Across the country we've been seeing good government reformers slowly coming to the terms with the fact that existing electronic discolsure laws are about as effective at ensuring transparency as a water gun is at putting out a house fire. They're the wrong tool for the job, mostly because they've stayed stagnent while the way that people use e-mail, cell phones, SMS text messaging, and more has rapidly evolved; we've reported, for example, on efforts by open government advocates to deal with the device-to-device BlackBerry messages popular in many government buildings but which largely fall outside the range of public disclosure laws.

Which brings us to Sacremento. There, reports the San Jose Mercury News' Denis C. Theriault, the State Assembly's brand new Democratic speaker, John Perez, has made waves by saying in his inaugural address on Monday that, from this point forward, text messages between lobbyists and lawmakers are "banned" during floor sessions or committee business. Here, exactly, were Perez's words:

Starting today, text messages from lobbyists are banned while we're on this floor or in committee doing the people's business. Californians expect us to pay full attention to the issues and to each other -- and they deserve to know who is involved in the debate. They need not worry that special interest lobbyists are secretly sending messages of opposition or support to us as we deliberate.

That might come across as an encouraging development, but some critics quoted in Theriault's piece are appropriately worried that a death-to-lobbyists'-texts edict but be satisfyingly full of sound and fury, but, really, not all that meaningful.

Better, they say, would be for Sacramento to do what the San Jose city council just did:

[T]he San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a policy that watchdogs consider one of the state's most far-reaching when it comes to disclosing text messages and other electronic communications about public business -- even if sent on private devices or accounts.

The city policy requires council members to disclose communications received on their personal e-mail or cell phones during meetings -- either from lobbyists or from others with a financial interest in the matter under discussion.

The concern is that if these electronic disclosure laws aren't made both nimble and powerful, then savvy folks will just adapt their electronic practices to avoid them. Why would that be a concern? Well...

Lobbyists, as they filed out of the Assembly chambers after Perez's remarks Monday, were joking with one another about the ways they could find to escape the ban.

 

Credit:M+R Strategic Services

A new examination of text messaging data from six progressive non-profit organization finds that while their text messaging list grew by about half in 2009, only a tiny sliver of people who join a texting list -- just 2% -- do so by responding to a offline pleas to text a shortcode from their mobile phone. But, finds the study, once joined, those members can be responsive allies. Texters respond to requests to make an advocacy phone call at a rate some five times that of those folks who are called to action via email.

The report from M+R Strategic Services and MobileActive.org -- two firms working in the mobile space -- is called 2010 Nonprofit Text Messaging Benchmarks. The study examined the text message lists of the ASPCA, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Humane Society, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Human Rights Campaign. The subtext of the report is that while much remains to be learned about what texting is good for and how it can best be harnessed to benefit organizing, early data can be plumbed for insights:

As the following pages will demonstrate, text messaging is especially well-suited for certain types of advocacy engagement, such as call-in alerts. At the same time, text messaging has substantial limitations. To start, the 160-character limit of a text message leaves little space to make a case for giving or taking action. Furthermore, in most cases, American mobile carriers charge both the sender and recipient for each text message. In terms of fundraising, it wasn’t until late 2007 that organizations could solicit donations from subscribers in the U.S., and even now supporters can only donate in amounts of $5 and $10.

By focusing on benchmarks, the report provides useful data that can help an organization determine whether their texting program measures up to other folks working in the field. Is your text unsubscribe rate, for example, above average, below average, or on par with some of your peers? You'll find out in the report.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in conjunction with the office of special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, is about five days into an experiment mobile phones to build civil society in Pakistan. Working with three local cell phone companies and a U.S.-based mobile vendor, the State Department has set up in Pakistan what it is calling Humari Awaz. That's "Our Voice" in what seems to be Urdu. Here, in brief, is how it works: Pakistanis text in keywords to the network via the short code 7111, and those phrases are used to spontaneously create texting-based social lists -- around the day's price for cotton, the latest cricket scores, a community radio station's fan base, or perhaps the desire for less extremist political leadership.

The State Department is covering the cost of the first 24 million texts to Humari Awaz. How long that reserve will last remains to be seen. Less than a week in, and more than half a million SMS messages have been sent over the State-sponsored mobile network thus far. Visit ProPakistani for a taste of some of the suspicions and concerns the plan is raising in that country.

The Humari Awaz project is part of the Clinton State Department's push toward what it calls "21st century statecraft." In related news, Secretary Clinton recently announced while in Morocco that State was launching a "Civil Society 2.0" initiative, centered around providing education and training on the building blocks of digital literacy -- building a website, working with text messages, blogging, using a social network to create social change, and more. Clinton also announced $5 million in CS2.0 monies to be dedicated to "bolster[ing] the new media and networking capabilities of civil society organizations and promot[ing] online learning" in the Middle East and North Africa.

Virginia's new governor-elect, Republican Bob McDonnell, ran an online campaign that caught the eyes of many who pay attention to this sort of thing. McDonnell went what you might call the snout-to-tail route, building up a gorgeously branded online presence which, as Colin Delany highlights here, consisted of a website full of tools and resources, a custom Ning network transformed into the McDonnell action community, and more. McDonnell also swamped the competition, Democrat Creigh Deeds, when it comes to online spending. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that McDonnell outspent Deeds online at a rate of 5-to-1 through October 21st (via Blue Virginia and Shaun Dakin), in a race that seemed to serve as an experiment in whether the Obama campaign's online innovations could be co-opted by Republicans and applied to a statewide race.

And one area where McDonnell had what seems like a particularly good run is worth taking a closer look at: mobile.

You heard here and there during the race that McDonnell was running a strong and creative mobile campaign. This morning, TechRepublican's Meghann Olshefski heaped praise on how McDonnell was able to use mobile messaging to really pester supporters to turn out and vote yesterday. So we caught up with Chris Taylor of Tusk Mobile, which directed McDonnell's online efforts. He highlighted for us some of what made McDonnell's mobile push tick, and gave insight into just how mobile can provide a boost to a campaign...

Text message "nysenate marriage" or "nysenate Adams" or "nysenate S427" to 41411 and get back a list of relevant bills or a short description of the bill in question right to your cell phone. It's part of the burgeoning Open NY Senate initiative, and while developer Nathan Freitas admits that the trial is proof-of-concept and will likely only appeal to the wonkiest of state government nerds, it's a demonstration of what parsed, searchable legislative data makes possible. The ultimate goal, says Freitas, is to make finding out what's happening in government "as easy as looking up sports scores." Might be useful the next time you're trying to settle a bar bet over what Albany is up to.

The forward-thinking State Department provided back-up for President Obama's address from Egypt earlier today by reaching out to foreign audiences where they live: on their cell phones. The State Department set up a program to text out "highlights" of the speech throughout the Middle East -- in Arabic, Urdu, and Persian, as well as English. Sign up took place on America.gov, though not for Americans back at home; the New York Times' Roy Furchgott explains that State Department funds can only be used to engage with foreign audiences. State did, however, broadcast a handful of reply texts viewable both here and abroad on america.gov/sms-comments.html. (The first, as of this moment, is in Arabic. The second, from Egypt: "I love obma very much.")

Also lending a hand to the administration's goal of making Obama's address ubiquitous: the White House's official Twitter feed and Facebook application.

Miss the speech, sleepy head? The White House blog is promising to post a transcript and video shortly.