donal brown

March 21, 2019 by donal brown In response to President Donald Trump’s repeated assaults on journalists, Democratic congressmen introduced an act to make it a federal crime to cause bodily injury to a journalist. (My Record-Journal, March 14, 2019, by Mary Ellen Godin) Just last month, as Trump incited his followers in the El Paso rally, a supporter yelled “F— the media” and shoved a BBC cameraman. The Saudi Arabia murder of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi

Congress passed two transparency reforms recently, one a success and the second a failure. The first required disclosure of campaign finance reports for U.S. Senate candidates. House candidates were required to file electronic reports. Senate candidates all chose to file paper reports delaying public access and costing the government $900,00 annually to convert the files. The second reform was aimed at stopping dark money groups from skirting Federal Election Commission guidelines that require groups spending

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) wants Congress to pass legislation to require the federal government to release details about the financial standing of thousands of political appointees. The  watchdog agency suggests releasing the appointees’ assets, debts and past salaries. The agency said the move was necessary to promote ethics in government and conflict-free leadership. (ProPublica, March 19, 2019, by Derek Kravitz) A GAO study showed that federal agencies are unable to consistently track political appointees

March 19, 2019 by donal brown Claims that releasing body cam videos of police officers would jeopardize ongoing investigations effectively blocks timely public access in cases of shootings and other uses of force. In North Carolina, the videos can only be released after a judge signs a court order.  (News & Record, March 16, 2019, by Ryan J. Foley of The Associated Press) States also employ other means to deny access including high fees and citing privacy

California Republican Devin Nunes is suing Twitter and its users for $250 million in damages, claiming that the users defamed him, with Twitter’s acquiescence, for political considerations. Nunes cited a number of tweets that accused him of criminal activities, made crude jokes about him, claimed he was voted “Most Likely to Commit Treason” in high school, and posted a cartoon of him engaging in a sexual act with Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Twitter