SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION ASKS CITIZEN JOURNALISTS, 'WHO PUT THE SECRET HOLD ON TRANSPARENCY?'

April 19, 2007

Contact: Gabriela Schneider 202-742-1520 ext 236

WASHINGTON, DC - The Sunlight Foundation today launched a new distributed reporting project to unveil which Senator yesterday placed a secret hold on legislation that would require Senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically. Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate is only required to file these statements in paper format, which is difficult to search through and analyze.

"Filing electronically would increase transparency by making these reports more readily available to the public, and it would also save money and resources," said Executive Director Ellen Miller. "The added irony in this case is that the Senate banned secret holds in its so-called ethics legislation."

The secret hold was placed on S.223, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, which amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require Senate candidates to file election-related designations, statements, and reports in electronic form.

Sunlight asked citizen journalists to call their Senators and ask if they are responsible for the secret hold on the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act. It will post citizens' findings to its "In Broad Daylight" blog here: http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/node/2428.

Numerous websites such as Talking Points Memo http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003038.php, Instapundit http://instapundit.com/archives2/004281.php , Mark Tapscott's Copy Desk http://www.examiner.com/blogs/tapscotts_copy_desk/2007/4/18/Another-Senate-Transparency-Bill-Stopped-by-Anonymous-Secret-Hold,The David All Group http://www.davidallgroup.com/2007/04/18/are-politicians-trying-to-keep-citizens-and-transparency-out-of-the-capitol/, the Open the Government.org coalition http://www.openthegovernment.org/ and DailyKos http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/4/18/142357/051 have already joined Sunlight's call to out the Senator who is objecting to the legislation.

Founded in January, 2006, the mission of the Sunlight Foundation is to strengthen the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents. Sunlight puts information and tools in citizens' hands so they can learn more about what Congress and their elected representatives are doing. Its ultimate goal is full transparency by Congress, its Members and staff will help reduce corruption, ensure greater accountability, and foster public trust in this vital institution of democracy.

Since its founding, the Sunlight Foundation has issued nearly $2 million to groups to digitize existing information about Congress and those that use Internet technology to further Sunlight's goals. Additionally, the Sunlight Foundation has fostered its own projects such as Congresspedia, OpenCongress.org and Congress' Family Business.

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