| Californians Aware

Posted by Terry Francke, General Counsel | Jul 31, 2008 | Legal Issue: Open Government | 1 |

The Sunlight Foundation reports that at least 76 Congressional lawmakers have disclosed their fiscal
year 2009 earmark requests online; 46 more so far have foregone earmarks for
fiscal year 2009, while 10 (none in California so far) said they will not
disclose their earmark requests.

Californians listed as foregoing earmarks are Congressmen Campbell,
Nunes and Waxman; those who have disclosed them so far are Baca, Billbray,
Bono, Calvert, Eshoo, Honda, Hunter, Issa, McCarthy, McNerney, Tauscher and
Woolsey.

No other members of the
California delegation, including the two senators, have been asked so far;
anyone can ask them, post the responses here to help complete the survey, and get links to the actual disclosures to date.

About The Editor

Terry Francke, General Counsel

Terry Francke has a 39-year history of helping journalists, citizens and public officials understand and use their First Amendment and open government rights. With CalAware, Francke has authored comprehensive and authoritative guidebooks to California law on access to government meetings and public records and the news gathering and publication rights of journalists. Focusing on these issues in public forum law, he supervises CalAware's legislative and litigation initiatives; conducts workshops on legal compliance; helps design public records audits; supports local sunshine ordinance drafting efforts; writes CalAware Today, a blog on current developments and proposals in the law and best practices; and answers countless queries by phone and e-mail from citizens, journalists, public officials and employees, and lawyers. Francke previously served 14 years as executive director and general counsel to the California First Amendment Coalition, after a 10-year post as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association. He has served as an advisory panel member to the National Center on Courts and the Media; taught journalism law at the Department of Communication at Stanford University; and served as an expert contributor to the 1994 major revisions to the Ralph M. Brown Act and the 2004 ballot proposition making open government a basic right of citizens under the California Constitution. Francke is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a 1979 graduate of McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. Prior to his legal career, Francke worked as a weekly newspaper editor and in military and local government public affairs positions.

1 Comment

Nisha Thompson on August 4, 2008 at 4:07 pm

Thanks for posting about our earmark project. 76 lawmakers is no where near enough people who disclose their earmarks. This measure can make some of the budget process transparent and accountable.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions
Nisha Thompson
Online Organizer and Outreach Coordinator
Sunlight Foundation
nthompson(at)sunlightfoundation(dot)com
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