Land of the cheese, home of the brave
20 October, 2008
This past weekend I had the opportunity to meet some of the awesome Wisconsin blogging community at SamSphere Milwaukee, which was co-hosted by Americans For Prosperity-Wisconsin. SamSphere is a project of the Sam Adams Alliance, which seeks to recruit, train, and connect free-market bloggers in hopes they will work together to enact local change. Some of this change occurs through highlighting corruption or a lack of transparency.
Check out some local bloggers with a history of shedding some light on government actions:
Wigderson Library & Pub
No Runny Eggs
Badger Blogger Alliance
Badger Blogger
Wake Up America
Conservative Young Professionals of Milwaukee
Washburn’s World
There are many others… if you know of some good ones, list ‘em in comments. Thanks to everyone that participated and helped with SamSphere- can’t wait to come back up!
Victory! Local activist makes court transparent
13 October, 2008
Local Oklahoman activist David Starkey won a battle for transparency this week when judges in Rogers County will once again allow the public into courtrooms. Starkey had documented several instances of the public turned away, including where District Judge Dwayne Steidley had posted a sign that said “Only Defendants are allowed in the court room. Family and friends must stay in the hallway.” In other words, Taxpayers: I’ll send ya the bill, but don’t expect any access to justice.
Starkey, who has a long list of grievances regarding the Rogers County courts, started a website www.rogerscountygrandjury.com to document abuses of power and other court-related issues.
The Oklahoman picked up the story:
The closed-door practice isn’t confined to Steidley’s courtroom. Next door, during a criminal docket Wednesday, a sheriff’s deputy said Special Judge Erin Oquin would have to approve any party other than attorneys before entering.
The Rogers County policy left one open government advocate aghast.
“That is unbelievable,” said Joey Senat, past president of Freedom of Information Oklahoma and an associate professor of journalism at Oklahoma State University.
Presiding Judge Dynda Post ordered Judge Steidley’s sign down and scheduled a meeting to make sure judges are allowing the public into courtrooms.
Thank you, David Starkey and other activists, for helping to make these courts more transparent. One small victory for Rogers County… one giant leap for taxpayer access.
Too much of a good thing… is a good thing.
8 October, 2008
I was perusing the new and fabulous Open Illinois blog when I came upon a post describing the bullying tactics Ridgewood High School District 234 is using against Riccardo A. Mora of Norridge, Illinois. Mr. Mora’s offense? Too many FOIAs, that is, he requested 21 Freedom of Information requests since February 08.
“I decided to investigate, gather facts and quotes from reliable sources…[and present] that information to my neighbors for their consideration,” says Mora.
Mora requested numerous items from the school district, including expenditures, capital plans, audits, and notices. He is interested in seeing just how the district spends taxpayers’ money prior to a November vote that will determine whether property taxes will increase to fund the schools.
Wow- using public information gathered from the school district to become informed on a bonding-type issue seems… radical? The school board apparently thought so, as they retained the services of the Schartz, Lipton and Taylor law firm of Chicago to deal with Mr. Mora’s FOIA requests. The firm sent a letter letting Mr. Mora know they are keeping an eye on him.
Your numerous FOIA requests demonstrate that you are mis-using FOIA as a vehicle to address personal issues rather than public interest…The use of FOIA to further a personal rather than public need is clearly an abuse of the Act…We are writing at this time to make you aware that we will work closely with the District to scrutinize and future FOIA requests propounded by you upon the District to insure they are within the spirit of the Act.
Read the rest of the law firm’s letter here.
Mis-using FOIA? What is the purpose of the Freedom of Information Act? Well, in Illinois, the purpose can be found in Section 1:
Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public employees consistent with the terms of this Act. Such access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest.
(emphasis mine)
Sounds like Mr. Mora is doing exactly what the Act was designed to enable- citizen activism and oversight. Here’s an idea: Ridgewood High School District 234 should volunteer to be more open with taxpayers, so FOIAs aren’t necessary to see how their tax dollars are spent. (See the Sunshine Review transparency checklist for ideas.)
Furthermore… schools should consider teaching children how to petition their government through FOIA requests as a way to bring civics back into the classroom. This would promote citizen involvement and allow more people to keep and eye on what’s happening behind the doors of government. After all, Responsible Citizens = Responsive Government.
A dose of Common Sense for California
15 September, 2008
Great transparency article from Paul Jacob on Sept 12th. (reprinted with permission)
You can see this article as well as Paul’s other columns at ThisIsCommonSense.com:
© Is for California
You might think that there’s nothing a government won’t try. You’d be right. But I was near stupefied to learn that the state of California copyrights its laws. And it’s not alone.
The state tries to control — through copyright — how you can access its laws, where and how you store them, etc. The state makes available its building codes, plumbing standards and criminal laws online, but requires you to ask for permission to download them!
The state’s out to make money. It charges $1,556 for a digital version, more for a print-out, and makes nearly a million dollars a year selling what is legally ours.
Yes, what’s ours. We are a nation of laws, not of men, and we have the right to own and reprint our laws as much as we want. The purpose of copyright is to ensure private parties can maintain some control over their intellectual property. But the laws themselves are, in point of elementary political theory, the intellectual property of all. Not of state bureaus.
Thankfully, heroic Internet technician and mover and shaker Carl Malamud believes in government transparency. And he, unlike Al Gore, really worked to help build the Internet.
On Labor Day Mr. Malamud published the whole California code online. Available for free.
Obviously, Malamud is spoiling for a fight. Good. He should win it. He has, after all, the law (if not the state) on his side.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
Weeks to Sedgwick Co commission: No transparency, No TIF
28 August, 2008
Bob Weeks, a free market activist in Sedgwick County, KS, is fighting the development of a TIF district that will benefit school board member and real estate developer Reverend Kevass Harding. Weeks reports that a conflict of interest exists for Harding, who is a member of the school board that is required to agree to the TIF, along with the county commission. Actually, the school board and county commission do not need to approve anything, but rather just not veto the proposal within 30 days.
From Weeks’ blog, Voice for Liberty in Witchita:
The best solution is for Reverend Harding to withdraw his request for the creation of the TIF district that benefits his development. Then there is no problem with conflicts of interest. This is also congruent with Reverend Harding’s votes to increase taxes while a member of the school board. His business would pay the same taxes he demands others pay.
Failing that, one way we could handle this situation is that the city could ask the school board to agree to pass a resolution agreeing to the TIF, even through they aren’t required to do this. Then Reverend Harding could publicly acknowledge his conflict of interest and step aside.
Although I don’t pretend to know the correct course of action in this particular situation, I do believe it’s these everyday little abuses of power and cloaked deals that make citizens disgusted with the political process. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (and probably again, and again, and again…) public servants need to be voluntarily forthcoming with all conflicts of interest, personal benefit, and offer detailed plans to taxpayers. This is the only way to restore faith in our system and in the public officials that make taxing and spending decisions on behalf of others.
