OPEN GOVERNMENT — Sam Stein, writing in the Huffington Post, reports that the Obama transition rolled out a new version of one of its transparency tools today: an updated website that allows interested observers to more easily read and submit questions to the staff.
A few weeks ago, the President-elect's new media team put together an "Open For Questions" feature that provided a platform for citizens to query the team on relevant topics. The move was hailed by good-government groups as a nod towards inclusiveness and accountability. There were some complaints, however, as questions surrounding Obama's involvement (or lack thereof) in the Rod Blagojevich controversy were flagged by users and pushed to the bottom of popularity rankings.
(Link added) But Lynn Sweet, another Huffington contributor, faults the transition for not living up to an earlier pledge.
The Obama team, pledging the ''most open and transparent transition in history,'' gets and ''A'' for disclosing donors to the Jan. 20 inauguration and a ''F'' when it comes to revealing transition meetings with groups. Contrary to its own ''seat at the table transparency policy,'' meetings are not posted on a Web site.
