- Mar 20, 2008 Wired : Stanford Law Professor Larry Lessig Bets 'Wikipedia' Approach Will Transform Congress
- Mar 20, 2008 Sunlight Foundation : Mr. Lessig Comes to Washington
- Web site : Change-Congress.org
Change Congress Principles
Change Congress is a national movement to end corruption in America's congress. We're organizing citizens to push candidates to make four simple commitments:
1. No money from lobbyists or PACs
Congresspeople should be beholden to citizens, not special interests. By committing not to accept money from lobbyists or PACs, candidates give us confidence that their votes won't be swayed by big money. This pledge was most prominently advanced by Senator Edwards in his Presidential campaign. To read more, click here.
2. Vote to end earmarks
Earmarks allow congresspeople to explicitly decide who should get the money our government spends. Because of the earmark economy, money that is supposed to go to our schools, our soldiers, and our citizens is instead diverted to political donors and pork-barrel projects like the "Bridge to Nowhere". We can't clean up Congress until we end this blatant system of corruption. Republicans have recently pushed prominently for changes such as these. To learn more, click here or here.
3. Support publicly-financed campaigns
It's not enough to just push particular candidates to stay out of the system of corruption; we have to reform the system itself. Publicly- financed campaigns will stop the cycle of campaign finance reform loopholes and ensure that big money stays out of Congress forever. Public financing has been supported by both Republicans and Democrats. For prominent campaigns, see here and here.
4. Support reform to increase Congressional transparency
Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and we would all benefit from a cleaner Congress if more of its proceedings, and the proceedings of its members, were public. This pledge calls for changes in the law and rules of Congress to get all members to be more public about meetings and contacts, including changing the rules so lawmakers post weekly updates of their campaign contributions, meetings with registered lobbyist, their latest earmark requests and significant changes in their personal wealth. To learn more, click here.
Change-Congress.org Interactive Map
On the Change-Congress.org Google map mashup, click on a congressional district for info and a link that points to OpenSecrets.org.
- Open Secrets : Marcy Kaptur
Related Projects
The Sunlight Foundation maintains the following projects :
- Where Are They Now? - Former Congressional Staffers head through the Revolving Door on to K Street.
- Punch Clock Map - Putting congressional transparency on the map
- Earmark Watch - Bringing Citizen Oversight to Congressional Spending
- Wiki the Vote - Giving constituents the ability to report on candidates running for the House and Senate
- The OpenHouse Project - Working to identify areas where Congress can open up and improve access to relevant and timely information.
- What's McConnell Hiding? - Help us reveal which anonymous senator blocked a bill to create more transparency in the Senate.
- OpenCongress - Bringing together official government information with news and blog coverage to give you the real story behind what's happening in Congress.
- LOUIS - is the beginning of a comprehensive, completely indexed and cross-referenced depository of federal documents.
