New US Congress

[William Kelly]

Joe Backes has started a new blog Justice for King in which he supports a new MLK Act.

http://justiceforking.blogspot.com/

The goal of the new King Act is to build on the successes of the JFK Act, while avoiding its problems. There is some support in the House for holding a hearing about the new King Act that would not only identify unreleased King assassination records but would also point out JFK assassination files that have still not yet been released or that were routinely destroyed after the JFK Act was passed. ://http://justiceforking.blogspot.com/...passed. [/size]

[William Kelly]

The Transparency Caucus: big step toward fixing Washington

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/newmark/detail??blogid=67&entry_id=62538

Turna out there's good news, a bipartisan group of Congressmen have committed to letting taxpayers know a lot more about what's going on in the Federal government, along with Sunlight Foundation.

Check out more from NextGov

Twenty-seven House Republicans and Democrats kicked off a congressional transparency caucus on Thursday with a panel discussion on how the government can earn back Americans' trust.

"We're going to do a review and find out whether the public accepts the current disclosure," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., co-founding chairman of the caucus and ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"Our greatest challenge and mandate in government is regaining the public's trust," said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., the caucus' other co-founding chairman. "It means not just paying lip service, but taking financial responsibility, transparency and ethics as seriously as the voters want us to. If we can make the tough decisions and prove these as our priorities to the public, trust will follow."

A disclosure: I'm on the board of Sunlight, and attended the launch panel.

More important... just reflecting on this now, I just realized how this applies to how US taxpayers and Congress can work together to help set the agenda in forthcoming elections. The challenge relates to trust and preventing virtual ballot box stuffing.

More later, hopefully soon...

Craig Newmark April 30 2010 at 07:59 AM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-wonderlich/reps-quigley-issa-and-18_b_513373.html

Representatives Mike Quigley and Darrell Issa announced the creation of the bipartisan "Congressional Transparency Caucus" today. This historic move provides an exciting new way for Members of Congress to work together in support of open government initiatives.

In addition to supporting the across-the-aisle collaboration, the Caucus will allow representatives to deepen their expertise on transparency matters and engage the American public through education, legislation, and oversight. The Sunlight Foundation has long been hoping for this kind of forum to emerge, and applauds Rep. Quigley, Issa, and the 18 other charter members of this caucus for taking this important step.

In a similar vein, the Sunlight Foundation is pleased to announce that we are creating the Advisory Committee on Transparency. The Advisory Committee shares the underlying goals of the Congressional Transparency Caucus and will work to educate Congress and the public about transparency-related issues.

We hope to involve public interest organizations, businesses, and private citizens in the important work of improving government transparency. It is important to note that the Advisory Committee, unlike the Congressional Transparency Caucus, is not part of government.

To learn more about the principles underlying the Congressional Transparency Caucus, click here (PDF).

To read the "Dear Colleague" letter introducing the Congressional Transparency Caucus, click here (PDF).

The members of the Congressional Transparency Caucus (as of March 25, 2010) are: Melissa Bean (D-IL), Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), Vern Ehlers (R-MI), Bill Foster (D-IL), Steve Israel (D-NY), Darrel Issa (R-CA), Walter B. Jones (R-NC), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Walt Minnick (D-ID), Jared Polis (D-CO), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Tim Ryan (D-OH), Aaron Schock (R-IL), Mark Souder (R-IN), and Jackie Speier (D-CA).

For more information about the Advisory Committee on Transparency, please contact Daniel Schuman.

http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100429_5206.php

House transparency caucus vows to regain public's trust in government

By Aliya Sternstein 04/29/2010

Twenty-seven House Republicans and Democrats kicked off a congressional transparency caucus on Thursday with a panel discussion on how the government can earn back Americans' trust.

"We're going to do a review and find out whether the public accepts the current disclosure," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., co-founding chairman of the caucus and ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

One of the group's first actions will be to ensure that information posted on the Web from every branch of government is consistent, searchable and downloadable, he said. The uniform level of reporting would allow citizens to have a better context for comparing spending figures such as federal officials' compensation and earmarks, or appropriations for lawmakers' pet projects.

The goal of the caucus, which was announced in March, is to advance transparency and accountability across government. Measuring these goals will require online access to government information in formats that can be searched and downloaded for free, according to the caucus' principles. The group plans to make such information available by educating lawmakers, taking legislative action and overseeing existing polices.

"Our greatest challenge and mandate in government is regaining the public's trust," said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., the caucus' other co-founding chairman. "It means not just paying lip service, but taking financial responsibility, transparency and ethics as seriously as the voters want us to. If we can make the tough decisions and prove these as our priorities to the public, trust will follow."

Thursday's event included a dialogue among leaders from several government transparency groups, including the Project on Government Oversight and the Sunlight Foundation.

POGO General Counsel Scott Amey, who focuses on contract oversight, said he hopes the caucus will eradicate the stovepipe mentality in agencies that has created numerous databases and systems but little useful information. Too often, he said, he has to search one database to find a contract, another to locate a request for proposals and a third for the track record on the contractor's past projects. "Due to the lack of transparency, unhealthy programs are allowed to fester for far too long . . . and that leads to waste, fraud and abuse," Amey noted.

Following the panel, the packed room in the Rayburn House Office Building asked activists questions and commented on the formation of the caucus.

J.H. Snider, president of iSolon, a nonprofit institute focused on using information technology to bring about democratic reform, said, "You've got a very impressive caucus here, but I don't see the democratic leadership," referring to influential representatives such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md.

Daniel Schuman, policy counsel at the Sunlight Foundation and panel moderator, acknowledged the caucus was a work in progress. Sunlight announced on Thursday it will serve as an advisory committee to the caucus. Schuman, who is the director of the new advisory committee, pointed out that the caucus includes about 6 percent of the House and some of its members hold leadership positions on committees.

"Doing this across party lines, across ideologies . . . I think that is an encouraging sign," he said.

Congress of the United States

Washington, D.C. 20515

Congressional Transparency Caucus

Our Principles

March 2010

Transparency in government is crucial to our democracy because our government derives its power from the informed consent of the governed. We believe:

1) The American people have the right to public access to all of their government's information. All of the federal government's information, with a few well-defined exceptions, should be freely available online.

2) The American people have the right to analyze their government's information. The federal government's information should be published in its raw format, downloadable in bulk and machine-readable, so that citizens and watchdog groups can collaborate on new ways to examine it. The government should adopt consistent data standards so that different agencies' forms, filings, and records can be all searched together. All documents should be published at permanent Web addresses so that links to them remain valid.

3) The American people have the right to interactive access to federal laws, regulations, and rules. All federal laws, regulations, and rules should be published online in a format that makes them easily searchable, sortable, and downloadable, so that citizens can electronically participate in the development of laws, regulations, and rules.

4) The American people have the right to track all federal spending and scrutinize the federal budget. Data on how taxpayers' funds are spent, and the federal budge itself, should be searchable, with every earmark and appropriation electronically identified.

5) The American people have the right to demand, transparent performance standards for all federal agencies. Federal agencies should track their goals and achievements using a format that is electronically searchable, sortable, and downloadable, so that spending data can be associated with performance.

6) The American people have the right to aggressive, independent oversight. Inspectors general at federal agencies should be kept independent and active, and should regularly evaluate transparency in government. The House and Senate committees on government oversight and operations should conduct regular hearings and investigations on transparency. Disclosures by regulated entities – such as filings by lobbyists, federal contractors and grantees, banks, and public companies – should be published online, in formats that make them easily searchable, sortable, and downloadable. Citizens should scrutinize these disclosures and collaborate to expose corruption, fraud, and other abuses.

7) We must institutionalize a culture of open government. For the government's default setting to change from a presumption of secrecy to one of openness a cultural shift must occur. Through education and outreach, Congress should strive to encourage decision-makers throughout all branches of the federal government to chose openness over secrecy.

Caucus members so far include:

Melissa Bean, D-Ill.

Bruce Braley, D-Iowa

Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah

Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas

Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich.

Bill Foster, D-Ill.

Wally Herger, R-Calif.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.

Steve Israel, D-N.Y.

Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

Walter Jones, R-N.C.

Jim Jordan, R-Ohio

Doug Lamborn, R-Colo.

Daniel Lipinski, D-Ill.

Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa

Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo.

Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

Walt Minnick, D-Idaho

Scott Murphy, D-N.Y.

Jared Polis, D-Colo.

Mike Quigley, D-Ill.

Tim Ryan, D-Ohio

Aaron Schock, R-Ill.

Mark Souder, R-Ind.

Jackie Speier, D-Calif.

Mark Steven, Kirk, R-Ill.

Greg Walden, R-Ore.

Edited May 5, 2010 by William Kelly

[William Kelly]

More on the Transparancy Caucus.

http://jfkcountercoup.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/234/

The two co-founders of the Transparancy Caucus are Mike Quigley and Darrell Issa, people we should be able to deal with.

While they don't have the power to schedule hearings or begin an investigation like House Oversight Committee Chairman Ed Towns or NARA and Information Policy Subcommittee chairman William Lacy Clay, Quigley and Issa are both on the House Oversight Committee and Subcommittee and have put themselves into the forefront of the effort for an open government and open records.

We have to convince them that the oversight hearings on the JFK Act are necessary, and that there should be an investigation into the destroyed, missing, stolen and wrongfully withheld records.

Whereas both Towns and Clay are black, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Quigley is a liberal reformer who likes to get into the trenches and eat in the caffateria with the workers. I think he took over representing the district that was occupied by the guy who is now the Chief of Staff for Obama, the gatekeeper at the White House, what's his name? Anyway, Quigley has access to the White House.

Issa is more interesting. A conservative Republican from California, Issa is the richest man in the House and second richest man in Congress (Whose has more money in the Senate? anybody know?). An American born Arab, Issa made his money on a car theft prevention device that he invented, after getting busted for stealing a car. His wayward youth is overlooked by his consituents however, and Issa is now the ranking minority party member of the House Oversight Committee, meaning he gets to say something after Ed Towns is finished.

These two guys have made trust in government and open records and issue, and they are OUR ISSUES, so we have to convince them to become the new Champions of JFK Act Oversight Hearings, something that can be done.

"Our greatest challenge and mandate in government is regaining the public's trust," said Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., the caucus' other co-founding chairman. "It means not just paying lip service, but taking financial responsibility, transparency and ethics as seriously as the voters want us to. If we can make the tough decisions and prove these as our priorities to the public, trust will follow."

Mike Quigley (D. Ill.)

http://quigley.house.gov/

Twenty-seven House Republicans and Democrats kicked off a congressional transparency caucus on Thursday with a panel discussion on how the government can earn back Americans' trust.

"We're going to do a review and find out whether the public accepts the current disclosure," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., co-founding chairman of the caucus and ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

http://issa.house.gov/

One of the group's first actions will be to ensure that information posted on the Web from every branch of government is consistent, searchable and downloadable, he said.

And of course it is Issa who jumps right into the forefront of the battle.

With former Admiral Sestak winning the Democratic nomination for the Senate over Arlen Specter, in an election where the Single-Bullet Theory and Trust in Government became issues, it is Issa who is calling for a Special Prosecutor to investigate Sestak's allegation that he was offered a job by the White House if he dropped out of the race.

Ah Ha! They want a Special Prosecutor to investigate the possible violation of a law, and so do we.

Edited May 27, 2010 by William Kelly

[William Kelly]

Tuesday's Midterm elections should change the makeup of Congress, especially in the House of Representatives, and alter the possibility of having Congressional Oversight Hearings of the JFK Act.

Even if Rep. Kucinich (D. Cleveland) chair of Internal Security Oversight, and Rep. Edolphus Towns (D. NY) and William Lacy Clay (D. St. Louis), chairman of the House Oversight and NARA Oversight Subcommittee win their elections, as expected, they will probably lose the chairmans posts to the Republicans.

If that is the case, then the new Republican chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R. Calf) will assume the power to schedule hearings on any issue they want, and although the Republican conducted no oversight whatsoever when they controlled both the White House and Congress, it is expected that with the Democrats in the White House and maintaining control over the Senate, they will use House hearings to try to embarras the Democrats.

That means they will call hearings on health reform, immigration, Clinton offering Senator elect Sestak, who will probably take Specter's seat, a job not to run against Specter, and other issues that they feel they can use against the Democrats.

Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Congressman who will take over the Oversight Committee Chair, has already threatened to hold hearings "on issues that are important to the American people," so maybe we can convince him to hold the required but yet to be held oversight hearings on the JFK Act.

In the meantime, while we were not successful in convincing the Democrats to hold those hearings, they will still maintain their committee chairmanship control until the new leadership is sworn in in January, so there is still time to get some hearings in before the Republicans take over, and Kucinech has already threatened to hold Internal Security Subcommittee hearings on the FBI informant who is now suspected of firing the first shots at Kent State in May, 1970.

Also on the block in this election is Dallas DA Craig Watkins, who had big leads in early polls but then slipped and could lose his job. Watkins is the best hope for those who would like to see a Dallas Grand Jury investigation of the Tippitt murder.

We will have to wait until all the election returns are in to see how this will play out.

BK

Edited November 3, 2010 by William Kelly

[William Kelly]

Tuesday's Midterm elections should change the makeup of Congress, especially in the House of Representatives, and alter the possibility of having Congressional Oversight Hearings of the JFK Act.

Even if Rep. Kucinich (D. Cleveland) chair of Internal Security Oversight, and Rep. Edolphus Towns (D. NY) and William Lacy Clay (D. St. Louis), chairman of the House Oversight and NARA Oversight Subcommittee win their elections, as expected, they will probably lose the chairmans posts to the Republicans.

If that is the case, then the new Republican chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R. Calf) will assume the power to schedule hearings on any issue they want, and although the Republican conducted no oversight whatsoever when they controlled both the White House and Congress, it is expected that with the Democrats in the White House and maintaining control over the Senate, they will use House hearings to try to embarras the Democrats.

That means they will call hearings on health reform, immigration, Clinton offering Senator elect Sestak, who will probably take Specter's seat, a job not to run against Specter, and other issues that they feel they can use against the Democrats.

Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Congressman who will take over the Oversight Committee Chair, has already threatened to hold hearings "on issues that are important to the American people," so maybe we can convince him to hold the required but yet to be held oversight hearings on the JFK Act.

In the meantime, while we were not successful in convincing the Democrats to hold those hearings, they will still maintain their committee chairmanship control until the new leadership is sworn in in January, so there is still time to get some hearings in before the Republicans take over, and Kucinech has already threatened to hold Internal Security Subcommittee hearings on the FBI informant who is now suspected of firing the first shots at Kent State in May, 1970.

Also on the block in this election is Dallas DA Craig Watkins, who had big leads in early polls but then slipped and could lose his job. Watkins is the best hope for those who would like to see a Dallas Grand Jury investigation of the Tippitt murder.

We will have to wait until all the election returns are in to see how this will play out.

BK

Dallas DA Craig Watkins won reelection, despite articles like this by the Biker Chick:

Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins breaks law at voter precinct

http://www.examiner.com/motorcycle-lifestyle-in-dallas/dallas-district-attorney-craig-watkins-breaks-law-at-voter-precinct

Toomey, a Republican, took Specter's Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

Dennis Kucinich, Clay and Towns all won reelection, but with the Republicans taking majorty of House, they lose their committee chairmanships.

[William Kelly]

Tuesday's Midterm elections should change the makeup of Congress, especially in the House of Representatives, and alter the possibility of having Congressional Oversight Hearings of the JFK Act.

Even if Rep. Kucinich (D. Cleveland) chair of Internal Security Oversight, and Rep. Edolphus Towns (D. NY) and William Lacy Clay (D. St. Louis), chairman of the House Oversight and NARA Oversight Subcommittee win their elections, as expected, they will probably lose the chairmans posts to the Republicans.

If that is the case, then the new Republican chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R. Calf) will assume the power to schedule hearings on any issue they want, and although the Republican conducted no oversight whatsoever when they controlled both the White House and Congress, it is expected that with the Democrats in the White House and maintaining control over the Senate, they will use House hearings to try to embarras the Democrats.

That means they will call hearings on health reform, immigration, Clinton offering Senator elect Sestak, who will probably take Specter's seat, a job not to run against Specter, and other issues that they feel they can use against the Democrats.

Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Congressman who will take over the Oversight Committee Chair, has already threatened to hold hearings "on issues that are important to the American people," so maybe we can convince him to hold the required but yet to be held oversight hearings on the JFK Act.

In the meantime, while we were not successful in convincing the Democrats to hold those hearings, they will still maintain their committee chairmanship control until the new leadership is sworn in in January, so there is still time to get some hearings in before the Republicans take over, and Kucinech has already threatened to hold Internal Security Subcommittee hearings on the FBI informant who is now suspected of firing the first shots at Kent State in May, 1970.

Also on the block in this election is Dallas DA Craig Watkins, who had big leads in early polls but then slipped and could lose his job. Watkins is the best hope for those who would like to see a Dallas Grand Jury investigation of the Tippitt murder.

We will have to wait until all the election returns are in to see how this will play out.

BK

Dallas DA Craig Watkins won reelection, despite articles like this by the Biker Chick:

Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins breaks law at voter precinct

http://www.examiner....-voter-precinct

Toomey, a Republican, took Specter's Senate seat in Pennsylvania.

Dennis Kucinich, Clay and Towns all won reelection, but with the Republicans taking majorty of House, they lose their committee chairmanships.

Okay, Okay, I was wrong on Sestak vs. Toomey, and corrected myself. Now, I guess the threatened hearings on Sestak being offered a federal job not to run will lose steam and not happen.

But our good friends on the Democratic side, who didn't move a thing because they were afraid to rock the boat and were kpet in tow by Nancy Pelozi, are now, no longer calling the shots, but instead, the Conservative Republicans are, led by new spokesman for the majority, Rep. boehner, who will have to approve any hearings suggested by the committee and sub committee chairmen.

Boehner is a Conservative Catholic from Southwest Ohio, and represents the area between Dayton and Cinncinatti. He's a strong independent who fought corruption in the Congress as a rookie and got beat up for it, but is now back strong and is a well read leader who won't let you see him sweat but understand that he's done his homework and sweated a lot while you weren't looking.

He also likes to play golf and schmooze his supporters, something we all have to become better at, and since I attended the University of Dayton with John Judge, we know a lot of guys from that neck of the woods.

We also have to solidify our already agreeable assocations with Rep. Kucinech, of Cleveland, which is in North Ohio and since he's a democrat who will lose his Internal Security oversight subcommittee chairmanship, he will remain on the commitee, and like Clay and Towns, have miniority leadership rights that will give them the opportunity to at least say something and request or support JFK Act Overisght hearings.

Since the Democrats didn't do diddley anyway, those interested in getting JFK Act Oversight Hearings will be glad to know that after all the Hoopla over what Waxman was going to do, and didn't, and the opportunities preseted by Towns, who was certainly open to persuasion, but wasn't, we now have to deal with a strong suited, Conservative Republican from California, Rep. Issa, the new chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

He's already threatened to hold hearings "on issues that are important to the American people," so we can remind him of this and politely request they just do their duty and hold the mandated oversight hearings on the JFK Act, and let the public know why the Secret Service destroyed the advance reports of Kennedy's trip to Texas after the JFK Act was passed and the Assassination Records Review Board had requested them. And why so many records have disappeared, and are missing? And why the significant witnesses were never called to testify? And why so many records are being wrongfully and illegally withheld by federal agencies, and since there is no oversight there is no enforcement of the law with no teeth - the JFK Assassinations Records Act.

In any case, the changes in Congress must be viewed as a positive sign by those who want full disclosure of the JFK Assassination records since the new regime must at least consider the issue, while all those previous didn't acknowledge it at all.