OK courts shuttering cases from public view
11 August, 2008
A Tulsa World study has shown that over 2300 court cases in Oklahoma have files sealed by district court judges since 2003.
Joey Senat, past president of Freedom of Information Oklahoma, said he was surprised by the amount of sealed records.
“I had heard of this going on in other states, but I’m really disappointed this is happening to the courts in our state,” Senat said. “This is a real indication there are two systems — one for the rich
and powerful and one for the rest of us. The public has been left out of this process.“One thing we need to remember is that the judges who are signing those orders are elected and the court clerks are elected. If we want our records to stay open and stay available, we need to be aware of who we are electing as court clerks and judges. Open government needs to be the issue.”
Agreed. A transparent government (including courts) allow citizens to feel they are receiving fair treatment and exposes errors and conflicts of interest to public and legal review.
One advocate suggests the way to keep yourself out of an open record is simply to keep your life out of the courts.
Mark Thomas, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association, said society should be moving toward openness.
“It gives the appearance that justice is for sale in Oklahoma, like it was 50 years ago,” Thomas said. “We should avoid that appearance at all cost.
“On occasion, there is a valid reason to seal a court record, but it should be an extreme rarity. If the public pays for our court system, then we ought to know who it’s being used for. If you want privacy, settle your affairs in private.”
Public servants, such as judges, should balance the need for sealed court cases against the public interest. When there is no real public safety or juvenile privacy concerns, the records should be as open as possible.
PA Legislative Candidates Answer Questions on Reform & Ethics
10 August, 2008
In the wake of continued scandalous in the Pennsylvania State Legislature, the Patriot-News asked Legislative Candidates a series of questions on ethics and reform.
Here were the questions asked by the paper:
It’s certainly on the minds of people running for the Legislature. In a follow-up to conversations with state officials on legislative reforms, The Patriot-News asked their challengers their thoughts on the matter. What specific reforms do you support? Do you agree with state Attorney General Tom Corbett that a culture of corruption exists in Harrisburg? Do you support a special legislative session on ethics reform? Should House Majority Leader William DeWeese, D-Greene, should resign from leadership.
It is good to see the mainstream media ask candidates for office their opinions on issues facing the voters.
Here are their answers:
JUDY HIRSCH, a Democrat seeking the 15th state senatorial seat held by Republican Jeffrey Piccola Reforms: “Make budget negotiation transcripts public; impose limits on campaign contributions of $2,500 for individuals and $10,000 per candidate for political action committees; require lobbyists to disclose all expenditures; put a nonpartisan body in charge of redistricting; and increase funding for the State Ethics Commission to ensure they have the resources to investigate complaints.” Culture: “I can’t speak to the ‘culture’ of the Legislature. The appearance is that there’s too many people that think they’re above the law. I think it’s time we have new blood and new energy.” Special session: “I’m not sure what would be accomplished in a special legislative reform session that couldn’t have been accomplished over the last term, where bills were sitting in [Piccola's State Government] committee.” DeWeese: “I think he probably has a tough sell as to why he should remain in the leadership post. It will be dependent upon his caucus and what his caucus decides.”
SUSAN KISKIS, a Democrat seeking the 31st state senatorial seat held by Republican Patricia Vance Reforms: “I don’t know anything right now that’s currently being drafted. Over the past several years, 51 reform bills have been stalled on issues ranging from posting government salaries online to preventing state agencies from hiring lobbyists with tax dollars. I support those bills.” Culture: “It is a cultural matter. I think it’s very widespread.” Special session: “Yes. It’s a fortunate moment to have it because it should have been done years ago.” DeWeese: “I’m not prepared to answer that. I’m not familiar with the specifics of individuals. I’ve been trying more or less to run my campaign focusing on reform overall and not trying to be bogged down by the politics that is happening right now.”
MARGIE STUSKI, a Democrat seeking the open 88th state House seat Reforms: “A complete a review of leadership accountability; open all legislative accounts for complete disclosure; expand the Freedom of Information Act; create a stronger barrier between government and campaign work for state employees who are also on campaign payrolls; mandate that the legislature work 12 months a year; and rotate leadership positions and committee chairs every few years.” Culture: “From the time I graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, I’ve said it’s not a culture. It’s individuals who are trying to get their own power and putting their own preferences above everyone else’s.” Special session: “No. I would have very serious caucus meetings during this downtime, reorganize every caucus and have the caucuses become the models for how to do things. They’ve got to sit down and figure out how to operate the Capitol. Special sessions are a press stunt.” DeWeese: “Two years ago, I said he is not my choice for House leader. I certainly would not vote for him. It’s in the best interest for him to step aside and handle the allegations, similar to what Sen. [Vincent] Fumo just did.”
SHERYL DELOZIER, a Republican seeking the open 88th state House seat Reforms: “Consider reducing the size of the Legislature, consider implementing ideas from the Speaker’s Commission on Legislative Reform, possibly limit the amount of time someone can serve as committee chair, and make sure bills that need to get out of committee, get out of committee, and let legislators debate them.” Culture: “I hate to cast a wide brush because I don’t think it’s the entire culture. It’s the few that didn’t abide by the rules.” Special session: “Yes, there are changes that are needed, and I think we have to take that first step.”
PATRICIA GARCIA, a Democrat seeking the 104th state House seat held by Republican Sue Helm Reforms: “Remove influence of special interest lobbyists; eliminate the perk lifestyle; … reduce legislators’ monthly allowance; eliminate bonuses; provide full transparency of all caucus accounts.” Culture: “Yes, but a lot of things are hearsay, so we don’t know until people are really brought to justice.” Special session: “Yes. Also, there are a number of things that could be addressed just among the members themselves. For instance, the people need to be present when they’re voting. I think there are a lot of rules that are in place, but no one’s really policed them.” DeWeese: “I would wait until I had all the facts. Nothing against your paper, but I don’t count the paper all the time as my resource for all the facts.”
GREG SCUDDER, a Democrat seeking the 199th state House District seat held by Republican Will Gabig Reforms: “I would support stepped-up enforcement of existing measures. As a candidate, I don’t know inside the Legislature what the rules are in terms of financial reporting requirements, but we should really audit those records and take a look at where the money is coming from and to watch for inconsistencies or patterns that would indicate some form of abuse.” Culture: “It’s isolated to a few powerful individuals. I mean that in the broadest sense, across the federal, state and local governments.” Special session: “I don’t know the specifics enough to really say yes or no. I support anything that is going to improve the ethics of our Legislature, but I think it’s a matter of enforcing the current laws that are related to campaign finance.” DeWeese: “If a court found that there were crimes committed and he was one of the people that was looking the other way, then yes, under those circumstances. But until it’s all shown and proven, I don’t have a statement one way or the other.” Some responses were edited for space.
Two candidates did not return three calls from The Patriot-News for this report: Phyllis Bennett, a Democrat running for the 106th state House seat held by Republican John Payne; and Daniel Stephenson, a Democrat running for the 98th state House seat held by Republican David Hickernell.
Click Here to read the original story.
Collin Co, TX claims victory in race to disclose
10 August, 2008
Collin County, Texas, claims to be the first county in the nation to publish its check register online, according to The Collin County Observer.
Granted, the website is all PDFs, so you can’t search or convert easily to a database or spreadsheet like Excel for sorting and analysis, but nevertheless Collin County’s publishing this data is a huge step forward in transparency of government.
I hope that future improvements will make the data searchable. The state figured out how to do it, so can our county.
Congratulations, Collin County commissioners. Thank you for providing the information taxpayers need to have faith in their government, and for being a leader in county-level transparency.
Now- onto a searchable database…
David Rogers is right- Transparency is best
8 August, 2008
David Rogers had a great column in the Wicked Local Topsfield site a few days ago. It has a great opening…
When it comes to storing leftovers, clear plastic wrap is preferable over aluminum foil. The main reason being is that you can find out what’s been going on since you placed the pizza slice or turkey sandwich in the refrigerator merely by looking. Local governments should be just as transparent.
It’s difficult enough for journalists to peel back the foil and find out what a local government has been up to. For taxpayers, it’s even more arduous. Yes, meetings are open to the public and are broadcast on local cable channels. The minutes of meetings are available as are the e-mails of all public officials. But meeting the standards of the Freedom of Information Act isn’t enough to stop residents from feeling like their officials are hiding things from them.
Rogers goes on to describe a situation in Topsfield, MA where the local town board made two appointments to the conservation commission, over the protests of the existing commission members. Feelings were hurt, and resignations were handed in for all but the two newly appointed members. All of that local town drama adds up to one thing- a bad taste in the mouth of Topsfield residents. Public disclosure and discussion of the documents regarding the new appointments would have lent an air of respect and transparency to the proceedings.
Let this be a lesson for all municipal, county, state, federal, and all levels of government in-between: It pays dividends to be transparent; financially, and most importantly, in public trust.
Bloggers denied press releases, Part II
29 July, 2008
Scott White from Scott’s Morning Brew continues to document his difficulty in convincing the Suffolk, VA press office to send him routine press releases. In his follow-up post, he includes email correspondence from Dana Woodson, Suffolk city (and taxpayer-funded) FOIA officer. Since Debbie George (old media communications professional) continues to rely on the crusty “bloggers aren’t real media” argument to escape her duty to send the press releases, Mr. White was forced to request the public information via FOIA.
Scott was able to purchase June pressers for an excessive $15 and can only receive them via snail mail on CD. Additionally, Woodson refused to email the press releases to any blogger. I thought I would check out the city of Suffolk’s website to learn more on their communications policies. This is what I found:
We promote rapport and goodwill between the City and the community we serve through the interchange of ideas and the assessment of public opinion. In addition, we have the responsibility to seek public input and involvement in the affairs of City government and to establish effective two-way communications between the City and its constituents for everyone’s mutual benefit.
Oh really? Rapport? Goodwill? I’m not sure that’s how I would describe Suffolk’s current communication with the public. Now, I’m not in the habit of predicting the future, but it doesn’t take a genius to see “public service” employee difficulties becoming a hot topic next election cycle.
American Majority- you might want to check out Suffolk for some responsive activists…
Bloggers denied Suffolk, Portsmouth VA press releases
25 July, 2008
When is government transparent enough? Is it enough for a city or county to send press releases to newspapers, hope to get covered, and think that’s enough information for the taxpayers to know? And who makes the decision on when enough information has been distributed- The person hired to disseminate information, or the taxpayers funding the city employee’s salary?
Deme Panagopulos from Suffolk, VA seemed to have a reasonable request when he asked Debbie George, the Suffolk City Communications Director, if he could join the city mailing list to receive press releases. Panagopulos wished to post the information on his blog, Inside Suffolk Virginia, which exists to urge greater transparency within city government. Unfortunately, Ms. George replied that she didn’t consider blogs to be news sources, and if she added one blog, she would have to add other blogs that requested the information.
GASP! Someone had the audacity to ask a city communications person to communicate information to more than the mainstream media??? Outrageous!
Ultimately, this standoff is not about whether a blog is a credible source of information (in most minds, that fight was won years ago), but it is about having an open, transparent government that is responsive and accountable to taxpayers.
Dave Forster from PilotOnline.com quoted Panagopulos: “First of all, we have a city that claims to be open and transparent. I question that at this juncture.”
Alarmingly, blogger Scott White from Scott’s Morning Brew had a similar experience:
I personally received the exact same reaction from Ms. Claudia Cox-Wynn in Portsmouth when I asked her to place me on the mailing list for news releases. “That’s a blog!” she said. “I can’t send you this stuff. I have people to answer to.”
Well I’m sorry folks. This IS the new media. Like it or not.
New media or old- it’s the responsibility of government employees to keep taxpayers as informed as possible on all the ways their money has been/will be/might be/could be/should be spent. Less information available = less citizen oversight and involvement. And we all know the result of that.
Pennsylvania’s Searchable Contract Database Unveiled
23 July, 2008
Pennsylvania Treasurer Robin L. Wiessmann opened a new searchable transparency site yesterday that allows taxpayers access to information on state contracts. The database was created to comply with PA’s new Right-to-Know Law signed into law early this year.
According to the WSJ, the database seems to have been carefully crafted for usability.
To aid in public use of the database, the Pennsylvania Treasury Department is requiring agencies to supply summaries with every contract for easier access and identification. In addition, when searching for a contract, the Pennsylvania Contracts e-Library will also provide links to any related contracts, such as amendments or purchase orders, to allow users to more readily track the evolution of an agency’s transactions with a particular vendor.
The Pennsylvania Treasury Department launched the Pennsylvania Contracts e-Library in just four months by holding focus groups with users and building the online portal for the database.
Additional parts of the Right-to-Know legislation will be enacted on Jan 1, 2009.
Sam Adams Alliance Launches New Gov’t Transparency Site
17 July, 2008
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.
###
Liberal Minnesota Media Source Promotes Sunshine Review
17 July, 2008
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!!
New ammo for activists: TexasBudgetSource.com
9 July, 2008
Yesterday, The Next Right talked up the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s new website, TexasBudgetSource.com, which compiles Texas transparency data in one place.
Talmadge Heflin, from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, wrote:
This week, the Texas Public Policy Foundation launched a new website, www.TexasBudgetSource.com. Texas Budget Source supplements “Where the Money Goes” with detailed budget analysis of state expenditures over the past 20 years, links to the online check registers of more than 150 Texas school districts, lists of counties and cities that have posted their budget information online, and more.
While Texas taxpayers are busy earning a living, taking care of their families, and paying their taxes, they deserve to know that their tax dollars are being used judiciously by the state and local governments that are spending them. www.TexasBudgetSource.com empowers more of Texas’ 24.1 million residents to become taxpayer watchdogs, making government more transparent and accountable for its spending and tax practices.
With these tools in the hands of taxpayers, elected officials in all levels of government should quickly get the message: “If you can’t defend it, don’t spend it!”
Great work!
