Mashups have become all the rage on blogs and websites. A mashup is the craft of taking existing material (data, text, art), mixing it up, and turning it into a new derivative work. Some can be just fun, like taking two songs that were recorded decades apart and making a new song out of it. Some can be helpful, like combining information from weather websites, adding the power of Google Maps, and a dash of poignant Twitter conversations, and voilà – you have great detailed coverage of a storm during an emergency.

Some mashups can be very powerful. Today’s Highlighted Site of the Week is Data.gov. With its May 2009 release of government data sets by Federal Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra, Data.gov allowed very clever people to put out mashups that could change our lives. Data.gov has two goals – “democratizing public sector data and driving innovation.”

The amount of information is staggering: elections, federal government finances and employment, state and local government finances and employment, banking, demographics, and much more. On the site, the data sets can be searched by category, by government agency, or both.

Here is where the artistry comes into play. Groups and individuals have mashed the data sets to come up with something quite revealing. One group, DataMasher.org, allows visitors to the site to combine data from Data.gov. Some of the results are interactive maps that show federal spending per U.S. Representative, total per capita contributions to political candidates, and federal spending per political contribution by state.

Another example is Tetoncode.com, which put together an API that shows federal contracts per state. And there is so much useful information being revealed about health care, FDA inspections, unemployment statistics, job prospects, and housing foreclosures.

I think we can expect to see mashups on blogs and across social media platforms as a standard in the near future. Who knows – they could become game changers in campaigns and elections.

What mashup would you like to create?

Images courtesy of Data.gov and Datamasher.org.

Lights, camera … action! According to a piece in the New York Times, former U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) has been hired as top lobbyist for the Motion Picture Association of America.

The articles notes that according to the law Dodd cannot directly lobby on Capitol Hill until 2013, but can offer plenty of strategy. “I have no intention of violating either the letter or spirit of that law, which is one I support strongly,” said the former senator.

For the full story, be sure to read “Motion Picture Industry Group Names Ex-Senator Dodd as Its New Chief” by Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply in the March 1 edition of the New York Times.

A bill requiring lobbyists to report activity even when the Legislature is not in session has been introduced by Senator Sheila Leslie. Currently, a lobbyist need only report activity occurring while the legislative body is actually in session.

Nevada’s Legislature generally meets in the first half of odd-numbered years. Senate Bill 0206‘s additional reporting requirements necessitate lobbyists report all lobbying activities after the end of the third and fourth calendar quarter of each odd-numbered year and each calendar quarter of each even numbered year, whether or not any expenditures were made.

The bill also extends the definition of lobbyist to include one who lobbies where an interim committee holds meetings.

Q: Now that Illinois has semi-monthly reporting, are there any changes to the contents of the report?

A: As of January 1, 2011, Illinois requires disclosure reports to be submitted on the fifth and 20th of each month.  This new schedule began on January 20, 2011.  The Secretary of State’s Office issued a 2011 Expenditure Report Filing Guide concerning how to disclose reportable activity on the Activity Detail Report.  This guide contains some changes for client or lobbying entity reporting.

Individual expenditures made on behalf of covered officials must be itemized with expanded information.  Lobbying entity reports must itemize for each individual expenditure or transaction:

• The name of the official for whose benefit each expenditure was made;
• The name of the client on whose behalf the expenditure was made;
• Whether the expenditure was made on behalf of a client;
• The total amount of the expenditure;
• A description of the expenditure;
• The vendor or purveyor to whom the expenditure was made;
• The address and location of the expenditure if the expenditure was for an intangible item such as lodging;
• The date on which the expenditure occurred; and
• The subject matter of the lobbying activity, if any.

As in previous years, the expenditure reports must also include reporting of lobbying activity that is unrelated to an itemized expenditure.  This requirement is satisfied by identifying:

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Republican Senator Jake Knotts and Democratic Senator Vincent Sheheen have announced they are submitting a bill banning leadership PACs in the Senate. Leadership PACs normally may accept contributions from lobbyists and have different contribution amounts than other campaign accounts.

Senator Sheheen said, “I want to help restore voter’s trust in government. This bill is one step to make sure elected officials answer to the voters, not wealthy contributors.”

Currently there is no member of the Senate who has a Leadership PAC.

A special election has been scheduled for May 3, 2011 to fill three seats left vacant in the Wisconsin State Assembly by legislators who accepted positions in the Walker Administration. In an executive order, Governor Walker ordered the special election for Assembly Districts 60, 83 and 94.

If primaries are necessary in any of the districts, they will be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2011, concurrent with the spring election.

Photo of the Wisconsin State Capitol by Jeff dean on Wikipedia.

While attending the 35^th Annual Public Affairs Council PAC Conference in Miami last week, there were many questions about the impact of Citizens United in the states.

Last year, State and Federal Communications prepared a report, and we continue to update it, for our clients to understand how it has been applied.

Follow this link for the report. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to send an email to our Research Manager John Cozine.

Representative Keith Grover has introduced a bill allowing for some campaign contributions to be made during legislative sessions. HB 395 allows for accepting a campaign contribution when the Legislature is in session for an official who is a candidate for federal elective office. The contribution must be placed in a separate account specifically designated for the candidate’s campaign account for federal office.

Currently, no contributions may be made when the Legislature is convened in an annual general session, veto override session, or a special session convened before July 1st of a general election year.

Photo of Rep. Keith Grover courtesy of the Utah House of Representatives website.

Ms. Ravel is the commission’s first chairwoman and has an established career in public service. She has served as counsel for Santa Clara County and most recently with the U.S. Justice Department.

Ravel has indicated she may reverse the recently enacted policy of publishing allegations on the FPPC’s website before investigations are concluded out of consideration for politicians and others who may be wrongfully accused of an infraction and later cleared.

Ms. Ravel replaces Dan Schnur, a Schwarzenegger appointee, atop the commission.

Photo of Ann Ravel courtesy of the Santa Clara County website.

The Virginia General Assembly adjourned sine die on Sunday, February 27, 2011, one day after the originally scheduled sine die adjournment date. The Legislature voted to extend the session in order to finish work on the state budget. This is the sixth time in the last twelve years the Legislature has needed to extend the adjournment date, which includes having adjourned one day later than scheduled in 2010 as well.

Following adjournment, the General Assembly entered into a special session in order to consider drawing new legislative maps in response to the release of the 2010 Census numbers. The special session was immediately recessed until April 4, 2011.

Photo of the Virginia Capitol by Amadeust on Wikipedia.

Directors of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) adopted several new ethics proposals. Among the proposals are rules to regulate fee payments to placement agents, who help funds gain access to CalPERS decision makers, and rules to ensure the same staff members who negotiate investment deals do not monitor their success.

Additionally, the directors approved a requirement for investment partners to hold meetings in modest office settings instead of vacation resorts. The directors postponed decisions on proposals to reduce or eliminate travel, gifts, and other accommodations outside investment firms provide board members, and to impose a two-year “revolving door” ban on certain CalPERS employees.

These regulations being put in place are in line with legislation taking effect earlier this year requiring placement agents to register as lobbyists and regulating how the agents are paid.

Photo of CalPERS headquarters by Coolcaesar on Wikipedia.

Jim Sedor, the editor of State and Federal Communications’ News You Can Use, offers this breaking news item. Jeff Cox, a deputy attorney general in Indiana, has been fired for commenting on his Twitter account that police in Wisconsin should use live ammunition to disperse protesters.

For the full story, here is the article by Chris Sikich and Mary Beth Schneider in the Indianapolis Star: “Indiana official fired for remarks on Twitter” from February 24.

Here is a statement from the Attorney General’s Office on Jeff Cox’s online postings and his being fired.

In honor of Presidents Day (I have opted for the Associated Press Stylebook spelling), I wanted to share two websites where you can explore and learn about the Presidents of the United States in a fun, new way.

The first one is Google Earth. Always a great site for seeing the world at warp speed, Google Earth has a feature called the U.S. Presidents Showcase. Of course, you have to download the software for Google Earth before you can take the ride, but it is quick and easy to install and worth the trouble. The U.S. Presidents showcase allows you to travel the country seeing the birthplace of each president. A brief profile of the president appears showing when and where they lived and when their term of office was. It also shows a shaded map of which states voted during each president’s election. You can even see the White House in 3D!

The second site is the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery Hall of Presidents. In this online exhibition of the museum’s south wing gallery, you can find the portrait of each United States president up until Bill Clinton – although on Clinton’s page they show a bust of the president by sculptor Jan Woods, and no portrait.

If you happen to be one of those people who is snowbound today, or just find yourself with a little time to kill, have a blast meeting Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses S. Grant, and all the rest on Google Earth. Say hello to their portraits at the Smithsonian, too.

Have a terrific weekend.

Robert W. Hayes, Jr., Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee has introduced a bill to redefine the definitions of committees involved in political campaigns and to add a definition of ‘independent expenditure committee.’ Senate Bill 0593 is a response to South Carolina Citizens for Life, Inc. v Krawcheck, a federal court decision finding the state’s definition of committee unconstitutional.

Based on the court decision, the State Ethics Commission announced in October of 2010 it would not enforce provisions of the state law concerning making independent expenditures. Among the refined definitional changes in the bill is wording specifically detailing the major purpose of the committees, usually for the support or opposition of a ballot issue or election of a candidate. In the bill, an ‘independent expenditure committee’ is defined as an association, a club, an organization, a group of persons or a person whose major purpose is to support or oppose the nomination or election of a candidate to elective office and makes independent expenditures in excess of $5,000 during an election cycle.

This post is an update to two previous Lobby Comply articles by George Ticoras:

“Ethics Commission Not Appealing Decision Striking Down Definition of Committee” from October 19

“South Carolina Defines Committee Too Broadly” from September 20