Take a Stroll Through the Official ***Open Government Initiative***

[quiet.american]

First, the below article has a perspective on the recent transition of transparency duties to White House Counsel Robert Bauer that doesn't read as though it were written by someone who's angling for drinks with Liz Cheney:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/08/bauer_to_assume_ethics_transpa.html">WaPo: Bauer to assume ethics, transparency responsibilities

ARTICLE CLIP:

White House Counsel Robert Bauer will assume responsibilities for lobbying, transparency, government reform and a host of other government operations issues once White House ethics adviser Norman Eisen departs for his new role as ambassador to the Czech Republic, senior administration officials confirmed Friday.

The move essentially returns things to the way they were during previous administrations, when the president's top lawyer handled such matters. But sources stressed that Bauer's assumption of the portfolio should give it more prominence thanks to his regular face time with President Obama.

END CLIP

More:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/08/bauer_to_assume_ethics_transpa.html|

Open Government Intiative



Read the official Open Government Directive:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive

Check Out Key Objectives for 2010
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/about/milestones

Take a look at the Open Government Innovations Gallery:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/innovations

Peruse the Open Government Intiative Blog:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/blog

Take 10 or 15 minutes to actually scan the Open Government Initiatives site, and it becomes clear this is an initiative that cannot be manipulated by any one individual. This initiative was put into place http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/about">from Day 1 of the Obama administration, http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/around">spans across all Federal departments, and has http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/about/milestones">measurable goals/objectives.

Each federal agency was required to, and has submitted, http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/flagship-initiatives">an Open Government Plan, and there is http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/around">already a structure in place by which each agency is publicly rated on how well they meet their required deliverables. Meanwhile, hard-working government transparency sites like http://www.recovery.gov/">Recovery.gov continue to be regularly improved upon, not least of which, by input from the public.

And now for the de rigueur, "Is it perfect? http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/foia_after_the_open_government.php">No." To my view, though, all this effort, past and ongoing, is deserving of at least an acknowledgment that the Obama administration has done a lot more than it is being given credit for to bring transparency to the government. And I haven't even mentioned the WH open roundtables, open conference calls and the super-wonk sessions that are televised on C-Span, etc.

There's a lot more sunlight here than has been acknowledged in some quarters.

If you're still here, thanks for reading!

[yowzayowzayowza]

1. It takes blind cynicism to lable this 'just like Bush'.

Tharze no shortage of that these daze.

Thx again Q.A.

:thumbsup:

[quiet.american]

2. Cheers, Yowza. Remember how lawsuits were filed just to get Cheney's meeting minutes?

Which Scalia promptly put the kabosh on, after duck-hunting with Cheney.

Memories of those days still make my blood boil.

(Something else I didn't originally mention, is that many of the departments' Open Government Plans include decreasing the necessity for FOIA requests by posting thousands of government documents online upfront.)

[mr1956]

3. Thank you for such useful information.

DU used to be my source for such information, now it has to be the BOG. Another bullet to shoot down arguments from those who won't give our President any credit for any thing.

[quiet.american]

4. Glad to be of service, Mr1956 - thanks for reading my post. nt