[speedgibson] Speed Gibson: Why we need Transparency

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Posted by Speed Gibson:
Why we need Transparency
http://speedgibson.powerblogs.com/posts/1194803079.shtml


   Grover Norquist of [1]Americans for Tax Reform was on The David Strom
   Show October 3rd, [2]first hour. He was promoting a fairly new concept
   called Transparency, where the nitty gritty of goverment operations is
   posted on the web. It's a "power to the people" concept, where all of
   us can examine the data without having to file Freedom of Information
   (FoI) requests.
   The big problem with FoI is that you need some idea of what you're
   looking for, and invest time and money in filing the FoI paperwork.
   You may not get what you want, or in a form you can understand. You
   may not get it in time to be useful (Amy Klobuchar). You may not get
   it at all (Hillary Clinton).
   Take the case of MnDot executive Sonia Kay Morphew Pitt, [3]fired this
   week for a number of reasons. What was her undoing? The collapse of
   the I-35W bridge. She would otherwise have her job today, possibly for
   as long as she wanted it. This tells me that MnDot Commissioner Carol
   Molnau has some explaining to do, but that's for another post.
   Suppose we had Transparency, where all travel expenses for all public
   employees is routinely posted on the Web. Someone might have noticed
   what is going on, like a reporter or a blogger. More likely, a
   concerned or otherwise disaffected co-worker might drop a hint to the
   press, starting the ball rolling.
   On a more positive note, maybe these employees would think twice
   before padding their expense accounts or even taking trips of marginal
   value. By extension, supervisors would realize they cannot simply
   approve expense reports. Trust, but verify.
   As good as our various agencies responded to the recent disaster, it
   would have been better still had a (better) MnDot emergency response
   executive been on site. This is an excellent example of why we need
   Transparency.

References

   1. http://www.atr.org/
   2. http://townhall.com/talkradio/show.aspx?radioshowid=16
   3. http://www.startribune.com/10204/story/1538793.html