The Buckeye Institute of Ohio continues its call for transparency, asking 1,400 candidates for office to sign their transparency pledge. The meat of the pledge cites specific objectives for transparency in every level of government.

I acknowledge and state that, at a minimum, the following items must be maintained on a Web site operated by each government entity:
• Financial data shall include all contracts, the checkbook register, all budgets, collective
bargaining agreements, payroll, all financial audits, and all taxes, fees and other revenues
collected by each government entity.
• Administrative data shall include, with sufficient advance time to comply with notice
requirements and to be useful to the citizens served, notices of meetings and agendas, with
supporting documentation; minutes of meetings, both in draft and approved form; contact
information for elected and appointed officials, including email contact information;
performance audits; a database of voting records; ethics, lobbying and conflict of interest
disclosures.
• Public records process data shall include a public records policy, a record retention schedule,
contact information for public records response personnel, and any forms used, in addition to
regular reports on response times, completeness and other public records performance data
such as number of requests made.
• Jurisdiction and compliance data shall include any relevant constitutions, charters,
intergovernmental agreements, bylaws and other fundamental documents.

Check out Buckeye’s Ohio Sunshine wiki to see the candidates vowing to show you how they spend your money.

Category: Transparency Campaigns