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.
“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 South Carolinians to use the results of these evaluations to push for reform in their counties.”
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.
“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 become motivated to bring increased open and honest government to their citizens.”
S.C Comptroller Richard Eckstrom explained his support for greater transparency and easier accessibility in an email to the Sam Adams Alliance.
“Transparency is the backbone of sound government. When spending is done in the open, and decisions are made in public view, the quality of government is better. Elected officials make better decisions, knowing those decisions will face public scrutiny.”
He then added, “taxpayers work hard for their money, and they deserve easy, click-of-a-mouse access to details about how it is spent. It’s not a Republican thing or a Democratic thing. It’s just good government.”
Visit Sunshine Review’s Evaluation of South Carolina County Websites page to check how open and honest your county ranks in the Palmetto State.
Contacts:
Kristin McMurray, Managing Editor
Sunshine Review
312-920-0080 ext. 311
kmcmurray@samadamsalliance.org
