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March 15, 2010 by
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We’ll get started right, with our very own writing in the Washington Examiner about how transparency gives people power to make government work for them, and how Sunshine Week is the time to get started:
State and local governments today face unprecedented fiscal challenges and unprecedented opportunities for fundamental reforms. In the coming weeks and months, citizens can forge truly historic change in state and local government by reforming the budget process, privatizing services, and returning professional full-time legislatures and councils to more traditional part-time bodies, among many other worthy initiatives.
Read about that .
What is Sunshine Week? As , Sunshine Week marks an annual effort to focus attention on the importance of government transparency, with , civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, school and other open government advocates participating. For example, is participating.
Sunshine Week is already proving worthwhile. For example, the announced late last week .
We look forward to seeing what other government efforts to be open pop up this week. Spring is the perfect time for sun.
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March 12, 2010 by
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Anderson County is hosting a transparency panel today in honor of Sunshine Week. Yours truly will be tuning in via skype along with the other panelists today at 6 pm EST. Anderson County has been a poster child for proactive disclosure of government information and was one of the first to earn a from SR.
A little briefing on what it’ll entail from the pfizer viagra
At 6 p.m., in the Anderson County Civic Center, interim county administrator Rusty Burns will answer questions from a panel of news representatives and others. The panel includes Jay Bender, attorney for the South Carolina Press Association, and , R-Anderson.
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March 11, 2010 by
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Today, the reports that the Obama administration is proposed by the Bush administration that expanded the financial disclosure statements required of labor unions.
Critics note the rules were rolled back while the Obama administration was seeking more stringent regulation of corporate America. This is inconsistent, making some charge that the administration is giving “preferential treatment” to unions.
Besides that, Rep. John Kline of Minnesota notes that rescinding and revoking those rules makes it more difficult for union workers to see how their dues are spent. Mr. Kline said to Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis that Mr. Obama had “made it a point on a number of occasions to talk about this administration wanting to be the .”
Mrs. Solis told the congressman that transparency was the goal, but the department did not want to “overburden a system where information that was previously asked for may not be of much importance or significance.” . The focus of transparency and open government is empowering citizens with information, not giving public officials an easy time.
Because the President has made a point to promise to claim he’ll have “the most open and transparent” administration in history,” , it is important for citizens like you and I to hold him to his promise and continue reminding him of it.
But all isn’t cloudy on Obama’s sunshine promises. Last week, President Barack Obama announced that he would be appointing to the independent panel that advises the Accountability and Transparency Board. Many people are about this, including the . Tufte is a renown information designer, which means the White House’s transparency effort may see some of that we’ve been waiting for.
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March 10, 2010 by
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Alexandria, VA—The best state and local government websites in America for transparency today received a “” from Sunshine Review, a pro transparency organization.
Award winners are among only 39 websites in America earning an “A” transparency grade from more than 5,000 analyzed. Sunshine Review’s “Transparency Checklist” analyzes websites for information about budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, permits and zoning, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records, and taxes. The “Checklist” measures what content is available on government websites against what should be provided.
“Sunny Award winners deserve recognition for making information available to citizens and for setting a transparency standard that all governments can, and should, meet,” said Mike Barnhart, President of Sunshine Review. “Access to information empowers every citizen to hold government officials accountable for the conduct of the public’s business and the spending of taxpayers’ money. Official accountability is the corner stone of self government and liberty.”
Sunshine Review is a non-profit organization dedicated to state and local government transparency. The Sunshine Review wiki collects and shares transparency information and uses a 10-point “Transparency Checklist” to evaluate the content of every state and more than 5,000 local government websites. Sunshine Review collaborates with individuals and organizations throughout America in the cause of an informed citizenry and an accountable government.
Since its inception in 2008, Sunshine Review has analyzed the websites of all 50 states, more than 3,140 counties, 805 cities, and 1,560 school districts.
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March 9, 2010 by
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In January, passed a law that improved its FOIA, which needed improvements after allegations that secrecy was the rule in Illinois, openness the exception. The most conspicuous case was the University of Illinois not releasing information to the , making the Tribune . Supported by the Attorney General, the law made it so that governments had 5 days to respond to a request and would penalize those that failed to do so.
But the improvements with some law makers creating a weaker alternative to the new law. That effort : John Millner is sponsoring a plan that would significantly weaken the new FOIA in Illinois, according to critics. His proposal would:
-Broaden protections against disclosing personnel and disciplinary information.
-Cut down public access to law enforcement records if the information could hurt another department’s investigation
-Relieve government bodies from having to pay legal fees for successful lawsuits against them.
A proposal introduced by another state senator, Senator William Haine, would exempt law enforcement personnel’s performance evaluations from disclosure, as well. Lawmakers and Gov. Pat Quinn have already approved exempting teacher evaluations from disclosure.
The Illinois attorney general’s office, which was , said it’s too soon to change it.
But the new FOIA has critics on the side, too. State Representative Sidney Mathias is working with the , which opposed last year’s changes to access laws and is a taxpayer-funded lobbying association, to change requirements that may be “too burdensome,” especially requiring government bodies to reply to requests within five business days. He also would consider doing away with a provision that requires local governments to pay attorney fees if someone sues to get information and a court rules that information should be turned over, a similarity to Millner’s proposed changes.
According to Representative Mathias, its in citizens’ interest to place limits on the requirements of government to meet this law. “Who ultimately pays that? It’s the residents. So there’s got to be reasonable limitations on these requests, also.”
Still, it’s one thing to have , and another thing to have spending that is justifiable. As far as protecting investigation and police officers, this is also an important priority. However, the presumption should be openness, and a denial of information must be justified. While a realistic law that doesn’t overly burden officials is important, the emphasis should be on the citizens and on providing information in a way that is beneficial to them, not on making life easy for public officials.
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March 8, 2010 by
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I wanted to highlight an in the Oregon pfizer viagra who commended Attorney General John Kroger movement towards a more transparent government. The paper called it when they said, “Oregon government should adhere to a simple concept: The public’s business must be conducted in public.”
The op-ed went on to describe ways to remove common loopholes for , saying how reforms could help increase transparency in the state.
I’m with them all the way, but I also think they’re thinking too small. Why not publish this information proactively online? And why stop statewide? Oregon’s according to our transparency checklist is a mediocre “C” and the local websites fare even worse, earning an overall “D” transparency grade.
So, let’s think big Oregon, put it online already.
For more on John Kroger and his transparency efforts, read , ,