Personal Democracy Plus Our premium content network. LEARN MORE You are not logged in. LOG IN NOW >

Daily Digest: Hill Secrecy? "Just Absolute Lunacy"

BY Nancy Scola | Wednesday, December 3 2008

  • The Hill's Intensively Secretive Nature: It was the sweltering late summer, 2007, in Washington DC. The House of Representatives was smack in the middle of debate over the controversial Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. And members of Congress, expected to render judgment on legislation that would fundamentally impact core American rights, hadn't laid eyes upon the latest copy of the bill. It's "just absolute lunacy," said California Republican David Dreir of the situation at the time. CQ Politics' Tim Starks dives deep inside such congressional secrecy, from missing bill texts to closed committee hearings to the lack of transcripts to restricted research reports. Well worth a read for a look at how far Congress needs to go to even approach being an open-ish institution.

  • We're Open! Err, Now What?: On the point above, one of the fundamental questions of our time is this: how do we use all the government information the Internet might set free for public good? An open debate over that question is now taking place on the Google Group of the Sunlight Foundation's nascent Open Senate Project. (Disclosure: our Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry are senior advisors to Sunlight.) How do we develop the skills/engaged citizenry/journalistic efforts to keep us from drowning in a sea of information, ignorant as ever? Jump in to the discussion. All are welcome.

  • Change, Schmange: EchoDitto web developer Ben Buckman is sounding a cynical note about hopes that what the Obama campaign learned online will create "miracles" in the White House -- or even improve future campaigns, for that matter. Worth keeping in mind is that EchoDitto is a direct competitor to Blue State Digital, the firm that powered Obama's web operation. Both firms grew out of the '04 Dean campaign. (It was once explained to me as "Howard Dean and [campaign manager] Joe Trippi got a divorce. Some of the kids went with Howard...") BSD, Buckman reports, has no intention of working on White House web operations. Buckman: "[T]hey built Change.gov and apparently plan to leave it at that."

  • Obama Shakes the Digital Coin Jar: The latest email from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe announcing the selection of the incoming administration's national security and foreign policy team includes a big ol' red button asking for contributions, reports Politico's Kenneth Vogel. (Thanks Shaun Dakin) The funds, the plea indicates, will go to "help our transition team" pay for its operations. Secretary of State pick Hillary Clinton, notes Vogel's colleague Ben Smith, is also fundraising off of her nod, in an attempt to erase her considerable debt before she assumes her job at State. The appeal from Plouffe notes that Obama is faced with the considerable costs of a transition: "Traditionally, ...half has been provided by Washington lobbyists and PACs." But, the ask says, "we're doing things differently." Indeed.

In Case You Missed It...

Matt Burton examines the video response by incoming HHS head Tom Daschle and a health care policy aide to the more than 3,700 comments posted on Change.gov. But please, Matt says, no jokes about the former senator from South Dakota's Sally Jessy Raphael glasses.

News Briefs

RSS Feed yesterday >

This Isn't What Political Air Time Usually Means

MoveOn.org is asking supporters for $150,000 in donations to fly a plane above high-dollar fundraisers for Mitt Romney with "a message that reminds voters how he represents his corporate and 1% donors." MoveOn previously hired a plane to fly over Romney's Liberty University graduation speech with the message "GOP = HIGHER SCHOOL DEBT." GO

There's a New $200 Million Fund for Super-High-Speed Broadband Projects

An initiative to build and test gigabit-speed broadband networks is set to fund up to six next-generation Internet access projects across the country, fueled by a new $200 million broadband development funding program, Gigabit Squared and Gig.U announced this morning. GO

New Rice University Paper Chronicles Impact of the Internet On U.S. Foreign Policy

We all know that the Internet has transformed the way that the United States conducts diplomacy, and the way that it views national security, but where should we look to find evidence of this? This is the wide-ranging subject matter of a new paper published on Tuesday by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. The paper provides a round-up of some of the major turns of events between 2005 and 2011 in the realms of Internet governance, the development of online public diplomacy at the State Department, the evolution of the Internet-fueled Arab Spring, and the establishment of the shadowy U.S. Cyber Command in Fort Meade, Maryland, among other things. GO

Messin' with Lamar Smith, Revisited

Remember that grassroots fundraising campaign to put a "Don't Mess with the Internet" billboard in the home district of Rep. Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas and sponsor of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act? All of the money required came in, and Fight for the Future, the advocacy group opposing more stringent copyright protections online, writes that the billboard went up. GO

Republican National Convention Organizers Sever Ties With Becki Donatelli's Campaign Solutions

After eight years producing online content for the Republican National Convention, GOP web consultant Becki Donatelli's Campaign Solutions is off of the project. "Campaign Solutions was retained to help develop our convention website and digital strategy, but they are no longer involved in convention planning," James Davis, the convention's communications director, told techPresident Tuesday. It's unclear what precipitated the of the relationship between the convention organizers and Campaign Solutions, which has been producing the online component of the event since 2004. But Donatelli's name surfaced in a controversial anti-Obama ad pitch sent to a Super PAC backed by TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, which appeared in its entirety in the Times last week. Ricketts has since disavowed the proposal and Donatelli has denied any involvement. GO

PD+ This Thurs 1pm: Thriving Online With Howard Rheingold

I'm really looking forward to talking with author Howard Rheingold this Thursday on the next PD+ teleconference. His new book, Net Smart, is a concise and thoughtful guide to understanding and making the most of the hyper-networked, always-on, firehose of information and distraction that is the contemporary experience of anyone who uses ... GO

City of Joplin, Mo. Launches New Online Center Ahead of Tornado's Anniversary

The city of Joplin, Missouri launched its new web site over the week-end ahead of the May 22 anniversary of the massive tornado that devastated the city and killed 161 people. The new site enables Joplin citizens to sign up for emergency alerts via text message, e-mail and RSS. In addition to those alerts, individuals can also sign up for ... GO

In Virginia, City Council Debates to Include Questions Posed Online

The Alexandria Democratic Party in Alexandria, Virginia has partnered with online civic engagement platform ACTion Alexandria to include questions solicited in an online forum in the final Democratic primary debate for a City Council election there on June 4, ahead of the June 12 election, according to a statement released by the group. ACTion Alexandria hopes to work with both parties during the general election.

Participants in the project can add questions to the forum, or vote on questions that have already been posed, although each user is only given three votes to distribute. Users are also encouraged to use their real names. Questions submitted so far hit on topics ranging from broadband access to a ban on food trucks in the city.

GO

More