Open Government, Illegals, FIS, Twitter & Astronomical Gas Prices

By Eric Margulies, VoterWatch Staff

This week’s edition of the Transparency Recap commences with the implementation of a major step in the arena of governmental transparency. On August 1^st, The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 saw its first act of realization take place as information pertaining to lawmakers’ assets, liabilities and lobby-related-expenditures and gifts were posted on the House Clerk’
s website.

However, a quick perusal of the disclosure database proves slow and somewhat difficult to navigate given its complex interface. In addition, the files can only be viewed in .PDF format meaning that for many who are without the software required to open .PDF files, the information is lost. Dan Auble at the Capital Eye Blog writes about the current flaws with the system of disclosure and how the Center for Responsive Politics is already seeking to remedy them:

“While the new system is a major improvement, ideally these forms would be filled out electronically and provided to the public as a downloadable database. The House already makes lobbying data available this way, as does the Federal Election Commission with campaign finance data. Meanwhile, thanks to support from the Sunlight Foundation, CRP has been picking up the slack by keying the information in from these filings, posting the data in a fully searchable database on OpenSecrets.org, and providing analysis of the findings.”

And in other news, in Madison County, Alabama, a law requiring venders to sign a pledge stating that they will not willingly hire illegal immigrants is being challenged for alleged unconstitutionality. In a political climate in which immigration is a major issue of concern, cases such as this one are extremely intriguing. According to Judicial Watch:

“The anti-illegal alien pledge policy simply requires firms seeking county contracts to submit in writing that they do not knowingly employ illegal immigrants. A construction company, that recently lost a multi million-dollar contract because it didn’t abide by the policy, is suing the county claiming the policy contradicts federal law.”

In other government transparency news, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) recently filed a request to the Public Interest Declassification Board (PIDB) to review the classified opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FIS) Court over the past 10 years and to make recommendations regarding the classification or declassification of said opinions.

The FIS Court deals almost exclusively with the authorization for domestic intelligence surveillance. Occasionally the court deals with the interpretation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that binds their actions, creating a secret court whose jurisdiction is, seemingly, at their own will. Clearly there is a necessity for action as Judge John D. Bates, himself a member of the FIS Court, recognized that the Court had indeed issued several “legally significant decisions that remain classified.” The idea of there being such a thing as a secret court would be stunning and unsettling to many Americans, but many aren’t even aware of the FIS Court’s existence.

Moving forward, House interaction with Twitter has continued to produce further insight into the machinations of Congress. For those unaware, Twitter.com is a free social networking site that allows its users to send real time updates of up to 140 characters. (known as Tweets) through its micro-blogging service. Recently, there had been much debate over the use of Twitter to unveil the workings in the House casting the parties in opposing positions. Republicans lobbied for the free use of Twitter; Democrats remained weary of the technological step forward.

House Republicans took the floor after the body adjourned for summer recess to protest the failure of the House to vote to allow offshore drilling. While the protest was raging Rep. John Culbertson (R-TX), the House’s foremost Twitter advocate, was busy Tweeting the proceedings on his account. While this can at first seem humorous, one must keep in the mind that Culbertson’s tweeting allowed those reading his account to receive a real time update on an event the mainstream media had not yet become aware of. However, as Paul Blumenthal on the Sunlight Foundation Blog points out:

“. . . Twitter isn’t the only angle to this story. These lawmakers aren’t simply taking to the floor to demand help for gas consumers, they are pushing a central facet of the oil industry’s legislative agenda: offshore drilling. Just yesterday it was announced that, yet again, ExxonMobil broke the record for largest quarterly profit pulling in $11.7 Billion.”

The debate on offshore drilling continues to rage despite the recess as Americans and the economy in general continue to be heavily burdened by astronomical gas prices.

by billy

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