Strange Blogfellows

Partisan blogs unite for government transparency.

By James Skoufis, George Washington University
Wednesday October 11, 2006

“Foley Folly Fallout,” “Hastert Vigil: House Leadership still Getting Along as well as Ever (Not),” “Lincoln Chafee is Toast,” “Schwarzenegger Terminates Angelides.” These are a small, yet revealing, sample of post titles on two major political blogs—one progressive and one conservative. Blogs have a reputation of being ultra-partisan, which is why politicos were surprised to see the left and the right unite behind the Obama-Coburn bill that was introduced in late August. Intended to create an online database that would allow citizens to search and examine all federal government contracts, grants, loans, and special-interest spending, it was hailed as “the dawn of Government 2.0.” Its passage was assumed to be a foregone conclusion.

But a secret hold—an old, infrequently used parliamentary maneuver—was put on the bill, denying it an up-or-down vote. The left and right alike were outraged that a senator had secretly and effectively brought the bill to a halt, and bloggers of all stripes worked together to sniff out the rat. Most notably, the right-leaning blog porkbusters.org and the left-leaning blog TPMmuckraker.com organized a swarming attack on the switchboards of Capitol Hill. Bloggers and blog readers called their senators’ offices and asked them bluntly if they were the senator who had placed the secret hold on the bill. One by one, N.Z. Bear of porkbusters.org and Justin Rood of TPMmuckraker.com removed senators’ names from their list of suspects. Within 24 hours, they had narrowed the field down to four suspects, but it was not until two weeks later that the King of Pork himself, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, admitted that he had placed the secret hold.

Stevens owned up only because of intense pressure from the blogosphere and, following in its footsteps, the traditional media. It was later revealed that Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia had also placed a secret hold on the bill, but like Stevens, he quickly dropped it after intense public pressure. Thanks in part to the work of the bloggers, Government 2.0 passed on Sept. 14. The database should be available to the public by next year.

To discuss the implications of bloggers’ first successful attempt to influence federal legislation, the right-leaning Heritage Foundation hosted a panel discussion on Oct. 4. The speakers were Tim Chapman, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Media and Public Policy, Bill Allison, senior fellow of the Sunlight Foundation, N.Z. Bear of porkbusters.com, Rebecca Carr of Cox Newspapers’ Washington Bureau, Justin Rood of TPMmuckracker.com, and Mark Tapscott, editorial page editor of the Washington Examiner and former director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Media and Public Policy.

Carr was one of the first in the mainstream media to pick up on the blogosphere’s efforts to solve the “Capitol Hill who-done-it,” as she put it, saying she was “amazed at the power of the blogs.” She pointed out that corruption and secret dealings are normal in Congress—from earmarks, to passing legislation in the dead of night, to secret holds.

Carr said it made sense that people were outraged that a “no-brainer” piece of good governance legislation had gotten held up in such a secret fashion.

In response to Carr, Bear said the political power of the blogs was due less to the bloggers than to their committed readers. He noted that he did not call a single senate office and that regular citizens—his Porkbusters readers—did all of the legwork.

Despite their usual ideological differences, the panelists were in agreement regarding almost everything about the “Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006.” Chapman pointed out, however, that there might be more than meets the eye in analyzing why the left and right coalesced around Government 2.0. He believed that the right supported the bill because they thought it would trim government spending, while the left supported it in hopes it would further expose government corruption. Bear responded by saying it was cynical to think that everything is partisan. It was clear, he said, that the bloggers themselves did not perceive the issue to be bipartisan, but rather nonpartisan. He went on to add that ousting the secret senator was as “fun” as it was outrageous.

The question, “What next?” was then posed to the panel. After a long pause, Tapscott took a stab at an answer. He hoped that more action could be taken to reduce corruption and increase government transparency, such as mandatory daily postings of schedules for all members of Congress. Rood added that there is much work to be done in revamping the sluggish and inefficient Freedom of Information Act as well as the government’s archaic lobbying reports.

Carr added that government “secrecy is at an all-time unprecedented height” and bloggers “have a critical role in keeping our politicians honest.”

In response to accusations that the Bush administration has done little to promote transparency, Tapscott was quick to defend conservative ideology. He whipped back that “with big government you get big secrets” and made the curious comparison that Bush’s actions are less draconian than those of President Abraham Lincoln when he suspended habeas corpus and censored newspapers during the Civil War.

Tapscott commented that today’s blogs are to the future what the Ford Model T was to the modern automotive industry. The technology has come far, but it still has a long way to go. That was an astonishing statement, considering there are already more than 50 million blogs, and that number has been doubling about ever six months for three years. It would be foolish to dismiss the potential for blogs to affect real change in Washington—because they already have.

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