Schools Open Montana Now Live

Go check out Schools Open Montana for information on MT’s K-12 schools.

The first thing that caught my eye is the documented feedback the Montana Policy Institute received on their information request regarding salaries for public school employees. Apparently, most MT schools aren’t an any rush to reply to public information requests. Only 14 of the 205 schools bothered to send some or all of the requested information. That’s a pretty poor performance.

The Montana Public Records Act guarantees citizens the right to view public documents and receive information. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised of the poor access to information, since the Better Government Association ranked Montana #46 in the nation with an overall percentage of 38.40%.

Sunlight Foundation: Obama = Transparency FAIL.

The Sunlight Foundation blog got on the case of Barack “Most Transparent Government in History” Obama today for not following up with a promise to post all non-emergency legislation to WhiteHouse.gov 5 days prior to signing. This practice was designed to allow time for public comment and review. Unfortunately, President Obama didn’t follow it on his very first opportunity, the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

It is too bad they let this transparency promise slip on the very first piece of legislation that hit the President’s desk. After a few transparency wins for the administration, it looks like they’ve hit their first fail.

Not good…Not good at all.

Fighting big government? Cash in here.

For more information, visit the Sam Adams Alliance’s Sammies Rules.

St. Charles Parish gets the memo

What is that? The sweet smell of better government? A few months ago, Sunshine Review sent out its evaluation of Louisiana parish websites, and, as a direct consequence, St. Charles Parish is updating updated its website to include its budget and how to obtain public records. From the Times-Picayune:

The new site also contains more information than the old site, partly in response to a review of the parish’s old Web site by the Sunshine Review, a Chicago nonprofit that lobbies for more transparency in government. Simpson said the parish added the parish’s budget, audit and other financial information to the site in response to an August 2008 review of the Web sites of Louisiana parishes by the Sunshine Review, which recruits citizens to grade public Web sites on the amount of information they contain.

Thank you, St. Charles Parish, for being responsive and accountable to the taxpayers in your parish. Now who’s next???

#statebooks

If you are interested in getting real-time information on state budgets, taxes, and other fiscal issues, (and who’s not?) check out the #statebooks Twitter stream. If you want to participate, get an account at Twitter.com and just include “#statebooks” in your tweet.

Oh, and if you want to check up on what I’m doing, go here.

What’s in your state budget?

In case you haven’t noticed, times are getting a little tight everywhere, and statehouses are really starting to feel the pain. If you share my philosophy, you’re interested in cutting the fat instead of cutting into my paycheck with higher taxes. And, like me, you may be a little intimidated by these massive documents.

Lucky for us, the hardworking team at Sunshine Review is doing some groundwork for us by documenting where problem spots are, and proposed solutions. And, of course, the articles will let you know how transparent each state is with its budget.

Check out the California state budget page for a good example of what these pages will look like.

Ten Transparency Treasure Troves

The Obama Administration claims they wish to be the most transparent in the history of the United States. Who could possibly be against that? As a matter of fact, I think it’s an achievable goal for all levels of government, a great political issue, and a fair deal for taxpayers. Today I just wanted to highlight some of the tools and sites that are actually making that happen, and should be a model for those that wish to be transformational transparency leaders.

Ten Transparency Treasure Troves

10. Pork Page! Go check out the vast assortment of links that will direct you to a lot of oinky outrage.

9. The Votes sites. Check out MichiganVotes.org, HawaiiVotes.org, NewMexicoVotes.org, RhodeIslandVotes.org, PennsylvaniaVotes.org, and TennesseeVotes.org for layman’s translations of bills and information on legislation, elected officials, issues, and more.

8. Sunshine on Schools by the North Dakota Policy Council.

7. SchoolBoardTransparency.org is a blog that sheds light on Pennsylvania’s school board-union contract negotiations. Love. It.

6. The beginning of county spending transparency. Collin County, Texas is leading the way along with DuPage County, Illinois. New mantera: Searchable databases!

5. Center for Fiscal Accountability website, sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform. The site is packed with the latest transparency news, so go check it out. Wait…not yet! There’s still 4 more to go!

4. Organizations and individuals sent President Obama a list of federal transparency recommendations to implement in his first 100 days in office. Check out the full list here.

3. ReadTheStimulus.org – As the site suggests, “$850 Billion, 334 pages, and counting… somebody needs to read it!” and that “somebody” needs to be you, the taxpayer footing the bill for this untested economic plan. After you read it, let your congresscritter know how you want your district’s vote to go. Head over to GrabAShovel.com to check out the related Twitter stream.

2. Citizens Against Government Waste hosts the ever-popular Piglet Books that expose national and state pork-barrel spending. Go check them out and watch your blood pressure rise.

1. SunshineReview.org – What can I say? I’m probably more than a little biased, but our wiki-based mama site is transparency heaven to state-based open government activists. It’s a young wiki, and relies on volunteer writers to add content about their local state, municipal, county, or school board government. Be sure to check out the Show Me the Spending portal (sponsored by the National Taxpayers Union) to try to keep track of your state’s dollars and sense.

Did I miss something? Drop me a line in comments.

Transparency: All the cool cities, states are doing it

I’ve been a little delinquent in showcasing some of the newly launched transparency websites and projects. Here are a few that caught my attention:

In Salt Lake City, Utah, Mayor Ralph Becker just announced the “Greater Transparency for a Collaborative Government Initiative” that they hope will allow greater input and collaboration between the city and its residents. Officials offered a 30-point work plan and are soliciting advice from the public via this website: transparencyslcgov.com

Open Georgia launched recently, and includes a searchable database of expenditures, including salary and travel, professional services, financial reports, and program reviews.

Washington state released their Washington State Fiscal Information site early last month. Citizens can find state expenditures by fund or account; expenditures by agency, program, and subprogram; state revenues by source; state expenditures by budget object and subobject; and state agency workloads, caseloads, and performance measurements. The Washington Policy Center has asked the state to continue to build on its momentum by establishing a “Taxation Disclosure Act” that would allow citizens to better view how their tax dollars are used and raised, including tax rates and burdens.

I’ll add more as I find them.

Chicago Tribune outs Senators against recall

The Chicago Tribune came out with their own little attempt at transparency today when they published the names of the Illinois state senators that voted against giving Illinois voters the option of recalling their elected officials. Much to my delight, it came with a complimentary “happy new year” verbal thrashing as well.

So as the impeachment process escalates, remember: We’re in this disheartening situation because of choices Blagojevich has made. We’re here, too, because so many members of the Illinois Senate have enabled him. They had the chance to let us vote him out of office. They sided with him, and against the people of the state.

NICE!!!

And, here is the list of offending, liberty-snatching senators:

*Michael Bond
*James Clayborne Jr.
*Jacqueline Collins
*John Cullerton
*James DeLeo
*Deanna Demuzio
*William Haine
*Don Harmon
*Mike Jacobs
*Emil Jones Jr.
*Kimberly Lightford
*Terry Link
*Iris Martinez
*James Meeks
*Antonio Munoz
*Michael Noland
*Kwame Raoul
*Heather Steans
*John Sullivan
*Donne Trotter
*A.J. Wilhelmi
*Gary Forby (D) [did not vote]
*Mattie Hunter (D) [did not vote]
*Martin Sandoval (D) [did not vote]
*Louis Viverito (D) [did not vote]
*Chris Lauzen (R) [not present]

I hope the Trib remembers to publish those names again prior to the election, and when their ed board meets to make endorsements for 2010 and 2010. Based on this paragraph…

As we said at the time: Senate Democrats blocked recall. They didn’t just show distrust for voters. They showed contempt. Eight months later, here we are, having to rely on the legislature to impeach and convict a governor the people cannot recall. Don’t forget who brought us here.

I think we can assume they will.

To learn about Recall, visit Ballotpedia.