodding by ProPublica and other organizations, the General Services Administration released copies of the contract and related documents that are so heavily blacked out they are virtually worthless.

More here.

More transparency equals more customer satisfaction

ForSee Results conducted survey research that concluded that "perceptions of federal government Web sites' transparency online is an important driver of online satisfaction, which in turn drives trust, future participation and future collaboration," Nextgov reported. ForSee, which issues reports on public opinion about federal Web sites, plans to start using a transparency metric into the satisfaction index as early as next quarter.

Agencies can fulfill the president's vision of open government by posting large amounts of data online quickly and making it easy to find, a group that tracks the public's satisfaction with government Web sites reported on Tuesday.

By boosting the "thoroughness and accessibility of information made available online," or what is described as "online transparency," agencies can achieve the open government principles that President Obama outlined on his first full day in office, according to a report released by ForeSee Results, a market research firm that, in conjunction with the American Customer Satisfaction Index, issues quarterly reports on public opinion about federal Web sites.

More here.

N.J. to limit disclosure of child death details

State reports on child-death cases will no longer include details of the Division of Youth and Family Services' prior actions,the Star-Ledger reported. State officials say the federal monitor who oversees child welfare reform provides enough oversight; reports will now simply include trends rather than the histories of the deceased children who were involved with a state program. Officials say the decision was made "out of respect for surviving family members;" however, it was the release of details in the 2003 death case of 7-year-old Faheem Williams that led to DYFS reform. State law does require the department to disclose the name, birthday, date of death and whether the families of fatal child abuse victims were under DYFS supervision. However, the Child Advocate reports provided more details than required, details that often led to policy changes.

Leaders at the agencies most responsible for New Jersey's child-protection agency say the state no longer will publicly disclose the details of DYFS prior actions when a child it has supervised dies from abuse or neglect.

The decision signals a change in policy after the state issued annual reports detailing what happened in each child-death case for the past six years. Instead, the state will issue reports focusing on trends it has found.

State officials say reporting individual cases is not a useful way to assess how the child-welfare system is working and publicizing details could hurt victims' families. They say with a federal monitor overseeing child welfare reform, there is enough oversight.

More here.