Saturday, December 20, 2008

Still can't see the man behind the curtain

Gov. Steve Beshear has promised to start putting state government expenditures on the internet on January 1, but it is hard not to expect the most revealing information won't be revealed by the site.

The Bluegrass Institute vigorously supports government at every level in the state becoming totally transparent with our tax dollars, but it has been extremely difficult to get most of the politicians to move past the lip-service stage.

For example, Lexington Mayor Jim Newberry said "I want to make government more transparent," but his new web site provides no tools for allowing concerned citizens to find misspent resources.

The information (comprising contracts, policy memos, and individual expenditures) is available; it just remains hidden.

Real, positive change will not come to Kentucky until transparency becomes more than a buzzword and taxpayers are truly given the information necessary to properly evaluate government spending results.

2 comments:

Hempy said...

Neither does the city of Louisville have a map of all the properties (private for profit and non-profits) that are not on the tax rolls.

Nor do citizens have any clue as to how much it's costing Louisville for all these bogus "economic incentives" and non-profit free-loaders living off the rest of us taxpayers and property owners.

So, the mayor wants to have short-term layoffs of public employees and to cut necessary public services.

It'd be better to rescind these "economic incentives" of private for profit businesses, and assess local property taxes on all these and all non-profits including houses of worship and all their other property holdings.

Metro Council isn't too keen on providing this kind of information either, or suggesting such changes as to who pays local property taxes.

LawFilly said...

The best way to tell a politician is lying is WHEN THEY "OPEN THEIR MOUTH".

I am so sick of JERRY ABRAMSON and STEVE BESHEAR I WANT TO PUKE.

SOMEONE SHOULD FEED "BESHEAR" A WORM BECAUSE HE ALWAYS HAS HIS MOUTH OPEN LOOKING FOR A HANDOUT!!!