Here's a round-up of Public Campaign and Public Campaign Action Fund's work for the week of Aug 8-Aug 12, 2011.

Since the creation of the so called "Super Congress" as part of the debt ceiling deal, pressure for the Joint Congressional Committee to conduct their work on further deficit reduction in a transparent way has increased.

Lobbyists play a vital role in our democracy. They are an important part of keeping members of Congress knowledgeable about a variety of things—from derivatives trading to county tax issues to government reform. It is when lobbyists and their wealthy clients hand over big checks to get undue influence that we start getting involved.

Tomorrow, the Committees on Oversight and Small Business will hold a joint hearing on a draft executive order by President Obama that would require certain government contractors to disclose the money they provide to influence elections.

On Sunday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on the connections between city contracts and campaign contributions. According to their analysis 53 of the top 100 donors to city officials received contracts or special consideration from city officials. These 53 interests have donated $1.3 million to city campaigns since 2005.

While all of the elected officials in the article say there is no quid pro quo, the appearance is troublesome.

Earmarks have been a hot topic on the Hill of late, and a go-to target for debates on wasteful government spending. How do the major candidates for president stack up when it comes to these controversial spending allocations, the ethics around them, and what about the earmarking process should be changed? The Post and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, takes a look.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle isn't pleased that the high cost of campaigning and resultant concentration of power among the small percentage of the population who can make significant campaign contributions. The paper urges Eliot Spitzer to continue in his efforts at a more transparent government, and to support Clean Elections public financing for state races.

Did Sen. McConnell send Sen. Ensign to do his dirty work? The Senate has been battling over S. 223, the bill that would require electronic filing of campaign finance reports by Senators (the House already does this). Turns out the efforts to obstruct the bill may have been coming from Sen. McConnell's office the whole time.

Interesting development: Kentucky state Sen. Damon Thayer (R) has introduced a bill to increase the frequency of campaign finance disclosure reports that candidates must submit in an effort to boost transparency of campaign finances. Incidentally, Thayer is the same Senator who worked to get rid of the public financing program for gubernatorial campaigns that Kentucky had.

His rationale for supporting one measure but not the other is interesting:

Remember Senator Mitch McConnell's efforts to shield the Republican Senator who put an anonymous hold on S.223, a bill to require electronic disclosure of Senators' campaign finance reports, even though McConnell is on the record in support of transparency? Well, it's just gotten stranger.