CQ ($ required) posted a revealing timeline of Congress' attempts at transparency, generally showing how it lags behind in opening up to the public.

The Senate seems especially resistant to its public role. It took the Senate five years to finally open its proceedings to the public in 1794.  Seven years after the House began televising its proceedings - and 36 years after the first televised presidential debate - the Senate opened up to C-SPAN.  And today, the Senate still does not require campaign finance reports to be filed electronically.

In some cases private entities have taken open government into their own hands, in this case charging a fee to citizens to view public records:

But the official congressional record-keepers still maintain those reports on paper in a basement room.

Finally, congressional leaders resisting greater transparency should remember this:

 

This is time for change in Washington.  Not just in Washington, the capital, but in Washington, DC, the city. This is the moment to finally bring 580,000 Washingtonians into our democracy.

The DC Voting Rights bill has demonstrated majority support in both the House and Senate.  In the Senate, where it was stalled by a filibuster, there may now be up to 64 votes - more than enough to break a filibuster.

Congress needs to bring this issue to a vote.  The new Obama White House needs to tell Congress this is a priority.

A symbolic step by the new president would be make sure his presidential limousine has the real DC license plate (pictured), not the generic plates Bush ordered.

Barack Obama knows the right thing to do.  As Senator, he said:

Just got back from a rally on Capitol Hill for DC voting rights.  A good crowd on a beautiful fall day, literally in the shadow of the Capitol. 

It's Veterans' Day and a number of DC vets spoke, including one about to go off to Afghanistan.  They spoke of serving their country proudly, but having no voice in decisions to go to war.

In a crowd filled with Obama supporters thrilled with the new President and a newly-empowered Congress, no one was taking for granted that this 200+ year struggle would end next year -- they'll still be fighting, Demanding the Vote.

And, as always at DC Vote events, a few special "performances":  DC Vote staffer Erica Spelling's fabulous voice singing the national anthem, a young poet from Ann Arbor reciting his own DC voting rights poem and, as I walked away, hearing Joe L. Da Vessel's "Demand the Vote" go-go song.

Thanks to the 23rd Amendment, passed in 1961, Americans living in the District of Columbia have a right to vote for President of the United States.

But for more than 200 years, they have had no vote in Congress.  Tomorrow, they can vote for a nonvoting Delegate in the House.  And they can vote for shadow Senator and Rep - meaningless positions.

There is majority support in both the House and Senate for legislation to give DC a vote in Congress.  Following an election with expected record voter participation, a great example of democracy at work, the next Congress and the next President needs to take democracy one more step and give DC the vote in the first 100 days of the next Congress.

Update: I voted last night in-person/absentee/early voting.  And with my non-campaign shirt on. This satellite polling place seemed ready for heavy turnout - several pollworkers, a large room with seating, take-a-number system (you have to wait to have absentee application checked by phone).  They said the room was filled most of the day.  Too bad about the mystery voting machines and the ID requirement in Virginia.  Read more about some problems with voting in Virginia and other states in our report.

You would think the VA Board of Elections has better things to do.  After all, there are lots of paperless electronic voting machines in the state.  No recounts!  They require ID to vote - my 86-year-old mother spent half a day in DMV to get hers.  The state essentially asks you to lie to vote early.

But, according to the WaPo:

What if I show up in a campaign t-shirt just as the polls are set to close?  Will they send me back for another shirt, effectively banning me from voting?  Or, will I be able to vote shirtless?

This Senate this week is considering a simple, 4-page Administration proposal to fix Wall Street and the nation's finances.  Here's another simple proposal - file campaign finance reports electronically.  As a NY Times editorial says, "Just Click Send":

The Republican Convention seems to be all about Alaska. Amid all the other "stuff", I noticed that the state's population is only about 680,000. They have a voting representative in the US House and two Senators (though they're all in some legal/ethics trouble). Back here in DC, population about 580,000, there's only a non-voting delegate in the US House (she's not in any trouble at all).

So, I was pleased to hear that there is a champion for DC voting rights inside the convention hall. Former Reagan National Security Advisor Robert "Bud" McFarlane has reportedly been lobbying Republican delegates to support voting representation in Congress for DC.

Keep it going, Bud!

This post is from our interns, Tristan Schulhof and Jamie McConkey:

On Thursday, August 14th, Common Cause International director Lauren Coletta hosted a delegation of Iraqi students in order to discuss everything from politics to cowboys. She invited interns Jana Kwaji, Jamie McConkey and Tristan Schulhof to join in on the dialogue.

... their account of everyday life in Iraq since 2003 was truly striking and, frankly, a little humbling.

One student told us how her life had become defined by the security imperatives which come with sectarian violence. "I wake up, I go to school, I come home and do not stay out" she said regretfully. Another spoke of the decline in violence over the past two years. "In 2006 I would hear several explosions a day. There are far fewer now".

We found it surprising that there was a general support for the presence of American and coalition troops in the country.

the full post is here: