I don’t know what amuses me most, that this happens at all or that this happens every year. The computer... View Article
Continue readingTransparency Week Thoughts as Published in USA Today
I’m delighted to have had an OpEd piece published in USA Today today: How powerful is the Internet in getting... View Article
Continue readingBill Allison on the Bridge to Nowhere
Sunlight’s Bill Allison was on Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN last night discussing the Bridge to Nowhere and the votes... View Article
Continue readingStates leading the Way on Transparency Reforms
Fascinating piece on the Wall Street Journal opinion pages today. (Even more interesting because it's not hidden behind their firewall...). It points out numeous examples of how the states are taking the lead in creating greater transparency for how they spend their money. They report that 19 states have passed, or are now working on, legislative or administrative reforms that would hand the public tools to examine government spending.
Even as Washington has fiddled on earmarks--delaying, obfuscating and basically doing all it can to avoid enacting real reform--a transparency movement has been sweeping the nation. Angry over Alaskan Bridges to Nowhere, and frustrated by the lack of willpower in the nation's capital, small-government activists have turned their attention to the states. If ever Washington lagged behind a movement, this is it....That hope is rooted in the idea that the best way to get Americans actively engaged in the debate over the size and efficiency of government is by giving them examples of government gone wrong. Reformers point to the current furor over Washington earmarks as proof. Tell Americans that the size of the federal government increased to a whopping $3 trillion, and their eyes glaze over. Tell them that the Alaska delegation was trying to appropriate some $300 million of taxpayers' hard-earned dollars to build a bridge for 50 people, and they go berserk. Much as they went berserk decades ago at the news the Pentagon had spent $640 on a toilet seat.
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