I've blogged about the Sunlight Foundation before, and I think many bloggers interested in politics probably know about it by now.

Sunlight Foundation Announces Open House Project
Collaborative project, welcomed by Speaker Pelosi, will develop transparency recommendations for House from wide array of experts

This new initiative looks interesting and promising, and if ever implemented would be a victory for facts, archiving and accountability of people elected to represent "the people" ... as opposed to the mainstream news corps, who seem to be selected and salaried for the purpose of maintaining the status quo with a tenacity that borders on the absurd.

I can no longer keep track of the number of times I have seen in comments sections words to the effect that the blog world of links and the voices of people engaged in issues is those peoples' increasingly legitimate alternative to "the news".

It also reminds me of the phrase I saw on the Firedoglake blog back when all the documentation about the US Attorneys imbroglio was offered up.  So much documentation, so little time ... solution ?  Turn it over to the blogging community for "Open Source Congressional Investigation".

Give bloggers Capitol access
By Robert B. Bluey
April 30, 2007

This is the first article in a weekly series, exclusively in The Hill, exploring the recommendations of the Sunlight Foundation’s Open House Project, which advocates online transparency in Congress.

Members of Congress are increasingly turning to bloggers as a way to communicate about public policy. Yet these citizen journalists who cover Congress lack what most mainstream reporters in Washington take for granted: access to the U.S. Capitol.

According to the Sunlight Foundation’s Open House Project, a collaborative and bipartisan effort to increase the House of Representatives’ online transparency, Congress can take several simple steps to improve transparency and foster a new spirit of openness. Giving bloggers credentials to cover Congress would be a groundbreaking way to shed light on the inner workings of government.

The debate over bloggers and online journalists on Capitol Hill isn’t a new one. In recent years, they’ve clashed with congressional press galleries as the Internet has grown in popularity and prominence.

In the absence of a congressional press gallery for online journalists, the Periodical Press Gallery has taken on the responsibility of credentialing these individuals. However, given its history of dealing primarily with magazines and newsletters, the gallery’s rules are not well suited for news websites, citizen journalists and bloggers.

The problem isn’t necessarily resistance from politicians wanting to keep bloggers at a distance. Rather, the biggest hurdle bloggers must overcome is distrust among the Capitol Hill press corps. The House and Senate press galleries take their marching orders from mainstream journalists, who have little incentive to invite enterprising bloggers to their coveted stomping grounds.

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