Government Transparency Is the “New Black”

In an age of “openness” and “oversharing,” it appears that it’s only government that is lagging behind in baring everything to the public.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the geeks — young, tech-savvy celebrity innovators for whom the culture of the Internet age is a way of life — are “on the job” making government data accessible to the masses. “Tech celebs like Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales have flocked to the Sunlight Foundation, which uses the Internet to improve meaningful access to government. Developer Tim Lee says “there’s just a ton of low-hanging fruit. The hard part is getting the data out. The fun part is doing stuff with it.”

Sam Adams Alliance is proud to be doing their part to open up government through Sunshine Review, a collaborative wiki project that aims to collect. and shares information about government transparency, openness and accountability at the state and local level.

Palm Beach School District Earns an “A” Grade for Transparency

For Immediate Release

Palm Beach School District Earns an “A” Grade for Transparency
Sunshine Review Kicks off Back to School Florida Project

Chicago, August 21 – The government transparency website Sunshine Review (www.sunshinereview.org), a project of the Sam Adams Alliance, is proud to announce the launch of Back to School Florida, beginning with its release of Palm Beach County’s transparency grade.

As kids head back to class, Sunshine Review is encouraging parents to take a closer look at their children’s school district and learn how their tax dollars are being spent. The Sunshine Review community has completed transparency evaluations for all school districts in the Sunshine State, providing crucial information to parents and taxpayers alike who value a transparent and accountable government.

“There is more to running a school than term papers and syllabuses,” said Kristin McMurray, managing editor of Sunshine Review. “Parents need to find out what their school board is up to and if their tax dollars are being properly allocated.”

Back to School Florida officially launches September 1, but Sunshine Review is rolling out its report for Palm Beach County schools early. After analyzing the district website against its ten-point transparency checklist, Sunshine Review commends Palm Beach County schools for earning an “A” for both its openness and its accessible information.

Sunshine Review’s transparency checklist itself is a thorough, useful education tool that evaluates the online accessibility of budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, academics, background checks, audits, contracts, public records and taxes. Palm Beach County schools received high marks for making all this information available online, with the exception of disclosing complete information on taxes.

“Palm Beach County is one of only five school districts in Florida to receive an “A,” said McMurray. “But we would urge the school to strive for additional transparency by providing the missing tax information on its website.”

During the evaluation process, the Sunshine Review community discovered important information about Palm Beach County schools that students, parents and teachers will find invaluable.

• The district is one of twenty-seven that have registered lobbying activities, allocating over $326,000 dollars on such efforts in 2009.

• Of the twenty-seven school districts with registered lobbying efforts, Palm Beach was one of only three that provided information after receiving FOIA requests.

• Palm Beach has one of the five highest budgets in the state and has the second lowest percentage (16) of their budget dedicated to teachers’ salaries.

• The district received over $29,000,000 dollars under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Sunshine Review is excited to provide Florida parents; teachers and taxpayers with the power of the information in the Back to School Florida initiative. Visit Sunshinereview.org today to see how open and honest your school district is.

Contacts:

Kristin McMurray, Managing Editor
Sunshine Review
312-920-0080 ext. 311
kmcmurray@samadamsalliance.org

Sunshine Review is a wiki website 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.

South Carolina Counties Lacking When it Comes to Transparency

For Immediate Release

South Carolina Counties Lacking When it Comes to Transparency

Anderson County receives only “A” grade; eleven others receive failing marks

Chicago, August 19 – The government transparency website Sunshine Review (www.sunshinereview.org), a project of the Sam Adams Alliance, has released transparency grades for all county websites in South Carolina. Each county was evaluated against a ten-point transparency checklist and issued a grade to determine how open and honest they are with the public they serve. The checklist, developed by Sunshine Review, evaluates the online accessibility of budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records and taxes.

Sunshine Review’s checklist awarded Anderson County’s website the highest ranking for meeting all ten points on the checklist. Anderson is one of only four counties in the country that have obtained a perfect score from Sunshine Review. Greenville County earned the second best evaluation receiving eight checkmarks and a grade of B-minus. Most of the remaining counties received subpar or failing grades. Read more

Oklahoma Counties Receive Failing Grades After Transparency Evaluations

For Immediate Release

Oklahoma Counties Receive Failing Grades After Transparency Evaluations

Only eight of the seventy seven counties receive passing marks

Chicago, August 11 — Oklahoma Counties overwhelmingly receive failing marks when it comes to transparency according to the website Sunshine Review (www.sunshinereview.org). A project of the Sam Adams Alliance, the government transparency website has released transparency grades for all county websites in Oklahoma. 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. 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.

According to the Sunshine Review findings, the most transparent county is Oklahoma County which received a B-minus. Beaver and Tulsa each received a C-minus, meeting five points on the checklist. The most revealing finding by the Sunshine Review community is that fifty seven counties in Oklahoma do not have a website, bringing the total number of counties failing to be open and honest with the public to sixty nine.

Read more

Alabama Counties Receive Failing Grades After Transparency Evaluations

For Immediate Release

Alabama Counties Receive Failing Grades After Transparency Evaluations
Only twelve of sixty-seven counties receive passing marks

Chicago, September 3 — Alabama Counties overwhelmingly received failing grades when it comes to transparency, according to Sunshine Review (http://www.sunshinereview.org/). A project of the Sam Adams Alliance, the government transparency website has released transparency grades for all county websites in Alabama. Each county was evaluated against a ten-point transparency checklist and issued a grade to determine how open and honest they are with the public they serve. The checklist requires that information about budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records, and taxes be made easily accessible online.

According to the Sunshine Review findings, Alabama’s most transparent county is Baldwin, which earned a C-minus and met only six points on the checklist. Sunshine Review also uncovered that twenty-eight counties in Alabama do not have a website, resulting in the total number of counties receiving an “F” to fifty-five.

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

During the evaluation process Sunshine Review learned that simple information like budgets was only posted on three county websites, and meeting schedules could only be found on eight. Only sixteen counties made tax information accessible online.

“Citizens deserve to know what their government is doing and how their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent,” McMurray said. “We hope county officials will welcome our findings and begin taking the necessary steps to achieve greater open and honest government by meeting all ten points on the transparency checklist.”

Go to the Sunshine Review Evaluation of Alabama county websites page to see how open and honest your county government is being with you.

Contacts:

Kristin McMurray, Managing Editor
Sunshine Review
312-920-0080 ext. 311
kmcmurray@samadamsalliance.org

Sunshine Review is a wiki website 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.