Kentucky transparency on the up after several downs

Kentucky’s transparency website, www.opendoor.ky.gov is being recognized by the Center for Study of Responsive Law.

Kentucky’s transparency has since greatly improved. Last year, the Center for Study of Responsive Law criticized the state for not publishing the full text of state contracts online, and the state would have been considered one of the worst on transparency.

This year, however, Kentucky has taken the initiative to change. In April this year, Kentucky was recognized as the only state to receive an “A” rating for transparency in a report published by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, whose findings we include on our state website transparency evaluations.

In addition to its transparency website, Kentucky operates http://kentuckyatwork.ky.gov, which publishes information about American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects.

Another sign that Kentucky is seriously committing to transparency is Senate Bill 88, which passed and will soon become law. This bill requires more transparency from taxpayer-funded organizations such as the Kentucky League of Cities and the Kentucky Association of Counties. The Kentucky Association of Counties, at least, is taking their new mandated responsibilities seriously. It aims to become a model for other taxpayer-funded lobbying associations as far as their accountability standards.

I’ll end this post with a hopeful quote from the Center for Study of Responsive Law that summarizes the significance of Kentucky’s turn-around:

“Kentucky went from a worst performer to one of the best full-transparency states all in one year. This remarkable progress demonstrates the ease and speed with which all states could open their books to their citizens.”

Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations get perks of government money, commit to none of the responsibility

Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations aren’t government entities. Technically.

But these associations receive money from governments, which get this money from taxpayers (hence “taxpayer-funded”). And all of this is behind closed doors; as far as I know, these organizations do not need to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests (but I’d love to be proven wrong). Of course, there is the lobbying that these organizations do, none of which is made obvious by governments to its citizens. Transparency is necessary here.

Unfortunately, some of those associations are fighting just that. In Illinois, the Illinois Municipal League has been a leading voice in opposing changes to the Illinois FOIA, changes that have strengthened the open records law in attempt to fight the problems the weaker version of the law has led to. (Editorialization: It seems unjust for your money to help fund an effort to decrease your ability to hold government accountable.)

Besides lobbying, taxpayer-funded lobbying associations play other influential roles in government. They can be involved closely in important governmental decisions, again highlighting the need for transparency.

The South Suburban Mayors & Managers Association in Illinois is one example. Trustees of Flossmoor, a city in Illinois, had to approve an amendment to reduce the amount of federal stimulus money allotted to cities by the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association, to use for resurfacing a stretch of Flossmoor Road. That’s right: an organization with no accountability to taxpayers is alloting American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money. The association went on to request of each of its member towns that received more stimulus money to free up stimulus where possible to free up funds for use by other towns. Perhaps this is a great idea. But the problem is that an association with, again, no accountability to citizens and no need to make their dealings transparent, is behind such significant and influential decisions.

Since the lines between nonprofit and public entity are so blurred, and because the associations often have an intimate role in government, it only makes sense that taxpayer-funded lobbying associations make their activities more public. Or that member governments take the initiative in proactive disclosure. It is, after all, your money.

New Jersey taxpayer-funded lobbying confuses taxpayers and Senator

The National Taxpayer’s Union is a little irked about taxpayer-funded lobbying. They way they describe it, the practice boils down to governments “spending tax dollars to persuade the state Legislature to give them…more tax dollars.” And NTU asks two important questions:
*Couldn’t that money be used more wisely?
*Why do towns even need these lobbyists?

Two questions governments have a duty to answer to taxpayers. NTU also noted a common argument against taxpayer-funded lobbying: “Municipalities should be a priority for their state legislators, who are elected to represent those very towns.”

The main problem for NTU, however, isn’t necessarily government lobbying, but rather the lack of transparency and accountability. Laws on public lobbying are not as demanding as those on private lobbying. It therefore becomes easy to obscure the already-convuluted chain that taxpayer dollars go through in order to end up as payment to lobbying firms. The solution is better legislation. State Senator Loretta Weinberg in New Jersey (D-Bergen) has introduced a bill in the New Jersey legislature that would require towns to report any lobbyists they hire, the purpose, and how much the firm was paid.

The senator, like NTU, is also confused by the practice and questions the necessity of taxpayer-funded lobbying. “Why do they need a middle man? Municipalities are our most important clients. Towns don’t need a lobbyist to come to my office. I can’t remember a single time when I thought they were getting their money’s worth [by hiring lobbyists].”

At Sunshine Review, we’ve been working to find and compile information about taxpayer-funded lobbying and taxpayer-funded lobbying associations. Please join us in adding to public understanding about what it is that your government does.

For more New Jersey resources, see the links below. And be sure to join us at #FOIAchat on Twitter tomorrow from 2-3 pm EST, where we’ll be live chatting about FOIA in the news.

*New Jersey state website transparency evaluation
*New Jersey cities
*New Jersey counties
*New Jersey school districts
*New Jersey taxpayer-funded lobbying

You and I hold them accountable

The Reason Magazine blog has a funny post today titled It Depends on What the Meaning of the Word ‘Many’ Is:

In his recent interview with Fox News, President Obama promised that “the final provisions [of the health care bill] are going to be posted many days before this thing passes.” Yet The New York Times says a House vote is expected on Sunday, and “the Senate could pass the reconciliation bill [making changes to the health care bill sought by some Democratic congressmen] as soon as next week.” According to The Washington Post, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the health care bill “would be posted to the Web site of the House Rules Committee sometime Thursday morning.” As of noon Eastern time, it does not seem to be there.

Wait, that isn’t funny.

The easy part of transparency is demanding information, and listening to promises. All of this reverence paid to the idea of transparency may even serve the purpose of making people more aware of it as an issue. However, we have to hold politicians to their promises, not just ask for them. And we have to look at and try to understand information, not just demand good freedom of information laws.

For example, Attorney General Eric Holder had drawn much attention to his commitment to transparency. The fact that government has experienced absent accountability, selective transparency, and increased secrecy under the current administration is less touted. This article on the Examiner: Chicago draws attention to the fact that, while elected officials are basking in their own praises about how open and transparent they’ve been, they have failed to deliver on any of those promises—it is just praise and promises and more praise.

So as a small reminder: don’t forget. Don’t forget when someone promises information, and doesn’t give it to you. And hold someone to their transparency promises, even if the promises are vague. Remind officials of what they have stated they will do, and if they still fail to deliver, remind them with your ballot.

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