Herald-Review Highlights Sunshine Week & Transparency Checklist
The Decatur Herald-Review is running a Sunshine Week series and kicks off the week by highlighting the Institute's 10-Point Transparency Checklist
by Brian Costin
March 13 – March 19 marks Sunshine Week across the U.S.
Sunshine Week is “a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know.”
In Decatur, the Herald-Review is running a series of Sunshine Week stories this week “focused on salary expenses in local and state government. The series, and the upcoming Internet information, will tell what public employees are paid and how that has changed over the last five years.”
In their first article this week the Decatur Herald-Review states notes an Illinois Policy Institute resource for guiding local government agencies to pursue better transparency.
The widespread use of the Internet has made a lot of public information more accessible to all. Some governments have taken advantage of this tool to keep taxpayers better informed. Others have not done as much as they should.
The Illinois Policy Institute, a think tank that monitors local and state government, has developed a Ten-Point Transparency Checklist for governments to offer items on their Internet site. Although I havent done an official examination of local government Web sites, its safe to say that no local government meets all of the requirements on the checklist. In fact, most local governments meet only a few.
The checklist states that each of the 10 items should be readily available, and regularly updated, on the governmental bodys Web site.
The editorial by Gary Sawyer goes on to observe:
In my career, Ive covered dozens of local governments, large and small. Almost without fail, the best governments have been those that were the most open. Or to put it another way, secrecy and a lack of willingness to share public information is often a sign that government isnt working well for the taxpayers.
The transparency checklist by the Illinois Policy Institute is without a doubt a high standard for local governmental bodies to meet. A perfect score on the checklist would require a more open approach to government than the law requires.
But why shouldnt governments strive for a high level of openness in their government? And why shouldnt taxpayers demand it?
Sunshine Week is the perfect time to support government transparency efforts. Please consider writing a letter to the editor or proposing the 10-Point Transparency Checklist at local board meeting.