Transparency in government
As you know, we at RT are very supportive of Randy Kuhl’s commitment to doing regular town hall meetings with constituents. Rotten suggests that Kuhl follow the lead of Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from Albany (NY-20), and take the next few steps in the direction of transparency:
First, she’s published her daily schedule on her website. This might seem like a small thing, but she’s one of a half-dozen members (and two senators) who do so.
Second, she’s tried to increase the number of grant applications in her district. According to a Albany Times-Union story, she’s had her staff launch a “grants central” section of her website to help connect constituents with available federal grants. As I’ve explained here earlier, the grant process is far more transparent than earmarks, since it requires that grant applicants meet a set of requirements mandated by law and supervised by non-political federal appointees.
These are two simple, non-partisan, good government reforms. The 29th deserves the same level of transparency from its representative.
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[...] Transparency in government Filed under: Democracy — jr @ 2:53 pm Transparency in government [...]
the only issue with this is privacy for constituents. i work in an assembly office and many folks who come in are worried about retaliation for bringing issues to us. and i figure that if people released schedules with 12-1pm undisclosed constituent people would decry that as un-open or dishonest folks would hide their secret appointments under the guise of privacy.
That’s a very interesting point.
[...] speak of the devil, and here are Randy’s Town Hall meetings, like little maids all in a [...]
and my comment is not to say it is a bad idea. maybe albany/washington schedules could be released, since rarely are ‘regular’ constituents there. it is usually associations, groups, or lobbyists if you prefer. officials nor groups should be embarrassed of meeting, unless of course, they have something to hide.