I’m taking a small break from transparency today to post a new video from the Sam Adams Alliance. Go check out the Health Administration Bureau website as well.

For more information, visit the Sam Adams Alliance’s Sammies Rules.

The Sam Adams Alliance’s Voter Integrity Project is offering $1,000 in cash plus flip cam prizes for shockingly good videos that demonstrate citizen activists’ efforts to protect the integrity of the voting process. From VIP’s Ballotpedia page…

The contest’s scope is broad. VIP is looking for both ideas and action, both theory and practice. Acceptable submissions include (but are in no way limited to):

* Rants or demonstrations on how election fraud threatens the democratic process
* Documented instances of election fraud in practice or other suspicious election-related activity
* Any combination of the two

Thinking outside-the-box, being creative and showcasing talents are all highly recommended. One might dress up, go out in public, dance, sing a song, or present a short narrative. Those with more serious personalities may video their vote, ask voters questions about the election process, or document a poll-watching experience. Perhaps even some real investigative work. Ultimately, anything that helps protect the integrity of voting.

The deadline is November 25, 2008. Now get to work on those videos!

Good luck!

Fausta’s Blog hosted John Tsarpalas, the COO from the Sam Adams Alliance, on her blog talk radio show yesterday. The pair had a great discussion that covered capitalism in current events, the role of bloggers in communicating the truth about today’s political environment, as well as the SAA’s projects Ballotpedia, Blogivists, Judgepedia, our very own Sunshine Review, and much more.

Go check it out here!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 26, 2008

For more information:
Isabel Santa, (305) 431-8381

Tackling Parish Websites Can Enhance Transparency

A new website helps Louisianans know more about their parish websites

Chicago, IL – In an effort to ensure good government across the country, the Sam Adams Alliance launched Sunshine Review, a new, wiki-style website focused on evaluating the accessibility of government information and data on government websites. Recently, Sunshine Review users evaluated all 64 parish websites, finding a lack of transparency in over a third of them.

“Sunshine Review was created to make sure citizens nationwide have access to the information they need on government websites,” said John Tsarpalas, vice president of the Sam Adams Alliance.

According to a parish evaluation report on Sunshine Review, many Louisianans are in the dark on who is spending their tax dollars and where it is going. Currently, 25 parish websites don’t provide details about elected officials or their contact information, 33 don’t list meeting schedules or minutes, and 33 don’t post yearly budgets.

“Sunshine Review is performing a vital service to the citizens of Louisiana by identifying the shortcomings of local government websites,” said Kevin Kane, president of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy. “How can we become informed voters without access to such basic information? These wiki-style websites will play an important role in the movement to reform state and local government and Sunshine Review is leading the way.”

Launched in July 2008, Sunshine Review wants citizens everywhere to easily be able to locate basic facts about local governments on city, county and school district websites. The “My Government Website Project” on Sunshine Review has already initiated ratings of local government websites in 10 states. The website evaluation project is part of Sunshine Review’s No Taxation Without Information campaign.

“Technology should be used to make government more transparent than ever. We need to break this informational iron curtain between government and the people,” Tsarpalas said.

During the legislature’s ethics special session earlier in the year, Governor Jindal passed legislation that would increase transparency by creating a searchable database of state spending online.

About Sunshine Review
Sunshine Review is a Wikipedia-like website that enables people to find and share information about whether state and local governments are effective, easy to reach, open, honest and responsible with taxpayer money. Sunshine Review is a project of the Sam Adams Alliance, a national non-profit organization that strives to educate and inform citizens about political issues through new media tools.

For more information about Sunshine Review or to request an interview, please contact Isabel Santa at (305) 431-8381 or izzy@samadamsalliance.org

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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.

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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I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. Do not fear I am back and ready to fight once again for liberty.

A friend of mine forwarded me this recent post from the Minnesota Independent promoting the Sam Adams Alliance’s Sunshine Review Wiki.

The Minnesota Independent is a liberal on-line media source and it was quite shocking to see it highlight and promote Sunshine Review.

I visit Sunshine Review frequently to get updates on open government transparency issues from every state in the nation.

I hope you will click here to read the original post in the Minnesota Independent or click here to visit the Sunshine Review wiki.

Keep up the good work Sam Adams Alliance!!