Pornographic Pictures Bring Down New Jersey Lawmaker

Today, New Jersey State Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D) submitted his resignation effective immediately following pornographic material being found his official, taxpayer paid for computer.

According to PolitickerNj.com, “Cohen checked himself into an undisclosed mental institution last week after the Attorney General’s office seized computers from his legislative office. A staffer in the office found what are alleged to be pornographic pictures of minors on Cohen’s computer.”

This is another example of government corruption where an elected official believes that he is not required to follow the same laws as the everyday citizen.

It was reported that Republican and Democrat leaders of the New Jersey Legislature immediately ordered all legislative computers be equipped with the most advanced internet filtering software.

The question all taxpayers should be asking themselves is why wasn’t this software already installed?

It is sad that another elected official has betrayed the trust of the people that elected them to office.

Shame on you!

Bloggers denied press releases, Part II

Scott White from Scott’s Morning Brew continues to document his difficulty in convincing the Suffolk, VA press office to send him routine press releases. In his follow-up post, he includes email correspondence from Dana Woodson, Suffolk city (and taxpayer-funded) FOIA officer. Since Debbie George (old media communications professional) continues to rely on the crusty “bloggers aren’t real media” argument to escape her duty to send the press releases, Mr. White was forced to request the public information via FOIA.

Scott was able to purchase June pressers for an excessive $15 and can only receive them via snail mail on CD. Additionally, Woodson refused to email the press releases to any blogger. I thought I would check out the city of Suffolk’s website to learn more on their communications policies. This is what I found:

We promote rapport and goodwill between the City and the community we serve through the interchange of ideas and the assessment of public opinion. In addition, we have the responsibility to seek public input and involvement in the affairs of City government and to establish effective two-way communications between the City and its constituents for everyone’s mutual benefit.

Oh really? Rapport? Goodwill? I’m not sure that’s how I would describe Suffolk’s current communication with the public. Now, I’m not in the habit of predicting the future, but it doesn’t take a genius to see “public service” employee difficulties becoming a hot topic next election cycle.

American Majority- you might want to check out Suffolk for some responsive activists…

New York: The new windy city?

New York state seeks to produce 25% of its energy from renewable sources by 2013. Great goal- it reduces our dependence on foreign oil, helps use new technologies for clean energy, and develops a renewable resource. What’s not to love? Call me crazy, but maybe it’s the palm greasing, conflicts of interest, and corruption involved with closing the deals with local town boards.

According to the Democrat and Chronicle, Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne investigated allegations of corruption and found seven town board members that had conflicts of interest in his one county. Town boards have the ultimate say in whether wind farms come to their communities, and some board members have made the unfortunate choice of seeking to lease their own land to wind farm companies. Critics wonder if wind energy companies are actively seeking to do business with town board members in order to facilitate approval for their proposals.

With Champagne’s assistance, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is now getting involved.

Champagne has turned over his cardboard box of documents on cases across the state to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Last week, Cuomo issued subpoenas to two of New York’s major wind-farm developers, saying that “if dirty tricks are used to facilitate even clean-energy projects, my office will put a stop to it.”

The investigation comes as wind-farm companies are lining up at town halls with deep pockets and the promise of economic development for governments starved for new revenue to fund schools, fix roads and pay for emergency services.

So what is the moral of this all-too-familiar story? All taxpayer-sponsored programs need to be open to public scrutiny, and elected officials need to be held accountable when they have ethical lapses. Visit Sunshine Review to shed some light on your community.

Why be transparent? More influence for less money.

The Shreveport Times printed an op-ed from Ernest LeBlanc Jr., director of the Louisiana Budget Project, applauding Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal for his work on new transparency legislation. The piece also did a good job spelling out why transparency is important to all citizens.

From the article:

The budget is one part of state government that can seem overwhelming and hard to understand, but state spending directly affects the present and future of each Louisianan.

# State spending affects teacher’s pay raises. Quality teachers provide quality education for our students, who will take what they learn in the classroom into their future as the leaders of our state.

# State spending affects health care access for low- and moderate-income families, who have a better chance of lifting themselves out of poverty if they are healthy.

# State spending affects work force development, and a strong work force attracts business and industry that in turn provides jobs and boosts our economy.

LeBlanc also mentions that citizens that know and understand government can have more influence in policymaking. More influence for less of my tax dollars? That’s change all taxpayers can believe in.

Bloggers denied Suffolk, Portsmouth VA press releases

When is government transparent enough? Is it enough for a city or county to send press releases to newspapers, hope to get covered, and think that’s enough information for the taxpayers to know? And who makes the decision on when enough information has been distributed- The person hired to disseminate information, or the taxpayers funding the city employee’s salary?

Deme Panagopulos from Suffolk, VA seemed to have a reasonable request when he asked Debbie George, the Suffolk City Communications Director, if he could join the city mailing list to receive press releases. Panagopulos wished to post the information on his blog, Inside Suffolk Virginia, which exists to urge greater transparency within city government. Unfortunately, Ms. George replied that she didn’t consider blogs to be news sources, and if she added one blog, she would have to add other blogs that requested the information.

GASP! Someone had the audacity to ask a city communications person to communicate information to more than the mainstream media??? Outrageous!

Ultimately, this standoff is not about whether a blog is a credible source of information (in most minds, that fight was won years ago), but it is about having an open, transparent government that is responsive and accountable to taxpayers.

Dave Forster from PilotOnline.com quoted Panagopulos: “First of all, we have a city that claims to be open and transparent. I question that at this juncture.”

Alarmingly, blogger Scott White from Scott’s Morning Brew had a similar experience:

I personally received the exact same reaction from Ms. Claudia Cox-Wynn in Portsmouth when I asked her to place me on the mailing list for news releases. “That’s a blog!” she said. “I can’t send you this stuff. I have people to answer to.”

Well I’m sorry folks. This IS the new media. Like it or not.

New media or old- it’s the responsibility of government employees to keep taxpayers as informed as possible on all the ways their money has been/will be/might be/could be/should be spent. Less information available = less citizen oversight and involvement. And we all know the result of that.

SC Opening Medicaid Payments to Taxpayers

During most state’s budgeting time, politicians, good government organizations, the press, and interest groups often toss around huge numbers regarding the ever-increasing costs of health care services. Most of the time, taxpayers have no idea where these numbers come from, who these health care providers are, and how much each is actually paid for their services.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is attempting to make that data accessible to the public through a transparency initiative that includes placing state Medicaid payments online.

GreenvilleOnline.com reports:

The move by DHHS, which administers the $5.4 billion Medicaid program, is part of an initiative by Gov. Mark Sanford to improve government transparency. It also will help DHHS locate “unusual billing patterns.”

Another site inaugurated this year lets taxpayers see administrative expenditures.
Aside from nursing homes and doctors, the site also provides information about dentists, hospitals and any of the other nearly 30,000 health care providers in South Carolina who participate in the Medicaid program. It includes their reimbursements as well as the number of patients they saw. More than 800,000 South Carolinians receive Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor and disabled.

The database can be viewed here, through the SC DHHS website.

Gov. Sanford, a potential VP candidate for John McCain, is on the right track on this issue.

Pennsylvania’s Searchable Contract Database Unveiled

Pennsylvania Treasurer Robin L. Wiessmann opened a new searchable transparency site yesterday that allows taxpayers access to information on state contracts. The database was created to comply with PA’s new Right-to-Know Law signed into law early this year.

According to the WSJ, the database seems to have been carefully crafted for usability.

To aid in public use of the database, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department is requiring agencies to supply summaries with every contract for easier access and identification. In addition, when searching for a contract, the Pennsylvania Contracts e-Library will also provide links to any related contracts, such as amendments or purchase orders, to allow users to more readily track the evolution of an agency’s transactions with a particular vendor.
The Pennsylvania Treasury Department launched the Pennsylvania Contracts e-Library in just four months by holding focus groups with users and building the online portal for the database.

Additional parts of the Right-to-Know legislation will be enacted on Jan 1, 2009.

Children shorted in IL political payback

From the files of “Coulda Seen That One Comin’”…

Illinois distributed $20,000 grants to 89 organizations to assist with after-school tutoring for the 2007-08 school year. Unfortunately, a Chicago Tribune investigation of 48 of the grant recipients found that about half of those 48 organizations were not running programs, and a third were under the care of a person with less-than-stellar financial histories.

The Tribune reported:

All of the questionable projects share the same sponsor: West Side Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago), who awarded many grants to campaign workers and donors, the investigation found.

The state board tried to tighten the grant process after the Tribune first raised questions about it two years ago. But lawmakers and education officials have continued to award the grants.

The oversight remains so feeble, in fact, that education officials in three cases handed out money to programs where felons, one a convicted murderer, worked with children. The state contract bars such convicts from doing so.

Education officials also didn’t heed red flags in the applications. Grantees promised to tutor on a “dailey bases” and teach “fluenty in speaking.” Another wrote that he’d pay himself $475 a month for a year to tutor children. When state officials e-mailed back that the grant lasted only six months, he replied that he’d pay himself $950 a month.

In some cases, the grantees provided instruction so unorthodox that it’s difficult to determine the educational value. The Al Malik Temple for Universal Truth spent its $20,000 grant to teach children how their birth date and name influence their destiny.

…

According to interviews with recipients, Hendon sponsored 44 of the 48 grants reviewed by the Tribune. He said he works hard in Springfield rounding up votes for Blagojevich and Senate Democrats. “I deserve more money,” he said. “I fall on all the swords down there.”

Of the 44 grants Hendon awarded, at least 21 went to people who campaigned for him or donated to his re-election efforts. Hendon said he wasn’t rewarding campaign workers; they just happened to apply.

Senator Hendon, allow me the honor of helping you out with a little Public Service 101. You do not “deserve” taxpayer money. You’re not entitled to it. It is not a prize to deliver to campaign workers. It is entrusted to you by your constituents and the hardworking taxpayers of Illinois to be used for legitimate, worthy, quality programs that benefit the people that pay your salary.

Learn this lesson: Transparency, and a competitive bidding process, is necessary in ALL instances where tax dollars are used.

New EFF vid: Transparency in Gov’t- Updated

Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s newest release: Transparency in Government.

Waiting on transparency for Reform Michigan Now

The Detroit News yesterday questioned the Reform Michigan Now ballot committee for refusing to come forward with the groups sponsoring its proposition. A PowerPoint presentation on a union website suggests who these backers are- the Michigan Dem Party and organized labor. A spokesman for Reform Michigan Now stated its financial backers would be revealed in August, or only when legally required.

From the Detroit News:

To date, backers of the effort and Democratic Party leaders have refused to say who wrote the controversial proposal and who is bankrolling it [though p]arts of the plan definitely favor Democrats over Republicans.
…
“To the extent that this document is what it appears to be, it leaves little doubt that the (ballot proposal) is a partisan power play,” according to Paul Kersey, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a Midland-based free-market oriented think tank that found the PowerPoint presentation on UAW Region 1-C Web site. The presentation, whose title page says “Changing the rules of politics in Michigan to help Democrats,” is no longer on the Web site.
…
“Transparency of who is leading the effort is important for voters, which is not publicly known right now,” Richard Blouse Jr., president and CEO of the Detroit chamber, said in a press release. “The business community certainly recognizes the need for reforms in state government, especially when it comes to solving the problems of chronic budget deficits. However, it’s important to be up front about these reforms so they can be fully vetted through open debate.”

Call me crazy, but shouldn’t transparency be part of any real reform measure? If this proposal is really about smaller, smarter government, give us full, factual information on who is crafting and sponsoring it and let the results benefit TAXPAYERS, not the Democrat Party.

See more on Reform Michigan Now here and here.

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