Sunlight Weekly Round-up: Open Government lives to see another day in Tennessee
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Zubedah Nanfuka
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Jun 9, 2011, 5:55:27 PM6/9/11
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Hi all,
This week in open government, Tennessee managed to keep some anti-open government bills at bay: but for how long? Read about the bills that were introduced this year including Mayor Rahm's plan for "Sunshine" in Chicago, on the Sunlight blog: http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2011/06/09/sunlight-weekly-round-up/
This
year brought on a wave of open government bills in Tennessee. Though
most had been created to restrict access to public records, some were in
fact, in support of making public records accessible. Jack McElroy, who
seemed to have ruffled a few feathers (note the comments section),
presents a descriptive round-up of all the bills: courtesy of the
Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. The anti-open government bills
may be revived next year, but for now McElroy is happy to celebrate the
success. Find out who introduced which bill on The upFront Page. http://blogs.knoxnews.com/editor/2011/06/2011-open-government-fight-was.shtml
Ohioans
now have a tool to compare their salaries with those received by state
workers. Created by the Buckeye Institute of Public Policy, the Government Compensation Comparison Tool shows a representation of compensation packages for Ohio’s government
employees by profession for the year 2010. A former public official
herself, Maggie Thurber made a varying comparison from cashiers to
janitors from both the public and private sector and concluded that
state workers are paid more than their private sector counterparts. See
the breakdown on Thurber’s Thoughts. http://buckeyeinstitute.org/ http://buckeyeinstitute.org/job-comparison http://thurbersthoughts.blogspot.com/2011/06/new-comparison-tool-shows-state-workers.html
Ever
wondered whether government transparency laws apply to private
entities? Frayda Bluestein unpacks several cases in North Carolina that
explain conditions in which local contractors can be subjected to open
government rules. She uses the example of Wake County Hospital System
that was once a government agency, then later became independently
owned. The hospital was subject to the public records act because it was
operating as a government agency whenever the News & Observer
Publishing Co requested for a public record from them. In most cases,
the courts decide the kind of relationship a private entity has with
government and that determines if the former is subject to the law. She
lists more factors that can help you decide, on NC Local Government Law blog. http://sogweb.sog.unc.edu/blogs/localgovt/?p=4676
A
new citizen activist in Virginia is taking on civic groups that give
the appearance of broad public involvement in constituents without
presenting proof of that involvement. Alan P. Alborn from Prince
William county is proposing the use of social networking tools including
web sites and wikis, to create virtual "civic associations" that are
aimed at reaching a specific geographic area on-line. He is confident
that this will improve the process of government by encouraging more
public participation. Alborn feels that local government may not embrace
this idea because they think it could “slow things down” and cause
transparency but he is ready for them to be as slow as they want, as
long as they do so while facilitating public participation. Read all
about his endless options on how to use collaborative tools on Albornbiz. http://albornbiz.blogspot.com/2011/06/wikigovernment-you-cant-keep-doing-same.html
Open
government in Chicago is about to get a face-lift. Blogger Mick Dumke
sat down with mayor Rahm’s tech and data chiefs who gave him a rundown
on how and when the city plans to unveil its plan. While describing an
open and participatory government as one of the goals outlined in a
report by the Mayor’s transition team, Dumke reveals through his
interview with the chiefs that the quality of the city’s record keeping
has been a main concern with the residents. See how the mayor’s staffers
plan to use data for transparency but carefully avoid FOIA related
questions on Bleader.