For all you online media and blog and journalism geeks, this is an interesting post.
It resonates with me because I always click source links, read the “About,” and check to see who is paying the bills before I assess the “objectivity” of something I read online.
Do you?
In re: to this, the always-on-the-ball Victor Joecks at NPRI dropped us a comment with a link to a 2003 National Review story about David Keene, the ACU, and political advocacy groups trying to moonlight as lobbyists. (See here for my earlier post on the current ACU dust-up due to a leaked letter from FedEx.)
It is a sobering piece, and has me thinking about whether people and/or organizations can “do” both effective issues advocacy and paid lobbying while still maintaining philosophical-political integrity.
I suppose it is possible, but it seems to me they are best kept separate and that people ought to make a choice. The temptation to bend and accept lobby money on a “lesser” issue while (rationalizing that) you are still right on all the “core” issues can be great and should not be underestimated. As is often said at round-table meetings where political purity is challenged by the need for operating cash, “You can’t change the world if you can’t pay the rent.”
Unfortunately, once one accepts even a little money for not-quite pure reasons, one has begun to compromise, which makes it that much more likely that the next time a trade-off presents itself, one will do it again. And again.
The next thing you know, you end up like David Keene and the ACU: wealthy, powerful, and part of the problem with politics and public policy debates in this country. You no longer consistently stand on principle, and everything is for sale.
God forbid I ever find myself there.
We must resist the alluring song of those enchanting twin sirens, Money and Power, or in the end suffer our good ship to veer off course or be smashed to pieces on the rocks. The siren song is beautiful; but its end is always death.
Ernest Istook @ Heritage’s Foundry blog has a good post stating concerns about Obama’s new Census Czar and his methods. Seems that Robert Groves supports “statistical sampling” even though the administration (officially, at least) does not. This practice attempts to make “adjustments” for under-counted people by creating fictitious profiles and assigning them a zip code, gender, race, and so on. And then it counts them, just as if they were being counted by a census worker.
The argument in favor of the method is that poor minorities and illegal immigrants are usually under-counted so census results are skewed. The argument against is that assumptions and formulas can be wrong. And that data can be manipulated.
Though I think this needs watching, it is good to note that the Supreme Court ruled (in 1999) that the census has to be an actual count, so there is current protection under the law on this issue. Any attempt to incorporate statistical sampling into the census could be legally challenged. And I assume would be.
Istook’s closing lines are winners:
As Joseph Stalin said, “Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything.”
And so could those who count the voters.
Nevada is ranked 42nd and has an “F” in the Center for Public Integrity’s (CPI) legislative financial disclosure rankings. You can read a summary here and see the state’s report card on legislative financial disclosure here.
(H/T: Geoff Lawrence at the Nevada Policy Research Institute blog)
But transparency is about far more than elections bureau stats. If you want to learn more about all the different ways government can be transparent from organizations who are already doing good work, go here for a list or go to the Sam Adams’ Alliance Sunshine site here.
Thomas Mitchell @ the LVRJ reports on his experience with an open records request down at the County. He got what he wanted, but it’s a good thing he didn’t have a deadline.
Las Vegas Sun political analyst Jon Ralston nails one, but good.
I challenge you to read every single word. Then, if you live in Nevada, take a moment to feel some deep-seated disgust at the passing of a neutered campaign finance disclosure bill that won’t even kick in until 2011. Then contact your Assembly representative to demand that they give the bill’s balls back (and perhaps lend a pair to GOP Assemblyman James Settelmeyer, whose objections against the measure seem pretty wimpy).
And while you’re at it, contact Sec. of State Ross Miller’s office to suggest that they make online filing easier. Chuck Muth said the following about the process as it exists now:
I have a PAC (political action committee) and once tried filing my [financial report] online. And I gotta tell you, it was a royal pain in the you-know-what. The process set up by the Secretary of State’s office is decidedly not user-friendly and is unduly complicated to navigate and complete. No wonder so many candidates, PACs, and ballot advocacy groups opt to simply fill out the forms by hand.
Miller is on the right track pushing for online reporting, but he also needs to get his own house in order. It shouldn’t be too difficult to allow campaigns using, say, Quickbooks, to import the required information directly into the campaign reporting system at the SoS’s office instead of having to type it out separately a second time.
Timely online transparency should be a requirement not only for campaign finance reporting, but for all publicly funded agencies and organizations. It’s something we can all agree on – or should.
Subject link: Check out the Nevada Project at Sunshine Review.
Sunshine Review, a wiki project that empowers citizens to share information with one another about their local government(s), has given every state a “transparency rating.” The rating is based on whether or not they have websites that provide transparency and how much information the website provides.
Categories are: budgets, public meeting minutes, permits and zoning, elected officials, audits, contracts, lobbying, public records, and taxes.
Arizona was #1. Vermont was #50. Nevada is #31. Here are all the rankings:
This and other similar projects are part of a grassroots push for full online transparency in every county across the nation. I fully support the cause.
An online Colorado news source, Face the State, is now offering a monthly award for investigative reporting.
Read the piece that won for March, written by citizen-journalist and Colorado resident Natalie Menten. It is well-researched and obviously deserving.
Why is the existing “local media” so poor at investigating and reporting these kinds of stories?
Why is it left to private citizens to dig and delve (and spend their own money on FOIA requests) as they look for transparency in and accountablity from government?
We need transparency laws in every state. The check registers of state and municipal agencies should be posted online for all to see.
Iain Murray recently had a good post on the general arguments for them, and for meddling or not meddling with them.
At a recent meeting of Nevada conservative and libertarian leaders it was interesting to note that although we each came from different points on the political spectrum and disagreed on some things, we found one general policy area in which we all agreed: fiscal policy. Namely: free market, small (and transparent) government, low tax, balanced-budget approaches.
Well, I am not personally acquainted with Leslie Carbone, but I’ve linked to her before and know she’s a true conservative, a very good writer, a prolific blogger and, perhaps most importantly, a Red Sox fan.
And I know she was abruptly and rather rudely disconnected from a White House conference call this week, after being invited by “The Office of Public Liason” to listen in on Barry Jackson, Assistant to the President for Strategic Initiatives and External Affairs.
She speculates that this post may be the reason she was banned.
Oh Yes, How DARE she tell the truth like that!
Seems to me the WH Liason office needs to do some decent Liasing – and at least apologize.
Beyond that, it really burns me that a few negative words about policy can get a blogger-journalist banned from WH conferences.
Please pass this on so it will spread like blogosfire.
(Hat Tip: Blue Collar Muse)
I’m reading accounts that Senator Chris Dodd’s weighty remarks and swelling ego nearly crushed a few innocent bystanders this morning as he bemoaned the Wall Street greed that got us into this mess.
The Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee uttered not one peep, though, re: his acceptance of $165K in contributions from failing Fannie and Freddie (presumably as payback for his opposition to properly overseeing and regulating them).
No mention either, that he benefitted from VIP insider discounted loans from the (now defunct) Countrywide Financial.
Avarice abounds – but not in me, sayeth he.
After supporting a huge sales tax hike in Cali and quashing the last vestiges of conservative hope for him, Governator Schwarzenegger has slightly redeemed himself.
Prior to signing the new budget into law, Arnold used his line-item veto to totally eliminate the U of California Institute for Labor and Employment. Conservatives in the state say the institute was being used to push pro-union, anti-worker propaganda using taxpayer dollars.
All gone!
(H/T: Friends of ATR blog)
On the subject of lining one’s own pockets under the pretense of helping needy kids:
The Las Vegas Sun reports that Willa Chaney, a candidate for the State Board of Education, owes the Nevada Education Department more than half a million bucks for funds she misused while running a program to provide aid to needy students.
The NV Education Dept. sued Willia Chaney’s company and in August a District Court judge ordered Chaney to pay back the money. The Sun reports:
“From 1993 to 1999 Chaney operated a federally funded program to provide meals to poor children during summer vacations and other school breaks. The state shut down the Smart Start Summer Food Service Program in 1999 after the inspector general identified $1.01 million in questionable expenses.”
Apparently investigators found that Smart Start was serving far fewer children than it claimed in its reports of meals delivered to 13 apartment buildings in Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. Also among the investigator’s audit findings (quoted from the Sun):
• More than $250,000 in salaries was paid to 15 Smart Start employees, “even though they apparently did little or no work” and no time cards were maintained. Chaney’s husband, James, served as the program’s director and her son and daughter were on the payroll.
• Federal money was used to purchase five vehicles. The titles were in the Chaneys’ names rather than in the name of the Smart Start program.
• The program’s costs included $2,000 a month paid to Chaney’s day-care center, Smart Start Daycare, for use of its kitchen and parking spaces. Investigators determined the food program’s facility had ample parking, and the child-care center was paying $1 a year to lease its entire location.
Chaney is running for the District 3 seat on the State Board of Education, which sets policy for the Nevada Education Department and the state’s school districts. She denies any wrongdoing.
I am pleased to point my readers to a new website by the Nevada Policy Research Institute. The site – www.TransparentNevada.com – will bring much needed oversight and transparency to our state and local governments.
If you want to see how your tax dollars are being spent, just go browse the site. It’s easy to use and allows visitors to view and search public employee salaries and overtime (there are some real Doozies!) as well as state and county contracts and purchase orders, lobbying expenditures, budgets, and financial reports.
Since your blood will no doubt be boiling after a few minutes on the site – just the first page of government Salaries/Compensation in Clark County was enoughto raise my BP ten points - you’ll be glad to know the site also features a blog for citizen comments & reporting and links to government transparency resources around Nevada.
In the website’s press release, NPRI president Sharon Rossie said, “There is simply no subsitute for independent, non-governmental oversight of public financing. NPRI is proud to provide this valuable service to Nevada citizens.”
© 2012 Elizabeth Crum. All Rights Reserved.