Salsa Scoop> tag: ”blog:transparency“

Fee For Constituent Service

As the coalition of vendors (including DIA) providing email-your-rep services to advocacy organizations continues to churn away at the Congressional email deliverability logjam, the changing times may be in the process of evolving the question -- at least on the national level -- towards obsolescence. The Center for Citizen Media got a post-election pitch to buy an updated legislative directory, and sensibly wonders ... why does this cost money? "[M]aybe someone could create a wiki to keep track of comings and goings"? Congresspedia has it covered. And a tool like Google's Google Earth/electoral district mashup basically covers the part of the equation that determines a legislator from an address.

Read more (6 comments)

Hunkering in the Swamps with Lame Duck Hunt

With the last remnants of the 109th Congress reconvening this week for their parting shots, it's a good time to surf over to Public Citizen's Lame Duck Hunt, which sounds seductively like The Most Dangerous Game but turns out to be a project to let the sunshine in on the shenanigans of lawmakers past the grasp of voter accountability.

Read more