“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: Government Documents
Bloomberg – Palantir Knows Everything About You
Peter Thiel’s data-mining company is using War on Terror tools to track American citizens. The scary thing? Palantir is desperate for new customers. “Founded in 2004 by Peter Thiel and some fellow PayPal alumni, Palantir cut its teeth working for the Pentagon and the CIA in Afghanistan and Iraq. The company’s engineers and products don’t… 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
Fortune – The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders
The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders – “Though it seems unlikely, Tim Cook and Indira Jaising have something in common besides membership in Fortune’s 2018 ranking of the World’s Greatest Leaders. Cook (No. 14) is the wealthy CEO of Apple, the most valuable publicly traded company on earth; Jaising (No. 20) is an Indian lawyer who… Continue Reading
Chart on Admissibility of Electronic Evidence
Craig Ball posted a well documented chart, Admissibility of Electronic Evidence, authored by U.S. District Judge Paul Grimm and attorney Kevin Brady. Thanks to all for sharing! Continue Reading
World Economic Outlook, April 2018 Cyclical Upswing, Structural Change
World Bank: “The global economic upswing that began around mid-2016 has become broader and stronger. This new World Economic Outlook report projects that advanced economies as a group will continue to expand above their potential growth rates this year and next before decelerating, while growth in emerging market and developing economies will rise before leveling… Continue Reading
Top Management and Performance Challenges Facing Multiple Federal Agencies 2018
CIGIE Releases First-Ever Report on the Top Management and Performance Challenges Facing Multiple Federal Agencies: “Today, the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) released its first-ever report of the top management and performance challenges facing multiple federal agencies. For nearly 20 years, individual Inspectors General have created management challenges reports identifying… Continue Reading
NY AG Launches Inquiry Into Cryptocurrency “Exchanges”
“Today, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman launched the Virtual Markets Integrity Initiative, a fact-finding inquiry into the policies and practices of platforms used by consumers to trade virtual or “crypto” currencies like bitcoin and ether. As part of a broader effort to protect cryptocurrency investors and consumers, the Attorney General’s office sent letters… Continue Reading
Officials Highlight Pay for Performance, Streamlined Firing in New Management Document
Government Executive: “Just weeks after the announcement of President Trump’s management agenda, three agency leaders have put together the first roadmap for implementation of the White House’s workforce goals. In a quarterly report released last week, the Office of Personnel Management, the Defense Department and the Office of Management and Budget described some aspects of… Continue Reading
Algorithmic Impact Assessments: A Practical Framework for Public Agency Accountability
GCN: Algorithmic Impact Assessments: A Practical Framework for Public Agency Accountability, a report by the AI Now Institute, a partnership between New York University, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Partnership on AI. [h/t Pete Weiss] Why: As public agencies increasingly turn to automated processes and algorithms to make decisions, they need frameworks for… Continue Reading
NBER – The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Innovation
The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Innovation, Iain M. Cockburn, Rebecca Henderson, Scott Stern, NBER Working Paper No. 24449. Issued in March 2018. “Artificial intelligence may greatly increase the efficiency of the existing economy. But it may have an even larger impact by serving as a new general-purpose “method of invention” that can reshape the… 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
