NDPC Podcast Hits the Information Superhighway

As a part of its “No Taxation Without Information” National Campaign, the Sam Adams Alliance recently conducted an interview with Brett Narloch, Executive Director of the North Dakota Policy Council (NDPC). The NDPC has been at the forefront of government transparency with the development of its Sunshine on Schools website that was discussed on this site.

Click here to listen to the podcast with Jason Stverak of the Sam Adams Alliance and Brett Narloch of the NDPC as they discuss transparency, the NDPC and sunflowers back home in North Dakota.

The North Dakota Policy Council (NDPC) is a liberty-based think tank focused on North Dakota solutions to North Dakota’s problems. They provide credible nonpartisan expertise and research to help North Dakotans advocate policies that are based on individual liberty, individual responsibility, and limited government.

The NDPC seeks to broaden policy debates beyond the belief that government intervention should be the avenue of first, rather than last, resort. They believe that:

* Government can only give to one person what it takes away from another, and that the power to give presumes the power to take.

* Policies intended to affect one person or one group can affect all people and all groups, and that these unintended consequences often cause more harm to the many than any good done for the one.

* Freedom requires responsibility: where government largesse replaces individual foresight it destroys responsibility and, therefore, freedom.

* All times matter. Long-term consequences are as or more important than short-term impacts. Emotional reactions are not suitable substitutes for rational solutions.

Sam Adams Alliance Launches New Gov’t Transparency Site

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2008

New Website Offers Information on Government Transparency

Sunshine Review Website Helps Citizens and Journalists

CHICAGO, IL–Today, the Sam Adams Alliance launched a new website, SunshineReview.org, to over 600 conservative participants and bloggers at the Americans for Prosperity state summit in Austin, Texas. Sunshine Review analyzes government secrecy by evaluating whether if government websites effectively disclose information to the public and media.

“Sunshine Review is a goldmine as it removes the information iron curtain between government and the public,” said John Tsarpalas, president of the Sam Adams Alliance. “Whether you’re a concerned citizen or a journalist on a deadline, Sunshine Review lets you know if government agencies want to share information with you.”

Sunshine Review determines government’s commitment to transparency by identifying if the following items are published online:

• Yearly budgets;
• Open meeting schedules and minutes;
• Contact information for elected and administrative officials;
• Audit reports;
• Bids and contracts for purchases over $10,000; and
• Taxpayer-funded lobbying information.

“By creating a new web 2.0 tool for citizens, we are bringing information online that otherwise would have been kept in dusty government storage rooms,” said Tsarpalas.

The Sunshine Review website is part of the Sam Adams Alliance’s “No Taxation Without Information” campaign to promote greater transparency at the state and local level. Currently, http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Main_Page has 85,550 page views and over 95 contributors.

About Sunshine Review
Sunshine Review is a wiki website designed to call attention to the information gap between citizens and their government, promote the importance of government transparency and openness, and compile existing government information in one easy-to-access resource. Sunshine Review is a project of the Sam Adams Alliance, a new media non-profit based in Chicago.

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