cialis super active
August 14, 2008 by
Filed under
The editor has an ax to grind- with corrupt incumbent Pennsylvania legislators. In response to a poll taken by Quinnipiac University, 3 out of 4 Pennsylvania residents do not believe the legislature will take steps to improve ethics in their state capitol. The poll was taken in the wake of the scandal.
cialis super active
This is sound advice for many, many -too many- cities. Voters of New Orleans, Chicago, Youngstown, Detroit.. are you listening???
cialis super active
August 12, 2008 by
Filed under
File this under cialis super active…
Ohio’s launched its Center for Transparent and Accountable Government this week. Former reporter Mike Maurer will gather and publish budgets, contracts, information on how to access to public records, and other data to show Ohio taxpayers where their money is being spent.
The Center’s two key components are a transparency wiki called , and a candidate transparency pledge. Buckeye’s press release states:
cialis super active
More information can be found at , , , and .
cialis super active
August 11, 2008 by
Filed under
A study has shown that over 2300 court cases in Oklahoma have files sealed by district court judges since 2003.
cialis super active
Agreed. A transparent government (including courts) allow citizens to feel they are receiving fair treatment and exposes errors and conflicts of interest to public and legal review.
One advocate suggests the way to keep yourself out of an open record is simply to keep your life out of the courts.
cialis super active
Public servants, such as judges, should balance the need for sealed court cases against the public interest. When there is no real public safety or juvenile privacy concerns, the records should be as open as possible.
cialis super active
August 10, 2008 by
Filed under
In the wake of continued scandalous in the Pennsylvania State Legislature, asked Legislative Candidates a series of questions on ethics and reform.
Here were the questions asked by the paper:
It’s certainly on the minds of people running for the Legislature. In a follow-up to conversations with state officials on legislative reforms, The Patriot-News asked their challengers their thoughts on the matter. What specific reforms do you support? Do you agree with state Attorney General Tom Corbett that a culture of corruption exists in Harrisburg? Do you support a special legislative session on ethics reform? Should House Majority Leader William DeWeese, D-Greene, should resign from leadership.
It is good to see the mainstream media ask candidates for office their opinions on issues facing the voters.
Here are their answers:
JUDY HIRSCH, a Democrat seeking the 15th state senatorial seat held by Republican Jeffrey Piccola Reforms: “Make budget negotiation transcripts public; impose limits on campaign contributions of $2,500 for individuals and $10,000 per candidate for political action committees; require lobbyists to disclose all expenditures; put a nonpartisan body in charge of redistricting; and increase funding for the State Ethics Commission to ensure they have the resources to investigate complaints.” Culture: “I can’t speak to the ‘culture’ of the Legislature. The appearance is that there’s too many people that think they’re above the law. I think it’s time we have new blood and new energy.” Special session: “I’m not sure what would be accomplished in a special legislative reform session that couldn’t have been accomplished over the last term, where bills were sitting in [Piccola's State Government] committee.” DeWeese: “I think he probably has a tough sell as to why he should remain in the leadership post. It will be dependent upon his caucus and what his caucus decides.”
SUSAN KISKIS, a Democrat seeking the 31st state senatorial seat held by Republican Patricia Vance Reforms: “I don’t know anything right now that’s currently being drafted. Over the past several years, 51 reform bills have been stalled on issues ranging from posting government salaries online to preventing state agencies from hiring lobbyists with tax dollars. I support those bills.” Culture: “It is a cultural matter. I think it’s very widespread.” Special session: “Yes. It’s a fortunate moment to have it because it should have been done years ago.” DeWeese: “I’m not prepared to answer that. I’m not familiar with the specifics of individuals. I’ve been trying more or less to run my campaign focusing on reform overall and not trying to be bogged down by the politics that is happening right now.”
MARGIE STUSKI, a Democrat seeking the open 88th state House seat Reforms: “A complete a review of leadership accountability; open all legislative accounts for complete disclosure; expand the Freedom of Information Act; create a stronger barrier between government and campaign work for state employees who are also on campaign payrolls; mandate that the legislature work 12 months a year; and rotate leadership positions and committee chairs every few years.” Culture: “From the time I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, I’ve said it’s not a culture. It’s individuals who are trying to get their own power and putting their own preferences above everyone else’s.” Special session: “No. I would have very serious caucus meetings during this downtime, reorganize every caucus and have the caucuses become the models for how to do things. They’ve got to sit down and figure out how to operate the Capitol. Special sessions are a press stunt.” DeWeese: “Two years ago, I said he is not my choice for House leader. I certainly would not vote for him. It’s in the best interest for him to step aside and handle the allegations, similar to what Sen. [Vincent] Fumo just did.”
SHERYL DELOZIER, a Republican seeking the open 88th state House seat Reforms: “Consider reducing the size of the Legislature, consider implementing ideas from the Speaker’s Commission on Legislative Reform, possibly limit the amount of time someone can serve as committee chair, and make sure bills that need to get out of committee, get out of committee, and let legislators debate them.” Culture: “I hate to cast a wide brush because I don’t think it’s the entire culture. It’s the few that didn’t abide by the rules.” Special session: “Yes, there are changes that are needed, and I think we have to take that first step.”
PATRICIA GARCIA, a Democrat seeking the 104th state House seat held by Republican Sue Helm Reforms: “Remove influence of special interest lobbyists; eliminate the perk lifestyle; … reduce legislators’ monthly allowance; eliminate bonuses; provide full transparency of all caucus accounts.” Culture: “Yes, but a lot of things are hearsay, so we don’t know until people are really brought to justice.” Special session: “Yes. Also, there are a number of things that could be addressed just among the members themselves. For instance, the people need to be present when they’re voting. I think there are a lot of rules that are in place, but no one’s really policed them.” DeWeese: “I would wait until I had all the facts. Nothing against your paper, but I don’t count the paper all the time as my resource for all the facts.”
GREG SCUDDER, a Democrat seeking the 199th state House District seat held by Republican Will Gabig Reforms: “I would support stepped-up enforcement of existing measures. As a candidate, I don’t know inside the Legislature what the rules are in terms of financial reporting requirements, but we should really audit those records and take a look at where the money is coming from and to watch for inconsistencies or patterns that would indicate some form of abuse.” Culture: “It’s isolated to a few powerful individuals. I mean that in the broadest sense, across the federal, state and local governments.” Special session: “I don’t know the specifics enough to really say yes or no. I support anything that is going to improve the ethics of our Legislature, but I think it’s a matter of enforcing the current laws that are related to campaign finance.” DeWeese: “If a court found that there were crimes committed and he was one of the people that was looking the other way, then yes, under those circumstances. But until it’s all shown and proven, I don’t have a statement one way or the other.” Some responses were edited for space.
Two candidates did not return three calls from The Patriot-News for this report: Phyllis Bennett, a Democrat running for the 106th state House seat held by Republican John Payne; and Daniel Stephenson, a Democrat running for the 98th state House seat held by Republican David Hickernell.
to read the original story.
cialis super active
August 10, 2008 by
Filed under
, Texas, claims to be the first county in the nation to publish its check register online, according to .
cialis super active
Congratulations, Collin County commissioners. Thank you for providing the information taxpayers need to have faith in their government, and for being a leader in county-level transparency.
Now- onto a searchable database…
cialis super active
August 8, 2008 by
Filed under
David Rogers had a great column in the site a few days ago. It has a great opening…
cialis super active
Rogers goes on to describe a situation in Topsfield, MA where the local town board made two appointments to the conservation commission, over the protests of the existing commission members. Feelings were hurt, and resignations were handed in for all but the two newly appointed members. All of that local town drama adds up to one thing- a bad taste in the mouth of Topsfield residents. Public disclosure and discussion of the documents regarding the new appointments would have lent an air of respect and transparency to the proceedings.
Let this be a lesson for all municipal, county, state, federal, and all levels of government in-between: It pays dividends to be transparent; financially, and most importantly, in public trust.
cialis super active
August 8, 2008 by
Filed under
Yesterday, I where a media company was seeking transparency in the El Paso court system. The judge has since told the government to explain its secrecy by September 5th. From …
cialis super active
cialis super active
August 8, 2008 by
Filed under
called out Governor Steve Beshear’s administration on calling a transparency taskforce meeting when a key leader in the movement, , cannot be present. Grayson will be attending the Republican National Convention during the scheduled meeting time. Kentucky Progress notes that this will only be the second taskforce meeting since the inaugural June 19th session. Grayson has already launched a searchable checkbook registry, , that he says should serve as an example of how transparency can be accomplished.
The notes that Kentucky will likely follow Missouri Governor Matt Blunt’s model in transparency by executive order, but seems to be dragging his feet instead of opening his books to KY taxpayers.
The has more. Go check it out.
cialis super active
August 7, 2008 by
Filed under
Media and media companies often receive a bad rap for biased reporting, monopoly of information, and not embracing technology. However, in the fight for open records, the media is a powerful ally.
According to the , attorneys working on behalf of El Paso Media Group and Newspaper Tree are asking a federal court to unseal documents relating to a case involving corrupt public officials. They also are requesting that future court hearings are opened up to allow oversight by the public, press, and legal professionals.
cialis super active
Secret documents, secret hearings, secret court dockets… what’s going on in El Paso??
cialis super active
August 4, 2008 by
Filed under
The Chicago Sun-Times made a public step towards transparency this past weekend when it began to post salary information for every state, Cook County, and Chicago city employee through its website, found . The Sun-Times acknowledged Illinois has a culture of corruption that cries out for such scrutiny, and that the public needs tools like these to effectively police its government. The article also made this point:
cialis super active
Right on!
In an earlier response to corruption, Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes opened up a database that cross-references state contracts and campaign contributions. You can find that website .
Additionally, the Better Government Association has a for the following taxpayer-paid positions:
* City of Chicago
* Cook County
* Cook County Forest Preserve District
* Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority
* Chicago Housing Authority
* Chicago Transit Authority
* Metropolitan Water Reclamation District
* Chicago Park District
* Chicago Public Schools
* City Colleges of Chicago
* State of IllinoisLooks to me like Illinois might be getting for reform after all…