Transparency in Government Act for New Jersey

Senator Joe Pennachio of New Jersey (R-Morris) has sponsored legislation that would create a website allowing taxpayers to see how tax money is spent int the state. The bill was proposed in 2008. The Senate approved the Transparency in Government Act, 29-3, on Thursday and has moved into the New Jersey Assembly.

“A number of states already authorize taxpayers to track their tax dollars online. This affordable, common-sense program will provide information in a user-friendly format that can be accessed from homes, libraries and businesses. It is long past time that we listen to taxpayers who are demanding that Trenton be accountable.”

This came just in time. An editorial in the Courier Post Online complains about the lack of transparency in New Jersey. “It’s not 1995, where people are just starting to get the Internet in their homes. It’s 2010.” Citing the US PIRG’s report on state website transparency (which we include on our state website evaluation articles) which graded New Jersey an “F” for their lack of a government transparency website.

Sunshine Review gives the New Jersey website an “A” for the amount of information disclosed.

The data that would be accessible to the public following the Transparency in Government Act are:
*disbursements by state agencies,
*receipts and deposits by state agencies,
*agency earnings,
*annual state bonded indebtedness,
*bond debt services,
*salaries and wages,
*contractual service purchases,
*capital outlay and improvements,
*aid to local units of government,
*annual state revenue,
*taxes, and
*federal grants.

Four of these items are items on our 10 point transparency checklist. As for the rest, those items alone should be enough to greatly decrease the amount of Freedom of Information Act requests the state received. This will turn out to benefit the state and the people: people won’t have to wait to get the information they are due, and the government won’t have to expend as many resources on providing this information by just providing it upfront.

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

Pornographic Pictures Bring Down New Jersey Lawmaker

Today, New Jersey State Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D) submitted his resignation effective immediately following pornographic material being found his official, taxpayer paid for computer.

According to PolitickerNj.com, “Cohen checked himself into an undisclosed mental institution last week after the Attorney General’s office seized computers from his legislative office. A staffer in the office found what are alleged to be pornographic pictures of minors on Cohen’s computer.”

This is another example of government corruption where an elected official believes that he is not required to follow the same laws as the everyday citizen.

It was reported that Republican and Democrat leaders of the New Jersey Legislature immediately ordered all legislative computers be equipped with the most advanced internet filtering software.

The question all taxpayers should be asking themselves is why wasn’t this software already installed?

It is sad that another elected official has betrayed the trust of the people that elected them to office.

Shame on you!