Advisory Committee on Transparency

The Advisory Committee on Transparency will present a discussion on super PAC transparency as we move toward the 2012 elections on Monday, January 23 at 2:15 p.m. in Rayburn 2203.

Update: C-SPAN's live video of the event is available here

Super PACs have fundamentally changed the relationship between money and politics, and all too often are misunderstood. These new vehicles for political advocacy have upended traditional political alliances, infused tremendous amounts of undisclosed (or partially disclosed) money into the political system, and kicked off controversies over what our 21st century democracy should look like.

We are pleased to present the preeminent experts who will discuss what the public knows -- and should know -- about Super PACs, including the reporter who coined the term “Super PAC” and leading advocates on both sides of the transparency question. We will explore the legal limits of what can be disclosed about Super PACs, and the policy questions around what the public has a right to know.

Panelists:

• Eliza Newlin Carney: Staff Writer for CQ Roll Call covering the issues of lobbying and influence

• Allen Dickerson: Legal Director and Interim Executive Director of the Center for Competitive Politics

• Mimi Marziani: Counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law

• Paul Ryan: FEC Program Director and Associate Legal Counsel at the Campaign Legal Center

• Daniel Schuman: Policy Counsel at the Sunlight Foundation and Director of the Advisory Committee on Transparency

For the full biographies of our speakers, please click here. You may also visit the event page for additional information about this event.

We hope you can join us. Please RSVP to http://snlg.ht/RSVPSuperPAC

Last Thursday the Congessional Transparency Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Mike Quigley (D-IL), held a roundtable conversation to discuss important transparency initiatives. Topics included lobbying oversight, access to Congressional documents and CRS reports, the DATA Act, the debt and deficit, the Super Committee, among other things. While the event was cut short by floor votes, it still covered a lot of ground, including an opportunity for the public to ask questions of the Representatives.

You can view video of the event below.

We're pleased to announce our next event, on Whistleblowing, is set for Friday, July 29 at 10:30 am in Rayburn 2247. Please note that we're at a different time, on a different day of the week, and in a different room.

Federal whistleblowers report lawbreaking and taxpayer rip-offs—often at great personal and professional risk. Does the law protect them sufficiently from retaliation? How does blowing the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse in the government work? What is the balance between disclosure and the government’s legitimate need for confidentiality? What distinctions should we draw between reporting wrongdoing to employers, to Congress, to reporters, and online? Is WikiLeaks fundamentally different from what’s come before?

Last month the Advisory Committee on Transparency hosted a panel discussion entitled “The Hidden Budget: Tax Expenditures,” where a panel of experts explored how tax subsidies fit into the federal budget. Tax expenditures are much harder to define and monitor than traditional government spending such as contracts and grants, and the panelists discussed ways to make this form of spending a more transparent part of the budget process...

In a fiscal climate where every penny counts, one-quarter of this year's federal budget went to tax breaks known as “tax expenditures,” amounting to around 1 trillion dollars. Compared to traditional government spending through contracts and grants, tax expenditures are harder to track, subject to less congressional oversight, and caught up in ideological debates over definitions.

Here is a look at what happened recently on the Sunlight network.

Here is a look at what happened recently on the Sunlight network.

CRS director Dan Mulhollan’s retirement on April 2 – after running Congress’ think tank for 17 years – raises questions about the agency’s policies and future.

Is CRS meeting the needs of Congress? Has its analytical expertise eroded? Are CRS Reports as relevant, accurate, and understandable as they need to be, and should they be available to the general public? What does a 21st century research service look like?

RSVP to http://snlg.ht/rsvpCRS.

Here is a look at what happened recently on the Sunlight network.