*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://DoWire.Org ***
To access links, see Steven Clift's blog: http://dowire.org/notes/?p=305 Post: Rhode Island launches eDemocracy Portal, NY AG Candidate calls for digital sunlight Check out Rhode Island Government : eDemocracy as reported by the Providence Business News: eDemocracy at RI.gov "seeks to enhance democracy and bring the citizens of Rhode Island closer to their government,? RI.gov�s news release said. The site provides online tools that make it easy to locate elected officials, obtain information about candidates, register to vote, find a polling place, obtain absentee ballot information or track legislation, among other things. Its goals are to break down the barriers between the government and citizens of the Ocean State by providing information and services; to help citizens understand the democratic process; to encourage citizen participation in government; and to provide communication, access and accountability. Also of note are the e-democracy related campaign promises of Andrew Cuomo, candidate for Attorney General in New York: ... Project Sunlight will promote government-wide disclosure by collecting, standardizing and publishing information that is now scattered and difficult to access in one easy-to-use, easy-to-search database. This initiative will be key to transforming the culture of corruption to a culture of integrity, openness and honesty. It will both prevent abuses and provide citizens with a mechanism to detect some of those that do occur. Project Sunlight: A Unified and Improved Database of Government Information -- Project Sunlight will integrate the disparate data provided by the New York State Board of Elections Campaign Finance Database, the New York Lobbying database, the Legislative Retrieval Service Database, and the State Contracts Database into a single easy-to-access, easy-to-search website that connects the data so it makes sense to voters. The website will allow the public to easily find a vote on any given subject along with campaign contributions, lobbying activity, and state contract awards. -- Project Sunlight will also improve the quality of information currently provided by those data bases. For example, it will eliminate procedural barriers to accessing information (such as the need to use the Freedom of Information Law to get data on state contractors). It will also end the practice of special "fee-for-access" services, such as e-mail alerts, bill filings, and early listings of new legislation, sold by the Legislative Retrieval Service. Right now we know lobbyists have special access to politicians; they shouldn't have special access to legislative information as well. -- Cuomo will also work to integrate other local data bases into project sunlight, such as New York City's campaign finance data base, and will propose legislation to support counties and local governments to create their own watchdog databases which can be integrated into project sunlight. *** Democracies Online Newswire - http://DoWire.Org *** To comment/for links: http://dowire.org/notes/?p=305 To network: http://groups.dowire.org Submit posts: http://dowire.org/submit Member profile for Steven: http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift ----------------------------------------- Group home for Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail: http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/newswire Replies go to members of Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail with all posts on this topic here: http://groups.dowire.org/topic/141900 For digest version or to leave Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail, email [email protected] with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*. Newswire - Steven Clift's blog posts by e-mail is hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
