Common Sense Taxpayer Scorecard - from
Taxpayers for Common Sense & TCS Action, "an independent taxpayer
organization that works to cut government waste by reaching out to taxpayers from all
political perspectives."
FirstGov.Gov
- "an easy-to-search, free-access website designed to
give you a centralized place to find information from local, state,
and U.S. Government Agency websites."
Votenet
- transcripts, opposition research,
contact information for state and federal legislators, and free campaign software, web
sites, discussion forums and email for candidates.
State Fact Sheets
- information
on population, per-capita income, earnings per job, poverty rate, total number of jobs,
unemployment rate, percent employment change, farm and farm related jobs, top export
commodities, farm characteristics, and farm financial indicators. From the US Dept. of
Agriculture
Stateline.org -
state-by-state information and news articles on state and local
politics and policy. Recommended
StateSearch
- A "service of the
National Association of State Information Resource Executives [that] is designed to serve
as a topical clearinghouse to state government information on the Internet."
Congressional Deskbook By Michael L. Koempel and Judy Schneider
Contributing Authors: Eugene Boyd, Peggy Garvin, Bill Heniff Jr., Henry Hogue
The comprehensive guide to Congress, clearly describing the legislative and congressional budget processes in 15 chapters that discuss all aspects of Congress.
Directory of the members of the US Senate and the US House of
Representatives, with color photos, and fold-out map of
Capitol Hill.
Updated annually.
Congressional Operations Poster,"
Information-packed 2-sided, color poster with select sections from the Congressional Deskbook. Back includes federal budget process flowchart and budget process glossary.
"Big Government," by Ev
Ehrlich, hardcover (Warner Books 1998). "In the spirit of 'Wag the Dog', and with
tongue planted firmly in cheek, a former Clinton Administration official pens an
uproarious and wicked satire of the American political process."
"United States Government Internet Manual," by Peggy Gravin (Bernan Press, 2007).
"A solid, thorough, accessibly organized reference book of World Wide Web sites corresponding to countless institutions of the American Government, as well as state and local government information, and a special section of government information for numerous nations around the world from Albania to Zimbabwe. Solid, detailed descriptions of what each governmental web site has to offer as well as an index for quick and easy reference make Government Information On The Internet a first-class reference for anyone who has to look up specific facts relatively quickly." - Midwest Book Review
"You Won - Now What?
How Americans Can Make Democracy Work from City Hall to the
White House," by Taegan D. Goddard
and Christopher Riback.
"'Americans entrust their
government to novices,' Riback and Goddard remind us. 'Every
November they elect a bunch of people who have never done
this before.' You Won, Now What? offers practical tips on
the task of governance, drawing upon real-life examples to
illustrate how elected officials can do an effective job in
their first--and in some ways most critical--days on the
job. Their scope is broad--the authors consider state and
local governments to be just as important as the federal
government in maintaining quality of life for citizens--but
the case studies keep the book from sliding into
generalizations." Available for purchase in
hardcover (Scribner, 1998) or
paperback (Simon & Schuster, 1999)
"Washington,"
by
Meg Greenfield
[A] timeless classic on the
ways and mores of our nation's capitol. With Washington,
the illustrious longtime editorial page editor of The
Washington Post wrote an instant classic, a sociology of
Washington, D.C., that is as wise as it is wry. Greenfield,
a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for commentary, wrote the
book secretly in the final two years of her life. This title is available for purchase in
paperback
(PublicAffairs,2002)
(Title descriptions are from Amazon.com unless otherwise indicated.)
Capitol Learning Audio Courses
