Rebuild the Party: New Guards for Transparency

I find it absolutely amazing that these bozos* who were in charge for 8 years are only now deciding that "transparency" is needed.  Just as they, after 8 years of horrid deficit spending, are only now crying for "fiscal responsibility" (which in their books is merely another phrase for "tax cuts").

I am not saying that there should not be transparency now that the Left is in charge... I believe there should be transparency regardless of who is leading.  My comment goes straight to the point of credibility.  Any request from the Right now that says "transparency is needed" is (rightfully) viewed as political baloney from sore losers. 

And this is where Mr. Henke makes a darn good point.  To get that credibility back, the Right has to open itself up, regardless of what the Left does.  And then, they have to keep doing it.

Othewise, they will prove themselves to be crybabies - and I am sure that is not what the folks who elected them desired in their representatives.

*(apologies to Bozo the Clown for the slur on his good name)

The post is a good idea but it would take a while to do anything.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is being looted for trillions of dollars.

If anyone wants transparency right now when it really matters, you have to make it yourself by asking politicians - or at least their policy aides - very difficult questions about the stimulus plan on video and then uploading their response to video sharing sites.

Force those committee members to "explain what they're doing and why" on Youtube, no RNC involvement necessary. Unfortunately, my attempts to get people to do this have failed, but that could turn on a dime if enough people write major bloggers and urge them to push for transparency now.

I've written before that I think the way back from the wilderness for the GOP is via a genuine, principled agenda of good government. Transparency, as the good government idea of the moment, would be an excellent policy for the GOP to pursue because in the first place transparency is important for the long-term health of our democracy and second because the GOP can begin to earn the trust of a broad base of the electorate by demonstrating a genuine commitment to good government.

At the national level our congressional caucus could demonstrate leadership in tune with Jon's suggestions. As we've noted many times here, the GOP minority will not control the legislative agenda in the near-term. However, by choosing to work with the majority on provisions that increase transparency in the Federal government, the GOP caucus can continue to log important achievements while closing the gap between our actions and our values that has recently grown much too wide.

Good post, sir!

...by the collectivisation of the Peoples' voice. I know that sound nebulous, but it is true.

Now, for the first time in history, we have a tool that will allow us to actually collectivise the peoples' voice, independent of government. It is called the Internet. Without a one to two million member strong cyber network of peoples' voices (or more), asking questions, demanding answers, demanding more openness, more transparency, true transparency in government can never be achieved. This type of mechanism will be required because all other mechanisms for transparency in government will simply be illusions created by those in power to fool the people in the name of transparency. Only the People can seek true transparency in government.

ex animo

davidfarrar

Here's two Repub legislators in Michigan who actually did it, as announced by the Mackinac Center today:

News Release: New Legislators Show Up Veterans by Providing Office Spending TransparencyRookie politicians reveal names, salaries of staff 

For Immediate ReleaseWednesday, Feb. 11, 2009Contact: Kenneth M. BraunPolicy Analyst989-631-0900

MIDLAND -Michigan State Reps. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester, and Justin Amash, R-Grand Rapids, have set an example for all of state government by putting the names and salaries of their legislative staff online, said Kenneth M. Braun, director of the Mackinac Center's "Show Michigan the Money Project." Just over a month after taking office, each lawmaker placed a prominent hyperlink on their official Web pages to a detailed list of office expenditures that includes the names and salaries of their legislative aides. This likely makes the rookie legislators the first state officials to be so publicly transparent regarding who is working for them and how much they make.

"The majority of a legislator's office spending is on employees who can be powerful tools for both good government... and not so good," noted Braun, a former legislative aide. In a commentary on the Center's Web site, Braun pointed out that former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's unprecedented hiring of friends and family on the city payroll — and the scandal that ensued — is just one example of why taxpayers should know who is getting public jobs and how much they are being paid.

The new legislators provided this transparency with such ease and speed that it puts to shame veteran state politicians, such as Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who have been talking about transparency for years but have not matched the rhetoric with spending details from their own offices. Last summer, when the Transparency Project asked the governor to put the names and salaries of state employees online, the governor's office replied in writing that "this level of detail provides little value to the taxpayer." The Lansing State Journal reports that it asked for similar information one year earlier and that the governor's office refused to even disclose how many employees were then serving on her or the lieutenant governor's staff.

"It took less than five weeks for two new legislators to show how easily transparency can be achieved," said Braun. "The time for empty transparency talk is over; this example should be followed by all of the state's elected officials."

http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=10263

The reintroduced bill talked about by Greenwald that would eliminate the idea of state secrets privilege nullifying an entire case, rather than certain pieces of evidence? This seems like a useful bit of transparency that both parties can get behind.