Eaves ends his essay by noting that good open data portals are collaborative: they encourage feedback from users and take it into account. I would say collaboration is one of the chief reasons to have an open data site in the first place. One thing’s for sure, though, and that is that if governments don’t have a sustainable open data site, they miss out of all the benefits of it, including collaboration.
August 25, 2010 by viagra prescription In years past, contracts have been negotiated behind closed doors, by a small council committee.
The unions in question are the Firefighters Local 558 and the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 100. The entire negotiation process seemed a potentially volatile situation that somehow remained civil and efficient.
August 24, 2010 by
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Have you ever heard of ? Probably not. It’s a small town in Texas with 6,500 residents, and it happens to be one of the technological hotspots for Gov 2.0.
Manor is currently , like See.Click.Fix., QR codes (those bars that cell phone can scan), and a virtual suggestion box that’s gotten up to 2,000 comments from the small town.
And while I’m happy to see a small town work hard for civic engagement, I wish I’d seen a stronger transparency score. Manor scored a “D” transparency score on SR, and failed to post things like contracts or even e-mails for their city council. I hope to see Manor continue to be cutting edge, but I also would like to see them cover the basics first.
viagra prescription Manor updated it’s website within a day of this post and doubled it’s transparency and improved to a “B” transparency grade.
August 23, 2010 by
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I have had jobs where I have to report my hours, and am familiar with time sheets. They are certainly annoying, but I never lamented it too much. I always felt that my employers had a right to hold me accountable.
Turns out there’s a version of time sheets for governors. And in , there’s also an equivalent to the employee who doesn’t fill out his time card, or who doesn’t work. It’s hard to tell.
schedule for the first six months of 2010 showed an , according to the Texas Tribune. And 38 of his weekdays had “no state scheduled events.” Perry responded that he simply doesn’t write down much of his work for the state.
This is certainly not the norm. obtained detailed schedules kept by his fellow big-state governors:
Perry’s counterparts in California, New York and Florida do write down what they do. New York Gov. David Paterson’s schedule goes so far as to include drive times between events. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lists “cigar time” on his schedule. And they make their schedules readily available to the public. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist puts his schedule online every day.
Perry in all likelihood just isn’t reporting his schedule. Perry’s schedule makes no mention of a series of conference calls that Gulf Coast governors held regarding the BP oil spill. On one of the days on which log shows a phone call with Perry, Perry’s schedule reads “no state scheduled events.”
“Many times the governor was on [the call], [and] many times his staff was on,” says Katherine Cesinger, a Perry spokeswoman. “If the governor didn’t call in, it’s not necessarily on his schedule.”
The article goes on to compare the approach of all of the governors examined to reporting their work, and to how this affects their approach to their jobs. It also focuses on other aspects of Perry’s transparency record, and notes that Perry’s office deletes official e-mails every seven days.
The practical consequences of transparency are prevention and weeding out of fraud and corruption. But on another, more personal level, open government and instill trust in our elected officials. Perry may not be up to anything fishy, but it wouldn’t hurt him to share more information with Texans about his professional activities.
August 19, 2010 by
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A local watchdog group got more than they expected when they sued Bloomfield township for . It was revealed that a lawyer was retained by Councilwoman Patricia Spychala for violations of the Open Meetings Act and more. According the paper:
“Kologi states he was retained to represent Spychala in regards to a lawsuit by several police officers suing for the alleged wrongful selection of Mark Leonard over Christopher Goul for police chief. The correspondence also states he represents Spychala for an alleged violation of the Open Public Meetings Act, after she and others were accused of meeting privately with Leonard prior to his selection.”
Now a has been launched to look into the situation. This is an excellent example of why pursuing public records, even when you have to file a lawsuit, is so important.
I hope you’ll join us for tomorrow, 2-3 EST, where we’ll have Kenneth Bunting from the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) speaking with us about FOIA litigation and the , which helps groups fund them.
August 18, 2010 by
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The Boston Globe reported that it takes months to process in Massachusetts. The State Ethics Commission is in charge of these forms.
The forms, called Statements of Financial Interest, detail financial holdings of state and local officials. A state law requires the filings be available during office hours upon request. Still, in practice, the forms are difficult to procure.
requires the state notify an official when a request to see his or her form is submitted, which contributes to the lag. 29 other states post the forms online, and most of the rest make the forms publicly available in their offices.
Thanks to The Globe’s story, however, . It’s a good thing, too. Information that’s inaccessible in practice may as well be inaccessible by the law. The result is the same, which is citizens left in the dark.
is the answer. Senator Brian A. Joyce (D) and Representative Anne M. Gobi (D), members of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight, both suggest the state post the disclosure forms online from the get-go. They suggest an amendment to the 1978 Massachusetts law that would allow the Ethics Commission of the state to post the forms online.
Some officials are even taking the responsibility to be open into their own hands. Steve Grossman, a Democratic candidate for state treasurer, posted the forms he has filed on his website.
A spokesman for the Ethics Commission previously said that the commission was trying to find ways to process the forms more efficiently.
What’s more efficient than proactive disclosure?
Thanks to for the excellent story.
August 17, 2010 by
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I’m excited to announce that Kenneth Bunting from the National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) will be joining us for FOIAchat this week! The organization is a alliance of organizations, academic and First Amendment centers, journalistic societies and attorneys. Bunting is going to be speaking with us about the , which helps to cover the costs of FOIA litigation.
This is a great opportunity for any Q&A you have about FOI litigation, so make sure you come prepped with questions. If you won’t be able to make it, leave a question in the comments and we’ll make sure to ask on your behalf and record the answers in our .
Just a reminder:
August 16, 2010 by
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Last Friday on , our live Twitter chat on issues, the Dover, New Jersey open meetings ordinance came up. The ordinance required citizens to . Why? As the Mayor stated, “With today’s technology, people can edit, tape, doctor or alter the real intent of what’s discussed.”
(It is true that video tapes can be altered. So can basically anything else that’s recordable.)
But last Tuesday the Board of Alderman .
Alderman Pat Donofrio, the only member to oppose the ordinance at its introduction two weeks ago, was pleased with the proposed law’s defeat. Not only did he see the law as unnecessary, by more seriously, Donofrio also saw it as a “reactive response” by Mayor James Dodd to restrict recording the meetings by certain residents.
Edward Correa, founder of the group , said it was nonsensical to expect citizens to hand over recordings. It was also harmful to open government. “There were too many regulations that would have discouraged people from taping the meetings.”
Luckily, this ordinance was defeated. But governments and officials keep trying to defeat open records and open meetings laws. In of the . Let’s stay informed and make sure attempts like these to limit our information don’t make it very far, and that we have officials like Alderman Donofrio looking out for transparency government.