For all you fellow privatization nerds out there, if you're out there, here's an interesting paper on what's called "contracting-in," or when government decides to do in-house something that it once contracted out. Apparently this has been happening quite frequently on the local level, as public managers decide that sometimes contracting out is wasteful and doesn't achieve the goals of reducing costs and encouraging innovation like it was supposed to.

Yesterday, the House voted overwhelmingly (411-8) to pass the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 -- a new set of lobbying and ethics reforms of broad and, in some instances, unprecedented scope. Never before has Congress sought to require earmarks disclosure by law, for example. OMB Watch has commented frequently on this bill, most recently here, here, and here. And today, OMB Watch issued a press release urging final passage and further reforms down the road.

Today, the Democratic leadership in Congress released their long-awaited compromise lobbying and ethics bill - The Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 (text of the legislation). The bill is 107 pages long, but already there has been some criticism of changes to the bill, particularly the earmark disclosure sections (see Mark Tapscott's reaction and the Porkbusters blog for a sampling). Two Senators, Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jim DeMint (R-SC) - whose amendment to the bill earlier this year on earmark disclosure greatly strengthen the bill - have also posted disappointing reactions. At first glance it does appear the final version of the bill is not as strong (i.e. transparent) as the original and it is unclear why those changes were adopted at this point in the debate. DeMint has announced he will offer an amendment during final consideration of the bill to "restore real earmark reform." It's yet to be seen whether that amendment will be adopted of if this version is the best the House and Senate will be able to do this year.

After former head of the IRS Mark Everson announced in April he would be leaving to head up the American Red Cross, just last week the IRS announced Everson's would-be successor Kevin Brown is also bolting the IRS for the American Red Cross in September. Replacing Brown will be Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support Linda Stiff, who will assume the position of Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement and in that capacity will serve as IRS Acting Commissioner.