Trust But Verify
Open Government Is Better Government
J
oseph
C
oletti
D
eCember
2009
POLICY REPORT
NC Transparency
trust but verify
|
open government is better government
policy report
Trust But Verify
Open government is better government
J
oe
C
oletti
D
ecember
2009
Table of Contents 2 Executive Summary 4 Financial Transparency 8 Process Transparency 11 Regulatory Transparency 14 Conclusion 14 Notes
The views expressed in this report are solely those o the author and do not necessarily refect those o the sta or board o the John Locke Foundation. For more inormation, call 919-828-3876 or visit www.JohnLocke.org.©2009 by the John Locke Foundation.
John locke foundationtrust but verify
|
open government is better government
E
xecutive Summary
Governments have been seeking ways to adopt oradvertise their eorts at open government, sun-shine, and transparency. Recent history is rie, how-ever, with examples o how they have ailed – suchas Gov. Mike Easley’s nancial dealings and the holein the state health plan.Open government helps build trust with tax-payers. Tools that improve openness with taxpayershave also helped government ocials and manag-ers better use their resources. Some state and localgovernments ound ways to save money throughimproved transparency.
Financial transparency
is an important step to- ward open government. Online budgets, contracts,salaries, and check registers make inormation moreaccessible. Corporate nancial statements providea model in clarity and accessibility. Too many gov-ernment documents are not searchable in any way. When tied to outcome measures such as test scoresin education, this greater accessibility can providebetter insight about which government programs work and which ones do not.
Process transparency
opens the closed doorselected ocials try to hide behind when dratinglaws. Putting bills online 72 hours beore debateand voting begin, instead o in the middle o thenight the day o a vote, would leave ewer surprisesin legislation. Five-year scal projections or stateand local budgets would also make clear the impactso program changes over time, not just or the yearor two a budget is in eect. Governments shouldalso take urther steps to publicize their meetingsbeorehand, record their proceedings, and makeminutes or archived recordings available online.
Regulatory transparency
means making theproceedings o non-elected bodies as open as thoseo the legislature, county commissions, and towncouncils. Proposed regulations should be easier tond and understand or those with an interest. Thestate auditor or an independent body should per-orm any audits or perormance reviews. Reviewsshould cover not just how well an agency or pro-gram accomplishes its mission, but also whether themission is appropriate or government.
W
hy Transparency Matters
Open government is needed or a healthy democ-racy. Yet much o how government operates is un-known.
Carolina Journal
rst reported on Gov. Eas-ley’s nancial dealings in 2006,
1
but it took until Bev Perdue took oce and opened state police recordsor details to emerge.
2
The state spent as much as$226 million in excess cost or mental health ser-vices over three years. It took months or the coststo become large enough to gain attention and theull extent o the problem was not realized until thelegislature’s Program Evaluation Division presentedits ndings in July 2009.
3
The $250 million holeor 2009 in the state health plan also caught legisla-tors by surprise.
4
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Trust But Verify: Open government is better government
Governments have been seeking ways to adopt or advertise their efforts at open government, sunshine, and transparency. Recent history is rife, however, with examples of how they have failed – such as Gov. Mike Easley’s financial…
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