SJ-R covers Open IL Week

The Springfield, IL State-Journal Register printed an op-ed from Paul Miller, the Sam Adams Alliance communications director, on Open IL Week. Open IL Week was actually last week, but any recognition of efforts to hold elected officials accountable on transparency is timely, especially at the end of the state legislative session.

In March, the government transparency Web site Sunshine Review completed transparency evaluations for all 3,140 counties in the country. Each county Web site was evaluated against a 10-point transparency checklist that consists of information Sunshine Review and its sponsor, the Sam Adams Alliance, believe should be easily accessible by the public: budgets, taxes, contracts and lobbying efforts are a few examples. Unfortunately, the level of transparency found in most Illinois counties confirmed what most citizens already know. Open and honest government in Illinois is the exception, not the rule.
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This week is Open Illinois Week. A project of the Illinois Policy Institute and Sunshine Review, Open Illinois was created to empower everyday citizens to demand transparency from their county government and at the same time give people the tools to hold their county officials accountable.

Concerned citizens throughout Illinois are being urged to get involved in the political process and contact their county commissioner (board members, council, executives) and ask them to sign the Open Illinois transparency pledge and commit to meeting the criteria of the Sunshine Review transparency checklist.

After contacting your county official, report back to the public what he or she said and did. Sunshine Review is a wiki-based Web site, which means everyday citizens can create a log in and go to the Open Illinois Counties Project and make certain their elected officials are accountable to their constituents.

Check out the Open Illinois Week project on Sunshine Review and do your part to ensure our government is responsive and accountable to its citizens.

Transparency news from around the nation

Here are a few transparency updates from around the nation.

* ILLINOIS: The Chicago Tribune started an Open Records help desk to display “Strategy, help and stories about getting public information in Illinois”. Good move from the Trib, since Chicago’s Mayor Daley routinely denies FOIA requests.

Another IL piece worth reading is the Mill Creek Times’ analysis of its local government website. It mentions that Mill Creek Special Service Area is “absolutely deficient” when graded on the standards set forth in the Sunshine Review checklist.

* MICHIGAN: The Clare Sentinel published an excellent letter to the editor titled, “Grandmother spearheads transparency effort to put school district check registers online.” The letter demonstrates that school transparency is much easier than most people think. It takes just minutes per day!

* OKLAHOMA: Oklahomans for Responsible Government, a fiscal watchdog group, lamented the lack of county transparency in the Sooner State, and revealed their new transparency initiative regarding school districts.

* TENNESSEE: Governor Phil Bredesen announced a new website, TN.gov, that increases transparency by listing vendor payments and employee travel reimbursements and salaries.

* FEDERAL: President Obama is working to roll back union transparency laws. According to the Heritage Foundation, these regulations make union officials more accountable to union members and deter fraud and embezzlement.