Internet Advocacy Roundtable:
Through the Looking Glass: Government Transparency Resources for Advocacy

Bill Allison is a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation. A veteran investigative journalist and editor for nonprofit media, Bill worked for the Center for Public Integrity for nine years, where he co-authored The Cheating of America with Charles Lewis. He was also senior editor of The Buying of the President 2000 and co-editor of the New York Times bestseller The Buying of the President 2004. He edited projects on topics ranging from the role of international arms smugglers and private military companies in failing states around the world to the rise of section 527 organizations in American politics. Prior to joining the Center, Bill worked for eight years for The Philadelphia Inquirer—the last two as researcher for Pulitzer Prize winning reporters Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele.

Dan Newman is co-founder and executive director of MAPLight.org, a nonpartisan nonprofit illuminating the connection between money and politics in unprecedented ways. MAPLight.org's groundbreaking web site reveals relationships between campaign donations and legislative votes, helping citizens and communities hold their elected officials accountable. The Sunlight Foundation called MAPLight.org "a preview of the next generation of money-and-politics reporting." Dan, an entrepreneur and political organizer, is the author of three books on speech recognition software and is the founder of Say I Can, a speech recognition firm. Dan co-founded the Berkeley Fair Elections Coalition and has served as a consultant to various political and nonprofit groups, including the Center for Voting and Democracy, Israel Venture Network, and the Mental Health Association of San Francisco. He received a M.A. in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley, where he attended on a National Science Foundation Fellowship, and a B.A. in biomedical ethics from Brown University. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Marc Laitin is a principal at Wired for Change, which built CREW's GovernmentDocs.org web site. In addition to his work at Wired for Change, Marc is the treasurer of StartChange PAC and was a director of the Running for Change PAC, which organized the Run Against Bush campaign, Stop Sinclair and Concerts for Change, and raised over $700,000 from over 20,000 donors. Prior to founding Running for Change, Marc was working part-time as a high school economics teacher at a D.C. public charter school and researching and writing a high school economics textbook with Alan Krueger. Marc is a graduate of Harvard where he majored in economics. At Wired for Change, Marc focuses on providing strategic advice to clients and managing development projects.

Naomi Seligman serves as CREW's deputy director and communications director. She has worked extensively as a communications professional, developing and managing media strategies for campaigns, elected officials, and nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining CREW, Ms. Seligman was the communications director for the nonprofit media watchdog group Media Matters for America. She also has served as the communications director for the Violence Policy Center, a gun control organization, and has acted as press secretary in House and Senate offices and as director of outreach for the House Small Business Committee. Ms. Seligman received her B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Sarah Schacht is executive director and founder of Knowledge As Power, a Washington State nonprofit organization dedicated to providing equal access to the legislative process for all Americans. A Washington native with a background in political science and internet studies, Sarah seeks out simple technology solutions that meet complicated needs. A technical planner and outreach coordinator, Sarah worked on Howard Dean's campaign, and she has advised emerging campaigns and nonprofits on how to reach people and integrate affordable technology solutions. She'll speak about Knowledge As Power's launch in Washington State and how their online system helps individuals track bills and communicate with legislators effectively.

About the Internet Advocacy Roundtable
The Internet Advocacy Roundtable is a monthly forum brought to you by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. We feature in-depth discussions about digital technology strategies for advocacy and policy campaigns. We strive to help the advocacy community use digital technology more effectively and provide a gathering for those working in this space to network and learn from their peers. Our speakers are drawn from experts in the field and our audiences typically include many other experts, as well as people new to the field. The format is designed to maximize discussion time. As a result, we have consistently lived up to our reputation that our speakers will learn as much from the audience as the audience learns from the speakers. The Internet Advocacy Roundtable was launched in August 2005 and now carries on the tradition of our earlier Online Progressive Advocacy Network (OPAN) series.

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