| Louisiana Launches Transparency Database
Spending transparency has come to Louisiana! Visit the new government spending database, LaTrac (Louisiana Accountability and Transparency). The database resulted from an executive order by Governor Jindal and the authorization of the legislature. As the Commissioner of Administration, Angele Davis, said, “This is an important event, an extraordinary step forward, and a historic reform initiative for Louisiana and its pursuit of better, more accountable government…Today we begin to empower four million citizen auditors to monitor what the state spends and to judge whether it’s wise, necessary, and achieving results.” To learn more, visit the database itself or the Coalition’s page on Louisiana’s level of transparency.
News from Rhode Island: The Money Trail Posts State Payrolls
Residents of Rhode Island can get recent information on how much state employees are paid. On Monday, the Rhode Island Statewide Coalition Foundation issued a press release, detailing how payroll information is available on its independent transparency website, The Money Trail. For example, we can learn that in Fiscal Year 2007-2008 Governor Carcieri earned just shy of $120,000, whereas Kenneth Marandola (a Lieutenant in Rhode Island’s police force) earned nearly $135,000. Where citizens can find such salary information is exactly what we’ve been collecting on the Coalition’s most recent collaborative project. Visit it to contribute information about your state’s public employee salaries.
Montana Independent Transparency Site
Montana, like many other states, still lacks spending transparency. But thanks to independent transparency sites, citizens can still get involved in the movement to open government. For an outstanding example of how transparency should be pitched to citizens and legislators, visit the Montana Policy Institute’s transparency project, www.bigskysearch.info.
These and other developments in transparency news are encouraging. To quote today’s article by Richard Eckstrom, Comptroller General for South Carolina, “Desirable characteristics of a healthy system of government are openness, honesty and respect toward those whose hard-earned tax dollars pay for necessary government services.” That being the case, “at a time when so many have lost their faith in government and when the cost and spending of government is skyrocketing, sunshine is more important than ever.”
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