FOSS, govtech, and open data.
The ethics records that the attorney general’s office refuses to give me didn’t present an obstacle for Gov. Bob McDonnell’s office. Here are the records of when the employees of that office—including Gov. McDonnell—have received their legally-mandated ethics training: Gov. McDonnell’s Office Ethics Training Records (PDF) Gov. McDonnell’s Office Ethics Training Records (Text) (Because employees …
Continue reading “Ethics training in the governor’s office.”
Last year, I wrote here that I was working on an open-source campaign finance parser for Virginia State Board of Elections data. Thanks to the good work of the folks at the SBE, who are making enormous advances in opening up their data, I’ve been able to make some great progress on this recently. That …
This time last week, I got a surprise in the mail. A couple of weeks prior, I had sent requests to both the governor and the attorney general’s offices for some pretty boring records—a list of everybody in their offices who had received the ethics training prescribed under the law. These records are explicitly FOIAable, …
Continue reading “Cuccinelli’s self-inflicted FOIA gunshot wound.”
Many months ago, an acquaintance was invited to join a small gathering at the estate of erstwhile Charlottesville-area millionaire Patricia Kluge. Kluge was inviting some women over to a brunch at Albemarle House, an event at which the honored guest was Virginia’s first lady, Maureen McDonnell. Unbeknownst to the invitees, the host was teetering on …
Continue reading “Make money from home! (Even if your home is the governor’s mansion.)”
Since creating Richmond Sunlight and Virginia Decoded, I’ve been building up a public trove of datasets about Virginia government: legislative video, the court system’s definitions of legal terms, court rulings, all registered dangerous dogs, etc. But they’re all scattered about on different websites. A couple of years ago, I slapped together a quick site to …
Today was a big day for Senator Henry Marsh. The legislator of twenty years took a rare day off during the Virginia Senate’s 46-day session, to attend President Barack Obama’s second-term inauguration in Washington D.C. For the 79-year-old black civil rights lawyer, attending a black president’s inauguration on Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday is perhaps …
When a candidate is described as “divisive,” generally it’s intended to mean that while his own party loves him, the other party can’t stand him. In what’s shaping up to be a race between Terry McAuliffe and Ken Cuccinelli for the Virginia governorship, there are two wildly divisive candidates who are perhaps more divisive within …
Continue reading “Neither Cuccinelli nor McAuliffe can win. And yet one of them must.”
A press release from Gov. Bob McDonnell’s office one year ago contained this quote: If we’re going to lead America’s economic recovery, we have to remember that small business, not big government, creates jobs. That’s a familiar refrain, heard often during the recent election, most frequently uttered by people seeking a job leading that very …
Continue reading “Government can’t create jobs. Except when McDonnell does it.”
Barack Obama reelected by an overwhelming electoral vote. Both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan lost their home states. All the rah-rah-rape U.S. Senate Republicans defeated. George Allen defeated by Tim Kaine. Scott Brown defeated by Elizabeth Warren. Tommy Thompson defeated by Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate. Gay marriage approved …
Continue reading “What’s next for the Republican Party after last night’s many defeats?”
A lot of people have been asking me what the deal is with the two proposed constitutional amendments that we Virginians will be presented with Tuesday. Here’s a brief explanation of each. Amendment 1: Eminent Domain Shall Section 11 of Article I (Bill of Rights) of the Constitution of Virginia be amended (i) to require …
Continue reading “On the proposed constitutional amendments.”