Open the Government (OTG) is a coalition of left-of-center organizations that promote various changes to open records and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) laws, as well as left-of-center racial preference policies. The group was founded in 2008 and has operated campaigns criticizing the federal government’s counter-terrorism and surveillance programs. The group has also supported executive actions promoting critical-race-theory-influenced racial equity policies enacted by the Biden administration.

In 2022, the group folded into the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and became a program of that organization. The group has led several campaigns concerning various election policies and procedures and has supported left-of-center election administration policy through the Declaration of American Democracy coalition. ^{1 2 3}

Background

Open the Government was founded in 2003 and has lobbied for changes to federal policies around record retention and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure policies. The group has often publicized documents obtained by FOIA requests that led to criticism of Republican presidential administrations. During the Trump administration, the group publicized documents that it used to criticize then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and the Trump administration Department of Health and Human Services’ handling of COVID-19. ⁴

The organization also promoted the Biden administration’s 2021 executive order regarding “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities” and operated a project titled “Liberty and Justice for All” to promote such policies. ⁵

Partners

Listed partners of Open the Government include the American Library Association, American Oversight, the Association of Research Libraries, Black Box Voting, Californians Aware Campaign for Accountability, Center for American Progress, Cause of Action Institute, Center for Media and Democracy, Center for Democracy and Technology, Center for Public Integrity, Common Cause, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, OpenSecrets (Center for Responsive Politics), and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). ⁶

Steering Committee

Members of the Open the Government Steering committee have included representatives from Taxpayers for Common Sense, the Bauman Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the League of Women Voters, the American Enterprise Institute, Fair Count, the ACLU National Security Project, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Members of the OTG steering committee were invited to join a similar advisory committee within the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) upon POGO’s acquisition of OTG. ⁷

Merger with POGO

In 2022 it was announced that Open the Government would be folded into the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group focused on similar government accountability and open records issues as OTG. While POGO claims to be nonpartisan, it has accepted significant funding from left-of-center funders including the Proteus Fund, the Open Society Policy Center, and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Democracy Fund. ^{8 9}

The press release announcing the acquisition stated that POGO has been a member of the OTG coalition since OTG was founded in 2003 and that OTG would continue as a coalition operated by POGO. The press release also stated that as “an anti-racist organization, POGO is committed to developing reforms that target the corruption and abuse of power in our federal government that perpetuates racial inequalities” and praised OTG’s work to “address systemic racism.” ¹⁰

As part of the acquisition, three OTG steering committee members joined the POGO board of directors including Jeanine Abrams McLean of Fair Count, Hina Shamsi of the ACLU National Security Project, and Virginia Kase Solomon of the League of Women Voters. ¹¹

Declaration for American Democracy

Open the Government is a member of the Declaration for American Democracy, a coalition of left-leaning activist groups that advocates for a series of governmental and electoral administration policy changes. The coalition supports proposed federal legislation that would enact several left-leaning policy priorities surrounding elections including enacting automatic voter registration and placing restrictive regulations on political campaign-related speech acts. The organization is a project of Public Citizen Foundation, a left-of-center advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader. ¹²

1. “What We Do.” Open the Government. Accessed Via Wayback Machine February 23, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20220818075247/https://www.openthegovernment.org/what-we-do/
2. “About.” Declaration for American Democracy. Accessed February 1, 2023. https://declarationforamericandemocracy.org/about/
3. pogo.org/press/release/2022/open-the-government-will-join-the-project-on-government-oversight
4. “Creating Accountability.” Open the Government. Accessed Via Wayback Machine February 23, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20220818065932/https://www.openthegovernment.org/creating-accountability/
5. “Racial Equity and Accountability.” Open the Government. Accessed Via Wayback Machine February 23, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20220818074256/https://www.openthegovernment.org/racial-equity-and-accountability/
6. ^[1] “List of Partners.” Open the Government. Accessed Via Wayback Machine February 23, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20220905192904/https://www.openthegovernment.org/list-of-partners/?sort=alpha
7. ^[1] “Steering Committee.” Open the Government. Accessed Via Wayback Machine February 23, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20220818072150/https://www.openthegovernment.org/steering-committee/
8. Greenfield, Daniel. “Kavanaugh Accuser’s Lawyer Is Vice Chair Of Soros Funded Org Opposing Kavanaugh | Frontpage Mag”. Frontpage Mag. 2018. https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/271357/kavanaugh-accusers-lawyer-vice-chair-org-opposing-daniel-greenfield
9. “Open the Government Will Join the Project On Government Oversight.” Project on Government Oversight. July 26, 2022. Accessed February 23, 2023. www.pogo.org/press/release/2022/open-the-government-will-join-the-project-on-government-oversight
10. “Open the Government Will Join the Project On Government Oversight.” Project on Government Oversight. July 26, 2022. Accessed February 23, 2023. www.pogo.org/press/release/2022/open-the-government-will-join-the-project-on-government-oversight
11. “Open the Government Will Join the Project On Government Oversight.” Project on Government Oversight. July 26, 2022. Accessed February 23, 2023. www.pogo.org/press/release/2022/open-the-government-will-join-the-project-on-government-oversight
12. “About.” Declaration for American Democracy. Accessed February 23, 2023. https://declarationforamericandemocracy.org/about/