June 7, 2005

Live Blogging

It's 2:18 p.m. and I'm sitting outside at Bongo Java with a group of Tennessee bloggers along with Lawrence Reed, president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy; Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research; and New York Times reporter Jason DeParle. We're discussing issues of open government, public policy, and blogging. There's also a photographer here shooting for the NYT.

UPDATE: Blake Wylie was there too, and live-blogged it. Matt White also was there and has a full report on how the Mackinac Center and the Tennessee Center for Policy Research are working together to bring to Tennessee a program similar to Mackinac's "Michigan Votes" program that provides the public with thorough summaries for every bill and amendment introduced in the General Assembly, a searchable database that includes EVERY vote taken in the General Assembly, email alerts when a bill covering a topic of their interest is introduced, voting records connected to a campaign finance database so citizens can see if a donation might have influenced a legislator's vote (naw! not in Tennessee!), a report showing legislators' attendance record, and powerful search engines that allow citizens to find bills easily.

TCPR needs to raise funds to help built and sustain a similar service here in Tennessee. You can help them out here.