Aiken opens up financial docs

Aiken, SC was recently received public praise for posting financial information, including its check register, online.

The Augusta Chronicle reports:

Last year, [State General Comptroller Mr. Richard] Eckstrom had state spending information posted online and then launched a campaign to persuade local governments to post their expenditures on the Internet.

Aiken is among eight cities to have pushed through such an initiative. Mr. Eckstrom said he hopes more cities will realize it can be done and will follow the examples set by these eight.

Some transparency advocates used the event to push transparency for state legislature roll-call votes.

Health Administration Bureau

I’m taking a small break from transparency today to post a new video from the Sam Adams Alliance. Go check out the Health Administration Bureau website as well.

Sunlight needed for the Federal Reserve

[Editors Note: This is a post from one of our Sam Adams Alliance interns, Kasia Rada]

For the proponent of limited government, this year has been entirely baffling. The notion of expanding powers for the Federal Reserve is just the icing on the cake. Fortunately, alarm bells are going off for nearly 60% of House members as HR 1207, a bill enabling the GAO to audit the Federal Reserve, gains support on both sides of the aisle.

Fed Chairman Bernanke’s retort equates an honest and open audit with frivolously exposing the money supply to short-term political pressures. Really? I hadn’t noticed that it wasn’t already. Privileges granted the Federal Reserve in monetary policy resemble executive privileges in national defense, only there we have real enemies to combat. In that case, secrecy regarding the money supply may as well be taken as a war against the American public. If the Fed is going to be exposed to political pressures, I’d rather it be out in the daylight than behind closed doors.

As it is, the hope for HR 1207 is bleak. Even if by some miracle it passes through a legislature and executive approving of government-corporate paternalism, chances are efforts to shine some light on the Fed will be diluted to uselessness once again. Regardless, we need to keep public momentum for transparency going. Hold your representative accountable. In the end it is likely HR1207 will amount to no more than striking a match in a dark room, but on the bright side we still have until it that fire burns out to flick on the light switch.

Keeping Up With The Madigans

***EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Adams Alliance interns have recently taken some immersion classes in blogging, and will be testing their skills here in the next few weeks. This post comes from our Judgepedia.org intern, Mark Szczuka.***

Of the many beneficiaries of roughly $9 billion in Illinois taxes is the Illinois Arts Council (IAC), which is set to receive approximately $18 million for its various projects intended for the public. While every state has some kind of artistic initiative, what’s curious in Illinois is that the chairman of the IAC is Shirley Madigan, the wife of House Speaker Michael Madigan, and mother of Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

The extent of power of this family is extraordinary. Michael Madigan has presided as House Speaker for more than thirty years. Shirley Madigan has presided as chairman of the IAC for more than twenty years. And Lisa has presided as Attorney General for over six years. Furthermore, Shirley Madigan sits on the board of directors for Loyola University Chicago, the alma matter of both Michael and Lisa.

Also, Michael Madigan is the principal attorney at his firm, Madigan & Getzendanner, whose clients are comprised mostly of construction, development, and housing corporations. His firm has nearly 100 big name clients, yet only six attorneys, one of which is often preoccupied with presiding over the Illinois House of Representatives.    

In 2006, Speaker Madigan authorized payment of $8 million to Loyola for various construction projects; a move that angered taxpayers whose public schools were simultaneously going broke.

Any speculation regarding self-dealing here is not surprising. In keeping up with the Madigans, I direct your attention to two websites. The first is Muckety, a database tracking the interconnections of the power players. The second is a list of all the clients represented by Michael Madigan’s half-dozen attorneys at Madigan & Getzendanner. Together, these two resources make connecting the dots much easier—and interesting.

Updates from the states

A couple of few interesting updates…

* Our friends at Americans for Tax Reform posted a strong admonishment to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and state Senate President Bob Burns on the ATR blog this morning. Burns recently discharged Senator Thayer Verschoor (R-Gilbert) and Senate Majority Whip Pamela Gorman (R-Anthem) from their leadership positions after the senators voted against the Governor’s ill-advised legislation to increase AZ’s sales tax. Americans for Tax Reform set up an action page citizens can visit to speak out against the tax hike.

* Bob Weeks over at Voice for Liberty in Wichita points out that Sedgwick County, Kansas has placed its check register online. Inquiring minds can sort data by function, category, fund, or vendor.

**MORE UPDATES!!!**

* The Ocean State Policy Research Institute is tracking RI stimulus spending through their newest website, RIStimulus.org.

* Duval County celebrated its “A-” rating from SunshineReview.org, which was the highest grade given in the state of Florida, and the only county that had complete information about lobbyists on its Web site. Only one Florida county, Suwannee County, should be embarrassed by not having a web presence.

Organizing Committees for Transparency

In an effort to educate those wishing to take a closer look at local government, Dr. Fusco, former superintendent in Branford, Connecticut put together a manual on forming a Citizen’s Audit Committee (CAC).

Dr. Fusco’s work in combination with the Yankee Institute reinforces the need to form citizen committees in order to tackle larger problems within local and state government. Too often investigative citizens tackle issues as single units but there are huge benefits of combining efforts. Simply put, more ground can be covered than any one individual is able to accomplish, especially when dealing with the complexities of local governments or school boards.

“A Citizens Audit Committee can do what school boards and town officials are either unwilling to do for political reasons or unable to do because of a lack of skill, information, and time.”

An additional benefit of CACs is that they will provide, “independent and objective oversight to budgeting and spending practices by assessing whether there is efficiency or effectiveness.”

This document was also written in order to help explain confusing terminology, which often is where concerned taxpayers end up hitting a roadblock. Even motivated individuals can get tripped up with the jargon used in many of the government forms.

The report also provides strategies of where to begin to look for discrepancies and then ultimately what citizens should do once they have found meaningful data. Reaching those who can utilize the findings becomes the next important step so that problems can be amended and preventative measures can be put in place for the future.

Through the efforts of the Yankee Institute more citizens will have the tools to effectively expose problems that exist in public offices and combat corruption by alerting those who pay for it- the everyday taxpayer.

Sunshine Review Releases Wisconsin County Transparency Evaluations

Racine County Web site gets C- from watchdog group
ByJournal Times staff
Monday, Jul. 6, 2009, 2:14 pm

RACINE COUNTY — It might be passing, but Racine County gets a C- for transparency on its Web site http://racineco.com, based on the findings of a project conducted by the Sam Adams Alliance, a conservative organization from Chicago that promotes government transparency and accountability.

The group’s online project, the Sunshine Review http://www.sunshinereview.org, released transparency scores for all 72 county Web sites in Wisconsin. Each county was evaluated against a 10-point transparency checklist and issued a grade to determine how open and honest they are with the public they serve.

According to the Sunshine Review findings, Brown, Dane, Outagamie and Ozaukee County Web sites received the highest marks, meeting seven points on the checklist, receiving an overall grade of B minus. Jackson County received one point, while Green, Florence and Lafayette County managed to receive two points, the four counties each received failing grades. Two counties don’t have Web sites.

The checklist, developed by Sunshine Review, requires information regarding budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records and taxes be made easily accessible online.

Racine County missed points for not having posted on the county Web site information about contracts, lobbying and public records and only partial information about taxes.

“The Sunshine Review community believes every county in the nation has a responsibility to make basic information easily available to the taxpayer,” Kristin McMurray, managing editor of Sunshine Review, said in a news release. “We urge Wisconsin citizens to use the results of these evaluations to push for reform in their counties.”

What is Sunshine Review?
Sunshine Review is a wiki Web site that collects and shares information about transparency, government spending, political corruption, taxpayer-funded lobbying and open records laws.

It provides a way for citizens to keep tabs on their government, hold it accountable, and reform wasteful, fraudulent, and corrupt behavior uncovered by measures of transparency.