“The Campaign Finance Institute is pleased to release a groundbreaking new tool, “CFI’s Historical Database of State Campaign Finance Laws”. The database covers all of the states’ campaign finance laws every two years since 1996. It is designed for everything from interactive and visualized lookups to downloadable datasets. Anyone with a serious interest in politics is bound to have made, heard, or wondered about claims to the effect that the laws governing money in politics “make a difference”. These claims may be about who runs for office, how they campaign, who wins, how they govern, or what policies come out in the end. But until now it has been impossible to evaluate most of these claims properly. You cannot really understand a law’s effects unless you can compare jurisdictions with different laws to themselves and each other over time..”
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Category Archives: Congress
Ban on CDC gun violence research persists
BuzzFeed: The Government’s Two-Decade Ban On Studying Gun Violence Was Supposed To End. It Hasn’t. “In March, Congress gave CDC the green light to study the causes of gun violence. One month later there is no sign of that work starting, and there is little research on what causes America’s high gun death rates…The federal… Continue Reading
TIME – 100 Most Influential People of 2018
The 100 Most Influential People of 2018 [Searchable List] – “TIME’s annual list of the world’s most influential people is a designation of individuals whose time, in our estimation, is happening right now.” Thoughts about each individual on the list are written by a wide range of iconic individuals who likewise have been pioneers in… Continue Reading
Visualizing the US congress – updated April 2018
Vicky Chuqiao Yang, Northwestern University: “This is a interactive visualization I made of the congress members’ ideology positions, reduced to 2 dimensions, using the DW-NOMINATE method. This visualiztaion is developed as part of the IDEAS Focus Summer School on Data Visualization at Northwestern University. How to use this visulaization: Each circle represents a congress member… Continue Reading
GAO: EPA Administrator Pruitt Broke Law in Buying $43K Private Phone Booth
Summary – “Section 710 of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017 (section 710) prohibits an agency from obligating an amount in excess of $5,000 to furnish, redecorate, purchase furniture for, or make improvements for the office of a presidential appointee during the period of appointment without prior notification to the appropriations committees… Continue Reading
CRS – Regulatory Reform 10 Years After the Financial Crisis
Via FAS – Regulatory Reform 10 Years After the Financial Crisis: Systemic Risk Regulation of Non-Bank Financial Institutions. Jay B. Sykes, Legislative Attorney. April 12, 2018. “When large, interconnected financial institutions become distressed, policymakers have historically faced a choice between (1) a taxpayer-funded bailout, and (2) the destabilization of the financial system—a dilemma that commentators… Continue Reading
CRS – Data, Social Media, and Users: Can We All Get Along?
CRS INSIGHT – Data, Social Media, and Users: Can We All Get Along? April 4, 2018 (IN10879). “In March 2018, media reported that voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica had exceeded Facebook’s data use policies by collecting data on millions of Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica did this by working with a researcher to gain access to the… Continue Reading
The Smart Grid: Status and Outlook
CRS report via FAS – The Smart Grid: Status and Outlook. Richard J. Campbell, Specialist in Energy Policy. April 10, 2018. “The electrical grid in the United States comprises all of the power plants generating electricity, together with the transmission and distribution lines and systems that bring power to end-use customers. The “grid” also connects… Continue Reading
Nearly Two-Thirds of Young Americans Fearful About Future of Democracy in America
Harvard Institute of Politics – Youth Poll: “A new national poll of America’s 18-to 29-year-olds by Harvard’sInstitute of Politics (IOP), located at the Kennedy School of Government, finds that nearly two-thirds (64%) of young Americans have more fear than hope about the future of democracy in America. For the first time, the Harvard Public Opinion… Continue Reading
Keyword searchable transcript of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Hearing on Data Privacy and Protection
C-SPAN video and keyword searchable text – Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg Hearing on Data Privacy and Protection. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, testified before a joint hearing by the Senate Judiciary & Commerce Committees on access to user’s data, April 12,10, 2018. See also – Transcript via Bloomberg Government available on the Wasington Post… Continue Reading
CRS – Statutory Interpretation: Theories, Tools, and Trends
Statutory Interpretation: Theories, Tools, and Trends. Valerie C. Brannon, Legislative Attorney, April 5, 2018.”In the tripartite structure of the U.S. federal government, it is the job of courts to say what the law is, as Chief Justice John Marshall announced in 1803. When courts render decisions on the meaning of statutes, the prevailing view is… Continue Reading
Deck – Why the Age of Disruption May Usher in an Era of Reform
Mehlman Castagnetti Rosen & Thomas: CONTENTS Q2 2018 THESIS & CONTENTS: Revolutionary Tools Enable Revolutionary Times – Reform movements succeed when the methods, motivation & moment converge. We are reaching such a time. [31 pages slide deck] THE METHODS Revolutionary Tools Enable Revolutionary Times; THE MOTIVATION Why Citizens Increasingly Demand Change; THE MOMENT New Leaders… Continue Reading
