Mr. Rudy had some simple questions, but it wasn’t simple trying to find the right person to answer them. He contacted the governor’s office, who directed him to the treasurer, who directed him to the auditor and comptroller, who ultimately directed him to the 12 agency heads in charge of dispensing $114 million of taxpayer dollars. Did you get all of that?

These were Peter’s questions:
1. Is that money just sitting in the Treasury waiting for the next fiscal year (starts July 1st) so it can be used?
2. Has any of the money been spent already? If so, on what?
3. If it has been spent, is it the governor that determines that or the agency head?
4. Was the legislature involved in any way (again meaning for any spending in the current fiscal year)?

To read about answers to these titillating questions, go check out the Oklahomans for Responsible Government blog:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Here’s a hint of how it went…

[T]his little exercise shows how far we have to go for true transparency. I can go online with my checking account and see every check that I’ve written and where my debit card has been used and for how much. Yet I can’t find out how $114-million is spent by state agencies without specifically inquiring with each agency. I hope that the transparency and accountability for Oklahoma stimulus dollars is an ongoing process and will become more transparent. Because taxpayers deserve to have clear information presented. They shouldn’t be forced to hunt for it.

• Changes for thousands of dollars in private expenses for him and his family on a trip to Mississippi
• $15,000 in cash advances for two employees, including his sister that holds a position as his administrative assistant
• Money paid towards his nephew who only worked eight hour days but received pay for nine

In addition to these purchases, Flowers still could not account for 70% of the receipts for charges made on this government card as mentioned in the previous blog entry. The state’s attorney will have her hands full as more details are uncovered regarding just how much taxpayer money was wasted at the command of Superintendent Flowers.

Less that a year after his election, he approved a $6,000 cash to his sister Barbara Flowers. “These repayments were to occur each pay period stating on April 4th 2008.”

When the state auditor general became involved it was found and reported that, “the payroll register does not show any repayments between this date [April 4, 2008] and June 30, 2008.” This money, paid out illegally, and unbeknownst to the taxpayers, was used for various personal purchases whose receipts have conveniently been hard to locate. When asked about the allegations of theft, Dr. Flowers claimed that the bills were “repaid from his personal bank account.” Apparently the money was taken and paid back, all without proper documentation that would come with having the receipts on hand. No harm right? It will be interesting to see what the Illinois State’s Attorney will think of that story.

When it is all said and done, I think it’s safe to say that the taxpayers of greater Suburban Cook County will be calling for greater transparency within the district’s expansive public budget.
Actions that Cook County taxpayers will likely call for might mirror the measures that just have been enacted in Freeland and Bullock Creek schools in Michigan. These two schools are the first in the state to post their checkbook registers online as part of a ‘Show Michigan the Money’ statewide transparency project by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Ultimately, something tells me that this will not be the last case of abuse we hear of within the public school systems in Illinois. This will especially be the case if the budgets become available to a wider range of taxpayers and watchdogs interested in where their money goes; both for planned projects and anything illegal in nature that might be going on.

In March, the government transparency Web site Sunshine Review completed transparency evaluations for all 3,140 counties in the country. Each county Web site was evaluated against a 10-point transparency checklist that consists of information Sunshine Review and its sponsor, the Sam Adams Alliance, believe should be easily accessible by the public: budgets, taxes, contracts and lobbying efforts are a few examples. Unfortunately, the level of transparency found in most Illinois counties confirmed what most citizens already know. Open and honest government in Illinois is the exception, not the rule.
…
This week is Open Illinois Week. A project of the Illinois Policy Institute and Sunshine Review, Open Illinois was created to empower everyday citizens to demand transparency from their county government and at the same time give people the tools to hold their county officials accountable.

Concerned citizens throughout Illinois are being urged to get involved in the political process and contact their county commissioner (board members, council, executives) and ask them to sign the Open Illinois transparency pledge and commit to meeting the criteria of the Sunshine Review transparency checklist.

After contacting your county official, report back to the public what he or she said and did. Sunshine Review is a wiki-based Web site, which means everyday citizens can create a log in and go to the Open Illinois Counties Project and make certain their elected officials are accountable to their constituents.

Check out the Open Illinois Week project on Sunshine Review and do your part to ensure our government is responsive and accountable to its citizens.

* ILLINOIS: The Chicago Tribune started an Open Records help desk to display “Strategy, help and stories about getting public information in Illinois”. Good move from the Trib, since Chicago’s Mayor Daley routinely denies FOIA requests.

Another IL piece worth reading is the Mill Creek Times’ analysis of its local government website. It mentions that Mill Creek Special Service Area is “absolutely deficient” when graded on the standards set forth in the Sunshine Review checklist.

* MICHIGAN: The Clare Sentinel published an excellent letter to the editor titled, “Grandmother spearheads transparency effort to put school district check registers online.” The letter demonstrates that school transparency is much easier than most people think. It takes just minutes per day!

* OKLAHOMA: Oklahomans for Responsible Government, a fiscal watchdog group, lamented the lack of county transparency in the Sooner State, and revealed their new transparency initiative regarding school districts.

* TENNESSEE: Governor Phil Bredesen announced a new website, TN.gov, that increases transparency by listing vendor payments and employee travel reimbursements and salaries.

* FEDERAL: President Obama is working to roll back union transparency laws. According to the Heritage Foundation, these regulations make union officials more accountable to union members and deter fraud and embezzlement.

“I’m not presuming there is great malfeasance in these districts. It’s more of a good community relations thing. We think everyone should do it, not just school districts, but other levels of government. It establishes trust within a community in a situation and time when the trust is kind of shaky.” Indeed, one Michigan district signed on after a payroll clerk embezzled more than $1 million before being brought to justice. In another Michigan school system that now complies with the checkbook project, the FBI and Justice Department prosecuted two employees for stealing, he said.

According to Sunshine Review, school districts should have the following information on their websites:
- Budget
- School district government meetings/agendas
- Elected officials of the school district
- School district administrators
- Lobbying/advocacy
- Access to government records and public documents
- Contracts with teachers and support staff
- Contracts with vendors
- Tax burden
- Criminal background checks
- Academic performance

The Sam Adams Alliance’s own Paul Miller also had a good point in the article:

“With transparency, you are going to have more school districts accountable to children and the parents instead of unions and special interests,” Mr. Miller said. “It’s a huge no-brainer. Parents have a right to know how their money is being spent on their children’s education.”

Let us know if you are interested in helping out with the My Government Website project on Sunshine Review. Volunteers are building new articles every day to help make our government more transparent, more accountable, and ultimately more effective.

The Sunshine Review community has evaluated the level of transparency of official government websites for all 3,140 counties in the United States. Sunshine Review’s ten-point transparency checklist is now being utilized by government agencies all over the country as a guideline as they create and implement transparency projects. Watchdog groups, journalists, and public policy organizations are turning to Sunshine Review as their go-to source when measuring government transparency.

We owe a big thank you to our online community of sunshine volunteer contributors, citizens who use Sunshine Review to check up on their government, journalists and bloggers who write about our work, and our financial supporters.

Now, onward to the next challenge!

Unfortunately, Democrats didn’t think so, and it went down in the House Education committee in a party-line vote, 8-5. According to the Independence Institute, education associations contributed the following amounts to the committee members:

*Name of Rep - Total Amount from Education Lobby Organizations - Vote on SB 57
*Randy Baumgardner - $0 - Yes
*Debbie Benefield - $6,975 - No
*Tom Massey - $500 - Yes
*Michael Merrifield - $5,250 - No
*Karen Middleton - $3,125 - No
*Carole Murray - $0 - Yes
*Cherylin Peniston - $4750 - No
*Kevin Priola - $0 - Yes
*Christine Scanlan - $5,000 - No
*Sue Schafer - $5,750 - No
*Ken Summers - $0 - Yes
*Nancy Todd - $4,650 - No
*Judy Solano - $5,750- No

So do you think those contributions made a difference?

This is an embarrassment to Colorado. Shame, shame, shame on the reps that didn’t vote for open government during SUNSHINE WEEK of all times. I am guessing the voters in your districts may reward you with a similar “no” vote in your next election.

You can read all of the twists and turns at Sunshine Review.

More on the education lobby’s strategy against SB 57 at the COST blog.