CalAware Today

White House Edict Puts Premium on Interpreters

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The White House this morning released a long-awaited Open Government Directive that follows up on the president's promise—memorialized on his first full day of office—to usher in a new era of transparent, participatory governance. says Peter M Shane, the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law at the Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, writing in the Huffington Post.  But what's needed like never before among both old- and new-style journalists, he says, are technically adept translators of exposed data into facts that tell news stories.

Book: T. Roosevelt Quietly OKd Japan's Expansion

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- "Sixty-eight years ago tomorrow, Japan attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor," writes historian James Bradley in yesterday's New York Times. "In the brutal Pacific war that would follow, millions of soldiers and civilians were killed. My father — one of the famous flag raisers on Iwo Jima — was among the young men who went off to the Pacific to fight for his country. So the war naturally fascinated me. But I always wondered, why did we fight in the Pacific? Yes, there was Pearl Harbor, but why did the Japanese attack us in the first place?

Is Federal Transparency a 1st Amendment Right?

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- In California, five years ago the state constitution was amended by popular vote to make public access to government proceedings and records a right as fundamental as speech. But what about the federal constitution?  Does an open government right flow from the First Amendment?

FCC Wants to Hear from You on Open Govt Issues

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued two public notices for comment on issues related to open government and citizen engagement, reports OpenTheGovernment.org. The deadlines for response are not long off.

Stem Cell Research Agency Keeps Secretive Style

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- After its first five years, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) still hasn't learned to take governmental transparency seriously. "Recently . . . the agency has had difficulty even complying with the basic state public records law and the state Constitution's public access guarantees, much less achieving a higher level of performance," writes David Jensen in the California Stem Cell Report.

Secrecy News Editor to Speak at Scripps College

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- Steven Aftergood, editor of Secrecy News and director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, will speak on the topic "Secrecy and Democracy: Paradox and Policy" on Wednesday, November 11 at 7:30 p.m. in the Boone Recital Hall, Scripps College Performing Arts Center, Claremont.

New Judicial Branch Rules, New Calls for Scrutiny

OPEN GOVERNMENT  -- With 5 p.m. Friday set as the deadline for submitting comments on proposed new rules providing public access to administrative records of judicial branch agencies, legislative scrutiny of statewide court administration is reaching an unprecedented pitch this week.

Proposal for Access to Court Admin Information: 4

OPEN GOVERNMENT – This is the fourth of four segments analyzing the proposed new rules on public access to the administrative records of the California court system.  The proposals are open for public comment now through October 29, and the final product, to be adopted by the California Judicial Council, will take effect January 1.

OPEN GOVERNMENT – This is the fourth of four segments analyzing the proposed new rules on public access to the administrative records of the California court system.  The proposals are open for public comment now through October 29, and the final product, to be adopted by the California Judicial Council, will take effect January 1.

Pluses/Minuses of Proposed Court Records Rules

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The rules that are proposed to provide public access to administrative records showing how the judicial branch and its individual courts are run are modeled on those governing other state and local agencies under the California Public Records Act (CPRA).  But there are significantly greater opportunities for secrecy.

Proposal for Access to Court Admin Information: 3

OPEN GOVERNMENT – This is the third of four segments analyzing the proposed new rules on public access to the administrative records of the California court system.  The proposals are open for public comment now through October 29, and the final product, to be adopted by the California Judicial Council, will take effect January 1.

OPEN GOVERNMENT – This is the third of four segments analyzing the proposed new rules on public access to the administrative records of the California court system.  The proposals are open for public comment now through October 29, and the final product, to be adopted by the California Judicial Council, will take effect January 1.

Proposal for Access to Court Admin Information: 1

OPEN GOVERNMENT – This is the first of four segments analyzing the proposed new rules on public access to the administrative records of the California court system.  The proposals are open for public comment now through October 29, and the final product, to be adopted by the California Judicial Council, will take effect January 1.

Governor's Game Could Kill Valuable Reforms

OPEN GOVERNMENT, WHISTLEBLOWERS -- "With the Sunday deadline fast approaching, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed only three of the over 700 bills on his desk," reports the California Newspaper Publishers Association's Legislative Bulletin. "While a bit coy regarding his intentions on the fate of the Legislature’s entire work product from the 2009 session, the threat of a blanket veto may prove an effective lever on the water deal that eluded Schwarzenegger and legislators in the waning days of the legislative session."  On the other hand, the report notes, such a hostage standoff could kill several valuable bills in the open government, free press and whistleblower protection zone that Californians Aware calls public forum law.

Ethics Panel Sued for Withholding Complaint Data

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- In a lawsuit filed Monday in San Francisco Superior Court, open government advocate Allen Grossman charges that the city's Ethics Commission suppressed public records relating to its consistent failure to enforce violations of state and local open government laws.

One-Day "Camp" on Putting Public Data to Work

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- An all-day "Data Camp & DataSF App Contest"—for $10 including dinner—will welcome developers, journalists, community organizers, policy wonks, students and "others interested in working with government data to provide insights and information into California and its communities," in San Francisco on Saturday, November 7, the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) has announced.

Editorial: Why a Secretive Police Review Board?

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- "What's the point of subjecting complaints about the police to the review of an independent civilian board," asks an editorial in the Redding Record Searchlight, "if the vast majority of civilians—that is, the general public—can't learn the result?"

S.F. Showcases E-tools Employing Its Public Data

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- San Francisco today announced the launch of DataSF Apps Showcase, a site that boasts free innovative applications created by citizens using city and county data, reports Karen Stewartson for Government Technology.

Bill Would Pierce the Federal Reserve's Secrecy

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- If you've seen this you'll get some idea of why, as reported by Anne Flaherty for the Associated Press, Congress wants an audit of the Federal Reserve.

Comment: L.A. Needs 'Empowerment' Leadership

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- Government meeting laws forbidding deliberate secrecy and requiring formalized public notice and public comment periods may help the professional watchdogs like journalists and lobbyists, but optimum community participation in government demands some affirmative training and accommodation for the amateur majority, argues Greg Nelson in CityWatch LA.  The Obama Administration is showing leadership here, but Los Angeles isn't paying attention, he says.

Feds to Dial Back Use of State Secrets Privilege

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The Justice Department is preparing to impose new limits on the government assertion of the state secrets privilege used to block lawsuits for national security reasons. The practice was a major flashpoint in the debate over the escalation of executive power and secrecy during the Bush administration, notes Charlie Savage in the New York Times.

Comment: Congress Should Open Its Ethics Probes

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- "Here’s a suggestion: open the doors and let Americans witness the workings of the House Ethics Committee," writes Liz Peek for Fox News. "If being stripped naked and flayed in full view of your countrymen is the appropriate way to investigate Ed Liddy, a decent man trying (for free) to safeguard the taxpayers’ interest in AIG—why isn’t it the best way to question New York’s Charles Rangel about his real estate holdings, or to ask Nevada’s John Ensign about his alleged payments to his former paramour?"

State Courts to Open Admin Records to the Public

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- California's court system, beginning January 1, will for the first time provide public access to many kinds of spending and other administrative information of the kind available from local and state agencies under the California Public Records Act (CPRA). The change will come in the form of an addition to the Rules of Court that is now being hammered out in draft form, and will shortly be opened for public comment. 

Government Data Mapping a 'Winner' Industry?

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- "For all the lofty statements made during the first day of the Gov 2.0 Summit in Washington, D.C., about opening up government and its vast reservoirs of data to improve democracy and citizen engagement, it was clear there would be one major winner: GIS," writes Tod Newcombe in govtech.com.

First Amendment Coalition Drops California Focus

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- The former California First Amendment Coalition has dropped the first word from that name in keeping with its increasing attention to national and even international issues, Executive Director Peter Scheer announced yesterday.

City Grapples with Officials' Private E-Messaging

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- "San Jose officials Wednesday cited a litany of practical hurdles that must be overcome as they took the first steps toward establishing a policy to treat e-mails, text messages and other electronic communications about government business on their personal cell phones or computers as public records," reports John Woolfolk for the San Jose Mercury News.

IG Chick Faults State's Transparency Website

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- State Inspector General Laura Chick yesterday asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to expand his government transparency Web site to include more internal audits of state and local agencies, and to overhaul the Web site to make it more user-friendly, notes Matthew Yi in his politics blog for the San Francisco Chronicle. "The governor responded quickly, announcing an executive order that requires state agencies and departments to post 'all program reviews, monitoring and accountability reports, evaluations, inspections, assessments and studies of audits' for public viewing on the transparency site."

Editorial: 'Dream' Watchdog Role Has Few Takers

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- "Armed with subpoena powers, a band of 19 San Francisco residents has the run of city government, free to ask questions, demand answers and write up its findings for the city to scrutinize and consider," says a San Francisco Chronicle editorial. "It sounds like a dream job in a politically caffeinated city, flecked with pressure groups and a polyglot population divided by age, race and income. Who wouldn't want to grab the gavel of the civil grand jury and charge into a target-rich landscape? Very few, it turns out."

'Report Card' Tracks Bush-Obama Secrecy Shifts

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- OpenTheGovernment.org's 2009 Secrecy Report Card chronicles slight decreases in  secrecy across a wide spectrum of indicators in the last year of the Bush-Cheney Administration, according to a press release.

White House Allows Some Visitor Disclosure

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- Today's announcement that the White House would begin providing the public with some information from its visitor logs met with skepticism from some of those watching the issue closely. The main faults mentioned: the White House had to be sued to yield this much; the disclosures are to be prospective only, not covering the visits up to September 15; and whom the visitors represent will not be revealed.

Comment: One-House Legislature Eludes Scrutiny

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- Among the ideas in circulation for a possible reform agenda at a state constitutional convention, the one-house legislature has several attractions but one great danger, says a former Republican Assembly leader: the faster legislative process moves, the less open and checkable it becomes. 

Universities: Sunshine on Foundations Too Costly

OPEN GOVERNMENT -- Free speech groups are trying to force the state’s public universities to disclose financial relationships worth more than $6.25 billion. At issue are scores of nonprofit foundations linked to the schools, each serving a campus in the UC and CSU systems, which insist that disclosing the finances would cost millions of dollars in staff time, reports Maryam Ali for Capitol Weekly.