nexium online
December 9, 2010 by
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Today the released the , outlining financial activities from 2010 and the first quart of 2011. Why is this so significant? Normally we would not be seeing these figures unti 2012.
GOMB has adopted a new schedule of reporting that will make financial statements for the available on an annual and quarterly basis, much like how reporting is conducted in the private sector. Illinois’ new reporting methods will not affect the way audits are conducted, however, and those will not be released until a year or more after revenue and costs are available.
Timeliness is often forgotten about when discussing transparency, but real time reporting, or just more frequent, is vital to the access of government data. Bravo Illinois for taking this step!
nexium online
December 7, 2010 by
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The , our ally in transparency, is currently featuring a blog of mine on the :
A closer look at the requirements makes it clear how easy these requirements are to shirk, and how much they leave out. Consider the fact that they don’t include a lot of what “lobbying” is: influencing legislation. Lobbying disclosure laws do not take into account “grassroots lobbying,” which includes urging citizens to contact their legislators to support or oppose legislation.
Click to read the full blog, and read others posts on the while you’re at it.
nexium online
December 6, 2010 by
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Six are already failing to uphold their campaign pledges for .
These six members-elect met in a closed meeting this past Friday to decide on who will serve as the new council president. This is the same behavior they promised to leave in the past prior to elections according to their own words, which was reported in the Dealer-Cleveland.com Voter Guide questionnaire. You can read them for yourself .
nexium online
December 3, 2010 by
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There are three legislative proposals set to in . One bill would require a response to Freedom of Information Act requests in three days. Currently, the does not specify response times.
Another proposed change would require courts to expedite cases involving public records requests, while the third bill would require government bodies to record executive sessions.
Forcing governments to comply to a time frame in answering public records requests is a great step towards more openness. Tightening response times for FOIA responses was one way Illinois dealt with its government transparency problems. And as far as recording executive sessions–what better way to ensure that all citizens have access to open government. Doing so would be in the spirit of the .
nexium online
December 2, 2010 by
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Ex- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s computer has gone missing. Kilpatrick hasn’t seen it, and city officials say they haven’t seen what happened to it either.
“,” said attorney Norman Yatooma, who is representing the family of exotic dancer Tamara Greene, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in April 2003, supposedly after working at a party hosted by the ex-mayor.
City officials have not made increased efforts to find the missing computer, which may store critical e-mails for Kilpatrick’s upcoming trial, and say that the e-mails would not be stored on it regardless.
Terrance Sims, who is in charge of the city’s e-mail system, reported that the city’s servers automatically purge e-mails weekly. Sims also said that e-mails are not monitored due to lack of resources or funding.
While this may not be illegal, it’s cutting it awfully close. First of all it flys in the face of the recommendations. Also, the city moves very quickly to destroy the e-mails, which are counted as .
I find Sims excuse to be dubious—especially when so many open source options exist that would allow the storage of e-mails. Which leaves me with the nagging question of would Kilpatrick’s e-mails have implicated himself or others still working for the city? Hopefully, we’ll find out more when Kilpatrick takes the stand next week.
nexium online
December 1, 2010 by
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Ohio Governor-elect (R) is not shy about explaining why he’ll post resumes of public job candidates: .
Kasich solicited resumes for 4,700 state government jobs, including some high-ranking positions.
He feels that the fact that the hiring process will be public will prevent him from filling all of those jobs. “Why have I felt strongly about this?” Kasich asked reporters. “Well, let me tell you why. When a person applies for another job, it doesn’t make their current employer happy.” He continued:
“Maybe the people that demand all of this openness ought to think about how they want their kids treated. Do they want their kids to be jeopardized because they’re trying to improve themselves and look for another job?”
Kasich was originally arguing that because an external, non-government organization was keeping the resumes, they did not fall under the . But after talking with his lawyer, Kasich realized that it was a fight he was going to lose and has decided to make the resumes public.