Business experts gave their evaluation of the effectiveness of government apps in Nextgov.com’s article “Government apps: Learning from industry” by Joseph Marks. The article highlights some apps you may not have heard of – an informational app from the Smithsonian, a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder app from the Veterans Administration, and a baby naming app from the Census Bureau, and many others.

Marks discusses the experts’ criteria for their grading, the growth of government use of mobile apps, and some current trends  to watch.

Here is an interactive infographic showing the results of the grading.

State Senator Lou Correa is planning to introduce legislation that would make members of the public who are appointed to serve on boards subject to the state’s revolving door provision.

The legislation would require that all board members wait 12 months after terminating board service before lobbying their former colleagues.

Photo of the California Senate chamber by David Monniaux on Wikipedia.

NCSL’s blog The Thicket at State Legislatures put up a post yesterday that discusses where legislators turn in order to get information to help them make public policy decisions.

The blog cites two sources of information and makes a comparison. The first source is a survey by NCSL, the Council of State Governments, and the State Legislative Leaders Foundation from 2002. The second source is a book called Power, Knowledge, and Politics: Policy Analysis in the States by John Hird from 2005.

The two surveys approached the question in different ways, but according to the blog post, they came up with the same rankings. Take a look at this chart, which summarizes it with bar graphs. Interest groups and lobbyists appear in eighth place on the list.

Retired Major General David W. Gay has been selected to serve as the chairman of the nine-member Citizen’s Ethics Advisory Board. Gay was initially appointed to his position on the board by then-Governor M. Jodi Rell on October 1, 2009.

Prior to his appointment, Gay served as the Adjutant General of the Connecticut National Guard from 1992 to 1999, when he retired after forty-three years of distinguished military service. His military career began in 1953 when he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He enlisted in the Guard in 1960 as a PFC and served in several different positions and disciplines at all levels.

Further, Charles F. Chiusano has been selected to serve as vice-chairman of the board. Chiusano was appointed in 2010 by Senate Minority Leader John McKinney after he had retired from his position as vice president of Avant Business Services Corporation. Each member’s one year term fulfilling the position is effective as of October 1, 2011.

Only lobbyists in Alaska who are constituents in a state candidate’s newly certified district may donate to a candidate’s campaign, an Advisory Opinion from the Alaska Public Offices Commission has declared.

Because a lobbyist residing in a candidate’s district may contribute to a candidate, Representative Bob Lynn requested an opinion regarding whether a lobbyist in his current district could donate to his campaign when he or she may not be a constituent in his proposed new voting district.

Advisory Opinion 11-14-CD concludes candidates “will only be able to accept donations from lobbyists residing in the new district.”

Presently, only candidates for the proposed new districts, and not the current districts, are being certified by the Division of Elections. In its analysis, the Advisory Opinion also articulates, “Whether or not a lobbyist resides in the candidate’s district is determined on the day the contribution is accepted.”

Federal:

Business Executives Call for End to Anonymous Cash

In Turn to Politics, Facebook Starts a PAC

Political Embezzlement Rises as U.S. Campaign Accounts Swell

Solyndra’s Lobbying Not Disclosed by Energy under Stimulus Guidelines

From the States and Municipalities:

Colorado

Campaign Finance Law Argued Before Colorado Supreme Court

Florida

After ‘Wild West,’ Palm Beach County Lobbyists Face New Rules

Indiana

Federal Judge Strikes Down Portion of Indiana ‘Robo-Call’ Ban

Maryland

State Senator’s Future Hangs in the Balance at Corruption Trial

Minnesota

Campaign Finance Board Releases Guidelines on Ballot Initiatives

Pennsylvania

Ex-Judge Gets 17 1/2 Years in Pa. Kickbacks Case

Rhode Island

Arrested Rhode Island Representative Won’t Resign, Will Run Again

Tennessee

Tennessee Lawmakers’ Ethics Panel Has Own Critics

State and Federal Communications produces a weekly summary of national news, offering more than 80 articles per week focused on ethics, lobbying, and campaign finance.

News You Can Use is a news service provided at no charge only to clients of our online Executive Source Guides, or ALERTS™ consulting clients.

Jim Sedor is editor of News You Can Use.

More about U.S. Congress and Twitter from techPresident: “New Survey Finds Republicans Tweet More Often, But to Whom?”

Definitely worth a look:  Campaigns and Elections magazine is hosting the 2011 CampaignTech Conference November 10-11 in Washington D.C. “Explore the craft of digital politics and advocacy in the changing landscape of the political online world.” The conference boasts an impressive speaker list. Here is the registration information and their blog. (Thank you, George Ticoras for pointing this one out to me.)

From Luke Fretwell on govfresh: “NAGW honors top government websites.” Here is the National Association of Government Webmasters 2011 Pinnacle Award site. I am excited to say an Ohio city received an award – the City of Montgomery, Ohio won in the “population less than 50,000” category!

You can now see all of the Tennessee governor’s proclamations on the Secretary of State’s website. Here is an article from the Tennessean about the news.

From Federal News Radio: The article “GSA launches YouTube-inspired contest for how-to videos” offers exciting news. It says, “The General Services Administration is giving away $5,000 dollars to social media mavens, who create videos to help people understand federal benefits and services.”

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) has issued a reminder regarding the application of rule g-37 to federal election campaigns of issuer officials.

In the notice, the MSRB reminds “brokers, dealers and municipal securities dealers” of prohibitions outlined in previous MSRB guidance notices, which highlight the rules and prohibitions concerning solicitations and contributions for certain state and local officials seeking election to federal office.

Generally, issuer officials are directly or indirectly responsible for, or can influence the outcome of, the hiring of a broker, dealer or municipal securities dealer for municipal securities business.

The reminder can be found here.

Neighborland is a New Orleans project of Civic Center that was founded by Candy Chang, Tee Parham, and Dan Parham. It harnesses the power of crowdsourcing in order to improve and reinvent their neighborhoods.

The site says: “We love New Orleans. We want Neighborland to be a fun and effective way to make our city a better place.”

Here is how it works:

• Citizens of New Orleans can go to the Neighborland website and fill in the statement –  “I want ____ in my neighborhood.” The idea is to offer something that would make your neighborhood a better place.
• Then they can start a discussion online and campaign for support and votes.
• Hopefully they get enough support to keep the discussion going and figure out how to make their dream a  reality.

Ideas include requesting more bicycle parking in the French Quarter, more transit options to get to the airport, and the opportunity to recycle glass.

Luke Fretwell from Govfresh interviews Co-founder Dan Parham in the article “Here Comes the Neighborland” from July 26.

You can keep up with the lastest news from Neighborland on Twitter and Facebook.

Cities everywhere, take note!

Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert has signed a proclamation to officially convene a special session of the Utah Legislature on Monday, October 3.

The Governor had earlier announced the date, but the proclamation formally outlines the purpose for the special session with seven legislative issues, including adding the presidential primary to the regular primary ballot, redistricting, and making changes to the workers’ compensation insurance requirements.

The Governor’s press release can be found here.

Today, we get two views of the U.S. Congress and its use of Twitter.

Politico published “Survey: Congress uses Twitter more than millennials” by Tim Mak, which says members of Congress have taken to using Twitter more than American people between the ages of 18 and 29. They say 81% of Congress uses Twitter, while 75% of millennials have adopted its use.

An Associated Press survey, which provided those figures, made the comment that in their estimation, members of Congress could better use the social media platform as an opportunity for genuine interaction with that demographic and less as a social media megaphone for their messages.

The San Bernardino County supervisors voted to endorse a plan to limit campaign contributions at their September 27, 2011 meeting. The supervisors further voted to direct the county counsel’s office to draft an ordinance to be voted on by the supervisors at a future meeting.

The current plan would allow individuals to donate up to $3,900 per election cycle. Small contributor committees would be permitted to donate $7,800 per election cycle.

On Monday, the American League of Lobbyists (ALL)  made a statement against a new Obama administration proposal restricting lobbyists’ gifts to executive branch employees. It would also restrict those employees’ attendance to certain events sponsored by lobbyists, companies, and organizations.

Howard Marlowe, president of the organization, states: “The American League of Lobbyists strongly objects to this proposed rule and asks that it be withdrawn immediately. The Administration has offered no reports of even a single abuse of its current regulations to warrant the severe restrictions it has proposed on the mutual flow of information and expertise between lobbyists, their employers, and Federal workers.”

Here is a draft summary of the Obama administration’s proposed rule.

The “Lobbying in the News” page for ALL lists these three articles covering the news:

• “Lobbyists object to Obama proposal that would tighten rules for federal workers,” by T.W. Farnam in the Washington Post.
• “Lobby league opposes Obama rule,” by Anna Palmer and Dave Levinthal on the Politico Influence page.
• “Lobbyists’ group objects to new rule banning gifts to all federal employees,” by Kevin Bogardus in The Hill.

You can keep up with the latest discussions on the American League of Lobbyists Twitter feed (@LobbyistsLeague).