Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

1. Tracking swine flu...

   By Bill Allison Apr 28, 2009 2:28 p.m.

   ...with Google maps.

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2. Still waiting for FOIA reforms to surface

   By Bill Allison Apr 27, 2009 2:49 p.m.

   Roger Strother writes at OMB Watch's Fine Print blog about the latest noise coming out of the Office of Information Policy about the "sea change in the way transparency is viewed across the government." That sea change is supposed to lift a lot of FOIA requests that, unlike boats, seem to sink the bottom with incredible rapidity, then burrow down into the muck at the bottom. We've found that the only way to surface those FOIA requests is the application of vigorous effort (including regularly calling FOIA officers to make sure they haven't forgotten us). Waiting--for months or years at a time--is also a necessary skill to master. In any case, Roger notes:

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3. Political Party Time: More than 170 fundraisers for appropriators (already!) in 2009

   By Bill Allison Apr 23, 2009 9:04 p.m.

   We're just past the end of the first quarter of the current election cycle (with seven more to go before it's all over), but members of the Appropriations Committees in the House and the Senate have already had <a href="http://blog.politicalpartytime.org/2009/04/23/more-than-170-parties-with-appropriators/">more than 170 fundraisers</a>, according to my colleague Nancy Watzman.

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4. Bailout Watch debuts from Open the Government

   By Bill Allison Apr 22, 2009 10:52 p.m.

   File this one under useful tools -- our friends at Open the Government have launched Bailout Watch, a compendium of resources on TARP, Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and other places. I like the Expert Exchange page.

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5. Hedge fund manager hosts Dodd fundraiser

   By Bill Allison Apr 20, 2009 7:01 p.m.

   Andrew Miga of the Associated Press reports on Sen. Chris Dodd's fundraising efforts for his reelection bid, and his tendency to raise it from interests with business before his committee:

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6. Hill: No campaign cash for Visclosky from former PMA Group clients

   By Bill Allison Apr 16, 2009 9:12 p.m.

   On April 3rd, we noted that Rep. Pete Visclosky, one of the most prolific recipients of campaign cash from and earmarker of federal dollars to PMA Group clients, had requested no earmarks--not a single one--for former clients of the firm for fiscal year FY 2010. Oddly enough, employees and PACs of former PMA Group clients donated nothing to Visclosky's reelection campaign in the first quarter of 2009, according to Roxana Tiron of the Hill.

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7. Examiner calls for more transparency in TARP

   By Bill Allison Apr 16, 2009 5:33 p.m.

   They mention Anu's report of how difficult it was just to get the names of the folks manning the TARP desk. The editorial is here. Key passage:

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8. Pro Publica tracks the bailout

   By Bill Allison Apr 15, 2009 10:07 p.m.

   Maybe it has something to do with today being tax day -- Pro Publica launches a very cool Eye on the Bailout

9. Better links to earmark requests...

   By Bill Allison Apr 15, 2009 9:48 p.m.

   ...available here.

10. Open data

    By Bill Allison Apr 13, 2009 7:30 p.m.

    It's not just the Open Secrets that's going open data. Our Political Party Time project is making its raw data available too. Find out some of the places where contributors in Open Secrets data rub elbows with members of Congress!

11. $4.5 billion-dollar tariff break back

    By Bill Allison Apr 13, 2009 6:56 p.m.
    Read all about it

12. Pro Publica posts executive branch financial disclosures

    By Bill Allison Apr 8, 2009 9:08 p.m.

    Available here, thanks to our friends at Pro Publica. A very handy tool. The Office of Government Ethics should really post these online, but until they do, Pro Publica is your best source.

13. Download TCS's earmark request spreadsheet

    By Bill Allison Apr 8, 2009 2:55 p.m.

    Our friends at Taxpayers for Common Sense announce that they have a downloadable spreadsheet with what looks to me to be the definitive list of links to earmark request disclosures from House members. The Hill gives some good examples of how hard it is to find the disclosures.

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14. Making sense of online earmark disclosures

    By Bill Allison Apr 7, 2009 2:13 p.m.

    As noted immediately below, House members started disclosing, on their official Web sites, their requests for earmarks (which members use to allocate federal funds for specific projects and recipients) last Friday. Over the weekend, I started looking at the disclosures, more to see what format the disclosures were in rather than whether they were online by a certain time. Since Roll Call first reported the changes, this has been a concern of mine.

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Investigations by Sunlight Foundation reporter Bill Allison