Senator Gillibrand has been live-blogging again.

by: Adama

Fri Jul 10, 2009 at 11:40:48 AM EDT

The thing that struck me most about the exchange was the fact that the Senator wasn't at all afraid to admit uncertainty, or ask for suggestions from the crowd when it came to sticky issues like campaign finance.

You can sift through the DailyKos thread if you want, or I've compiled all the Senator's statements below.

Transparency and the "Need to Lie"

by: simonstl

Thu May 21, 2009 at 08:46:27 AM EDT

In these days of transparency as buzzword, I don't hear a lot of argument that "transparency is a bad thing in general." What I do tend to hear is that "we just can't do X, Y, and Z if we're that transparent, and that would cripple the ABCDE agenda."

Kevin Drum crashed into this recently after some posts on education suggesting that suburban parents might not be as altruistic as progressives would like them to be. In response, another blogger wrote:

But because that transfer occured in the context of an immensely complex formula understood by less than half a dozen people and negotiated in a back room long after the official hearings had finished and the press had gone home, nobody really got upset by it, because nobody knew exactly how much money they were losing, and we were in no hurry to tell them....

Sometimes it's better to hide the true extent of people's contributions to the common good. Otherwise they'll start asking questions and from there it's a slippery slope all the way back to every family huddling alone in a cave and foraging for fruits and nuts.

Kevin's reply boils down to something pretty simple:

Lying to parents just isn't a long-term strategy.

At the national level, we've watched the Republicans indulge in this conceit for decades. Rich Republicans want to lower taxes for the rich, but the country is a lot less excited about that prospect. The answer? Well, lots of lying, actually, plus some backroom deals. Fight like hell against anyone who wants to find out what's going on, cast your opponents as elitists who just want to bore people with facts, and build a theology of executive power that makes it hard for anyone to challenge what's going on. (See Jonathan Chait's The Big Con for a good telling of this story, if you can stomach it.)

At the state level, unfortunately, both parties fell into similar attitudes in defense of their own agendas. (The minorities in both legislative houses, for some reason, tend to support much more transparency than the majorities.) Many Democrats are watching the State Senate to see if its members actually learned the value of transparency while they were in the minority, or if it was just talk, and the same goes for our Governor, who seems to have forgotten his old speeches.

A lot of the reason that voters today are angry is the growing realization that they've been lied to, on a tremendous scale. The extreme right and left have always had that sense, but there are a lot more angry centrists out there than I've ever seen. Even (maybe especially) if they aren't political junkies, they're complaining that they just aren't getting the straight story, especially about finances but also about everything else.

If you need to lie about policy, odds are good that you've gotten ahead of the voters. For better or worse, democracy isn't about getting your platform enacted - it's about responding to the will of the voters. The Republicans pushed as far as they could before the whole structure started coming down on them. I hope we can learn from their disaster, and push back against their lying ways, not just the details of what they lied about.

How Can We Fix the MTA?

by: BingChester

Sun May 17, 2009 at 16:46:47 PM EDT

It's Transparency, Stupid. Are you Listening, Governor?

by: Roatti

Mon Apr 20, 2009 at 12:17:46 PM EDT

It appears that Paterson's decision to sacrifice transparency in favor of a timely budget backfired. When presented with 10 potential factors for the Governor's declining popularity and more than half of voters say that his handling of the state's finances, giving raises to his staff and negotiating the budget in secret were factors that greatly contributed to his falling approval ratings.

Sixty-three percent of voters said that the secrecy of the budget proceeding "contributed greatly" to his declining popularity, while another 24 percent said it "somewhat contributed."

It appears that at long last, transparency and budget reform has become a salient issue for votors. It's not clear why this is suddenly becoming an issue because after all, Paterson is not the first Governor to conduct budget negotiations in secret, not by a long shot.  But perhaps there is a voter backlash developing because for decades in the Senate minority and during his brief stint as Lieutenant Governor, Paterson was a harsh critic of the secret budget process.

Simply put, Paterson's reputation may have led voters to believe and hope he would change things in Albany and by turning all three branches of state government over to the Democrats last fall, voters were actually expecting change.  And so far it's not an understatement to say those hopes been tragically unfulfilled.  

I do not think this bodes well for the 2010 elections.  The GOP are of course, no better.  The whole dismal state that is Albany was largely the fault of Joe Bruno and Dean Skelos for the time they were in power, and giving the Senate back to the GOP will not make anything more transparent.  But as Paterson's own career illuminates, the out-of-power call for reform can be a compelling political message.

So now, if not for the ethical and democratic reasons, at least that the voters are paying attention, I think it's time to shape up before we get shipped out.  

Sen. Gillibrand Unveils First Sunlight Report

by: robert.harding

Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 18:14:41 PM EDT

To follow up on that promise of openness and transparency, Sen. Gillibrand released her first Sunlight Report, which provides her official Senate schedule, as well as her personal financial disclosure and a complete list of earmarks that she requested for the current fiscal year.

You can see Sen. Gillibrand's Sunlight Report here.

In her statement on the unveiling of her Sunlight Report, Gillibrand said that her constituents deserve openness and transparency and have a right to know what she is doing as their senator.

"The public deserves a government that is open, honest, and transparent," Senator Gillibrand said.  "That's what this Web site is about. New Yorkers can log on and see what I'm working on, keep track of the progress we're making to improve their lives, and send me ideas along the way."

Senator Gillibrand is a long time advocate for more public disclosure. She strongly supports President Obama's plans to reform the earmark process and plans to lead by example, letting New Yorkers know who she is meeting with and what she is working on in the U.S. Senate.

The Sunlight Report is viewable at Senator Gillibrand's new official web site. The site will provide New Yorkers with information on the Senator's agenda and how to contact her offices. As Senator Gillibrand continues to travel the state, the web site will include more information on what she is hearing about in communities across New York.

From job creation and affordable health care to promoting fair opportunity for every New Yorker, Senator Gillibrand's web site highlights her record on issues affecting New Yorkers and her action to move New York forward.

"I believe in open and honest government, transparency and accountability not just because it's what New York deserves, but because it produces the best policies and government. In these challenging economic times, we need this now more than ever," Senator Gillibrand added.

I don't know why every member of Congress isn't doing this, but they should. Sen. Gillibrand is leading by example when it comes to being open and honest about her official Senate schedule, her personal financial disclosures and what earmarks her constituents get.

As I said in the opening, you may agree with her or disagree with her, but one thing you should like about Sen. Gillibrand is that she doesn't do things behind closed doors and she doesn't operate in the shadows.

Remember, it was Gillibrand who posted on her campaign website the disclosure forms she submitted to Governor David Paterson when she was in the running for the Senate appointment. She proved then that transparency was a must for her and she is proving that again with today's announcement.

A More Transparent Budget Process Is Needed

by: robert.harding

Fri Mar 27, 2009 at 14:20:53 PM EDT

Nothing is more important than the budget. While there are other important pieces of legislation that the Legislature will see over time, the budget is a constant. Every year, the budget is a necessary piece of the puzzle.

As a Democrat, I had looked forward to 2009. Not only would we have a Democrat in the White House for the first time since January 2001, but we would also have full control of New York State government. While some were worried about one-party rule and what it would mean for New York, I was excited. I believed that this was the time for reform. This was the time for, as President Barack Obama said, change.

Unfortunately, the budget process is unchanged. It is still closed. It is still secretive. And it is still very much symbolic of how business is conducted in Albany.

Governor David Paterson was asked about the lack of transparency in the budget today by NY1 reporter Josh Robin. According to Irene Jay Liu of the Albany Times-Union, this is how that exchange went down:

When asked by NY1 reporter Josh Robin about the lack of transparency in this year's budget, particularly given the governor's previous track record of fighting for openness when he was Senate minority leader, Paterson remarked:

"I think there should be transparency in terms of the process and openness in terms of government. However, when you are in a budget position, it is very hard to negotiate in public. You never see President Obama and Sen. Reid, and Speaker Pelosi do it. You don't see it in any other state."

The governor then got personal:

"You don't see it in labor negotiations and I dare say that your negotiations with your own media outlet, your contract, is not, the last I checked, publicly observed.

There comes a point in the negotiations where anyone who is really negotiating has to take things off the table. This is a very difficult endeavor, and it's hard to do it when the advocates you are fighting for are right there."

There is only one problem with the governor's rebuttal: Mr. Robin is not an elected official and his salary certainly isn't paid for by the taxpayers of New York. Mr. Robin is employed by a private entity who has every right to keep their negotiations with him, and any of their employees, private.

Governor Paterson, however, works for us. Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith works for us. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver works for us. Every single member of the New York State Legislature works for us. Every single dollar used in the New York State budget are tax dollars. So while Mr. Robin's negotiations with his employer are private, the negotiations ongoing about how these three men will spend OUR tax dollars should surely be open and transparent.

New York has plenty of problems to address. Transparency in the budget process is just one problem, although it is a big problem that needs to be fixed immediately. New Yorkers have every right to know how there money will be spent, especially when proposed cuts will affect millions of New Yorkers.

It is time for change in New York. If Governor Paterson doesn't want to be a part of that, he will be jobless come January 2011. He is the leader of this state. And we are in need of leadership. It's about time he started to show it.

Meet Albany's 'King Geek'

by: phillip anderson

Tue Mar 24, 2009 at 12:17:22 PM EDT

Albany's King Geek

A few months ago, Andrew Hoppin was advising President Obama's NASA transition team and contemplating his next move. He was settling back into New York after leaving the NASA Ames Research Center near Sunnyvale, Calif., where he co-founded and managed the NASA CoLab-a program that aimed to bring efficiency and transparency to the creaky government agency through new technologies. He encouraged astronauts to Twitter from space.

...

So in January, he approached his friend, Andrew Rasiej, a fixture in political tech circles. It was perfect timing; since early January, Mr. Rasiej and Micah Sifry, co-founders of Personal Democracy Forum and techPresident.com, had been advising the New York Senate majority leader, Malcolm Smith, on using technology to make Albany more open, transparent and efficient-the same kind of work Mr. Hoppin had been doing at NASA. Mr. Rasiej encouraged Mr. Hoppin to consider applying his talents to New York State.

"I told him, Obama's people will be looking over your shoulder because they won't be able to move fast enough," Mr. Rasiej told The Observer. In the Senate, Mr. Rasiej explained, Mr. Hoppin had the opportunity to "move the ball farther" and set an example for upgrading government for every state in the nation.

"They convinced me that they were really serious about this," said Mr. Hoppin, 37, who is mild-mannered, of medium height and wears gray suits with blue shirts to match his eyes. He often keeps his top button unbuttoned. "They would take Albany, which doesn't have the best reputation for being the most efficient place, and do it right with transparency and technology." Mr. Smith, along with Senate secretary Angelo Aponte, appointed Mr. Hoppin to be the first ever chief information officer for the New York State Senate.

...

To be sure, if Mr. Hoppin and his team have a mantra, it's "efficiency, transparency and participation." In just a few weeks, they announced that senators could (finally) access their email on the Web (efficiency). They launched a Facebook page, Twitter account and Tumblr blog to announce new projects from the chief of information office (transparency). And they helped create, literally overnight, two Web sites to solicit suggestions from constituents on the M.T.A.'s budget shortfall (NYMTAIdeas.org) and opinions on the state's budget deficit (NYBudgetIdeas.org), as well as a prototype Web site for the Plain Language Initiative, which translates extracts data and legal jargon from M.T.A. budget documents into readable text, tables and charts to help commuters understand why the M.T.A. board is proposing bridge tolls, fare hikes and service cuts (participation).

And that's only the beginning. Within the next month, the team will launch a new Web site designed with Drupal, an open-source software program, (which powers Observer.com) that will make blogging available to senators and include applications for more public participation. Constituents will be able to post views on new bills and initiatives, as well as review and "vote" up and down on the ideas of others. The CIO team is organizing training sessions for senators and their staff on social networking platforms and how to pay attention to online feedback. Last week, they hired mobile specialist Nathan Freitas to create new phone applications that will allow citizens to get government news on the go. This week, they hired a Drupal whiz, Craig Leinoff, who worked as technical officer and contributor for Jewcy Magazine.

The group plans on creating a wiki-an editable, community-created online document-that will welcome ideas and suggestions from New Yorkers and other state government staffers on their road map to upgrading Albany.

"Technology has to be a strategic asset of every office, rather than something that is off in a corner," Mr. Hoppin told The Observer. "There's a lot of room for government to use technology for better transparency, better efficiency, better participation, but also empowering legislators to do a better job-but it requires putting technology at the center."

An embrace of new technology and new communications tools should be a very welcome development for those of us who have advocated for more access to usable information about how the state is governed. It's so refreshing to see that the Senate appears to be genuinely interested in making data that by all rights the property of the citizens of New York available in a useful manner. It is also quite a breath of fresh air to see the New York State Senate(!) adopting robust two way communications across a number of platforms.

This is stuff that other states have been doing for years and we have a lot of catching up to do. But, the years of neglect do have a silver lining. This new team is essentially starting from scratch in many of these endeavors. They have the opportunity to build an entirely new series of tools and processes without being much burdened by bad decisions or purchases or policies from a decade ago. That's a luxury early adopter states don't really have.

What will Hoppin's team do with this opportunity to profoundly re-engineer the Senate's relationship with information as well as with those the Senators were elected to serve? I guess we'll see. That said, I'm very, very encouraged so far.

On the web: NY Senate CIO blog.

Why I Like Bill de Blasio

by: phillip anderson

Wed Mar 04, 2009 at 16:23:37 PM EST

Sunlight seems to be the trendy buzzword these days. First there was the Sunlight Foundation, which was established in Washington in 2006 to lobby for better government data. Then Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo's office started Project Sunlight to share New York State information online. And last week, City Councilman Bill de Blasio jumped on the solar bandwagon with a proposed legislation to create SunlightNYC, to keep track of stimulus dollars in New York.

The Obama administration has promised transparency in stimulus spending data at Recovery.gov at the federal level (in contrast with the opacity on the TARP bill.)

A nonprofit group, OMB Watch, has compiled a summary of the transparency provisions in the legislation [pdf], and released a copy of a memo from the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, informing agency head of the transparency efforts. President Obama himself has been a longtime advocate for government transparency, and was one of the backers of the legislation that created USASpending.gov.

But SunlightNYC is part of the growing number of state and local governments who want transparency specific to their areas, preferably with downloadable raw data.

“Although we think the Obama administration has very good intentions, they are going to write some very large checks to some governors and mayors who would not be described as good government types,” said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, which is part of a watchdog coalition called Coalition for an Accountable Recovery.

More transparency at all levels. Good on Councilman de Blasio.

Governor Paterson: Follow President Obama's Lead And Let In Sunlight

by: robert.harding

Fri Feb 20, 2009 at 12:06:54 PM EST

That is why what Phillip reported earlier this morning is, as Blair Horner of NYPIRG said, "mind boggling."

It has been nearly a month since Governor David Paterson selected Kirsten Gillibrand to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat. The process was, after Gillibrand's selection, over. Yet, Governor Paterson and his office refuse to turn over information regarding that process, which includes questionnaires and responses from prospective candidates for the post.

Multiple media outlets have tried to submit Freedom of Information requests with the office only to be stonewalled and told that the information won't be released to protect the personal privacy of the candidates.

When President Barack Obama officially took office, he sent this memo to heads of executive departments and agencies. In that memo, he said the following: "My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government.  We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government."

With Governor Paterson and his office refusing to reveal such information, he is going against what the President (and our party's leader) is doing in the highest office of the land. Also, the governor and his office aren't helping the reputation of this state's government, which has notoriously lacked transparency over the years.

It is also interesting to note that if the governor's office is withholding the information in order to protect the personal privacy of the candidates, why did Sen. Gillibrand decide to disclose her own questionnaire and responses? She did redact the personal information (Social Security Number, home addresses, etc.) but left all of the questions and responses there for everyone to see.

Of course, Gillibrand has a long record of being open and honest with her constituents. She is, after all, one of the few members of Congress that posts her schedule online. She is arguably one of the most transparent members of Congress there is.

If you want to protect personal privacy, you can redact all of the information deemed personal. We do not need Social Security Numbers. We don't need home or cell phone numbers. We don't need home addresses. All we want to see is the list of candidates, the questions they were asked and the responses provided to those questions.

It is time Albany let the sunlight in. But we need leaders who are willing to be open and transparent. In order for that to happen, there needs to be someone in the Executive Mansion who is willing to step up to the plate and open the doors on his or her administration. That means Governor Paterson should be willing to be open and transparent. If he leads by that example, maybe then we will see Albany a little more open and a little more transparent. But right now, that is not the case.

Governor Paterson, it is time to be forthright with the people of New York. Release the information and let us see the contenders. Let us see our answers. If Sen. Gillibrand believed that the information provided was valuable enough to post on her campaign website, then it should be in the best interests of this state and your administration to release the responses from all the candidates who contended for this post.

And going forward, let's be a little more open and honest with the business that is being conducted in this state.

Wishing for Governor Obama

by: simonstl

Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 08:54:33 AM EST

Imagine reading this (slightly modified) in your local paper:

ALBANY - Governor Obama moved swiftly on Wednesday to impose new rules on government transparency and ethics, using his first full day in office to freeze the salaries of his senior aides, mandate new limits on lobbyists and demand that the government disclose more information.

Mr. Obama called the moves, which overturned two policies of his predecessors, "a clean break from business as usual." ... the actions were another sign of the new president's effort to emphasize an across-the-board shift in priorities, values and tone.

"For a long time now there's been too much secrecy in this city," Mr. Obama said at a swearing-in ceremony for senior officials at the Legislative Office Building, adjacent to the Capitol. He added, "Transparency and rule of law will be the touchstones of this governorship."

Obama understands the basic breakdown in American politics, I think. It's not just ideology, but trust.

The past thirty years have seen an accelerating breakdown of trust in government. Much of that is because Republicans are shouting "don't trust the government" to their followers while behaving in ways that make non-Republicans doubt all of the rest of what they're saying. However, while I'd like to say it's a Republican problem, it's far from solely their responsibility. Democrats have unfortunately also abused trust on a regular enough basis to be unforgettable.

It's an open question whether or not Obama can reverse that slide at the federal level. Rebuilding trust after it's been lost is a tremendous challenge, and redemption doesn't come easily.

At the state level, though, I fear we're not even trying. Spitzer was all about reform, but even beyond the scandal that removed him, he seemed to enjoy the cloak-and-dagger of backroom politics in ways that might even have damaged trust more severely had he stayed in office. Paterson, while I applaud his openness about the explosions coming in the state budget, seems extremely comfortable with three men in a room and the current status quo.

The same is true of our legislators, in both parties. Silver and the Assembly Democrats hand out little tokens of openness when it seems that enough people notice what an absurdly closed process they run. Senate Republicans barely even did that until they were in the minority. Their grandstand of proposing the same rules reform that the Democrats had offered in 2007 did very little - except demonstrate how resistant those with power can be to change. (The Senate Democrats now unanimously voted against their earlier proposal.)

We can't have Obama for governor for lots of reasons, I understand. We have a long ways to go to see how his efforts at the federal level change the government and citizens' trust in it.

Still, I hope our own Governor and state legislators will note that it's possible to change direction, to seek a clean break, and to work toward building broad trust rather than narrow coalitions of donors and constituencies.

I know, I know - it's a dream. One worth pursuing, though!

Three cheers for Malcolm Smith

by: simonstl

Sat Nov 01, 2008 at 21:10:56 PM EDT

I've not always been a fan of Malcolm Smith, but this is the kind of thing that makes me think a Democratic Senate could in fact be different:

He said he would reinvent the Senate's committees, which often have little discernable authority, and make them work more like committees do in Congress. He said he would move to cut the Senate majority's central staff by at least 15 percent, or roughly 100 workers. He said he would narrow the wide gap between the resources allocated to majority and minority party members for office budgets. And he would move quickly to introduce legislation to publicly finance elections, despite the state's fiscal crisis....

"It's time for New York State government to move into the 21st century," Mr. Smith said. "It would be more transparent, more participatory, from legislators to advocates to Joe Citizen."...

Under Mr. Smith's plan to change the Senate's rules, committees would have more autonomy to bring bills to the floor, and members of a standing conference committee would seek to negotiate legislation with the Assembly.

The ranking minority member of a committee could also put a bill on a committee's agenda. And Mr. Smith says he would also abolish a practice put in place by Republicans years ago that allows essentially secret voting on hostile amendments or motions to send stalled bills out of committees.

He would require committee members to attend meetings and would discontinue the practice of holding committee meetings off the Senate floor while the Senate was in session. He would also end limits on the ability of senators in the minority to use what are known as "discharge motions" to force bills to the floor.

Here's hoping that the Senate Democrats have the chance and the will to make good on these promises.

A Line in the Sand: A.11432

by: Roatti

Thu Jun 19, 2008 at 01:03:44 AM EDT

The current Superintendent of Insurance is Eric Dinallo, a Spitzer appointee.  I'm sure he is a good public servant, but he is not the issue here.  The issue is the State giving one person broad discretionary power to deny the public's access to our own government.  New York's state government is already one of, if not the most opaque in the nation; the absolute last thing we need is any legislation making it even more opaque.

There has been a lot of discussion on this site about the nature of our Democratic-controlled Assembly.  Well, here is a litmus test if I've ever seen one.  No good Democrat or democrat should ever support this bill.  You can lookup your Assemblymember here and drop them a line telling them how much you disagree with the very principles of this bill and urge them not to pass it.  Let's hope our Assembly Democrats live up the ideals of transparent and open government- this is their chance to show us where they stand.  

UPDATE:  Jeffrey Dinowitz has responded to me to say that he doubts this bill will come to the floor for a vote, but if it does, he will vote against it.  Credit where credit is due.  And he also mentioned that he reads TAP, which is a good thing.