Open Government
Last edited: October 10, 2008
Equal to all the duties that our government performs is a responsibility to communicate the process of those duties clearly.
The openness, or transparency, of government is a vital function of democracy. Democracy only works if we have a well-informed public and to be well-informed we need transparency in government.
Transparency ensures the efficient spending of our tax dollars and the use of our resources by making all decisions in the open and on the record. Transparency means to me that we can review policymakers’ decisions, examine documents, inspect government spending and learn more about how our government functions. There are no secret meetings, secret decisions, or secret spending with transparency.
Kansas recently flunked a “sunshine test” by the Better Government Association, a non-partisan watchdog group that digs into problems and solutions about transparency and accountability in government. The study examined citizens’ access to public information. This is unacceptable.
I endorse strengthening our Kansas Open Records Act and our Kansas Open Meetings Act to include provisions for actively communicating what government does. I endorse setting guidelines for how information is to be made available, for how long, and at a non-prohibitive cost.
But the answer isn’t to hire more bureaucrats to supervise what the current bureaucrats are doing. There’s a simpler, cheaper and more permanent solution: Allow Kansans to review how government spends our money. We would do this by posting all of these records online in an easily browsable and searchable format.
I strongly endorse using 21st Century technology to make sure that these records are kept digitally rather than in a paper copy format, saving the taxpayers of our state millions of dollars in paperwork and filing costs. This solution provides a simple, cheap, and permanent solution that lends itself to any easily accessible and searchable database of public records. This solution keeps bureaucratic costs down and allows Kansans the access that we must have.
Join me in my campaign to increase the transparency of Kansas government.
Go, Sean go!
Please tell me you’re signing up for the Change Congress movement as well?
I love what you’re doing and I, like the person above, am writing to encourage you to participate in the Change-Congress movement!
I really like what I see on the Change Congress site, btw. Thanks!
Kudos to you for rolling up your sleeves and wading in. My only extra comment is that even many prominent online folks (e.g. Digby’s Hullabaloo) provide snail mail donation contact information. Perhaps you could elevate yours to the same level as your PayPal and credit card links. I’m sticking a $20 in the mail in the morning.
This issue would earn you my vote. I’m tired of smoke-filled rooms with closed doors corporate crooks making all the decisions that control my life.
Also, after this you should seriously run for the U.S. House of Representatives.
I bet you’ve heard of these guys by now, but the Sunlight Foundation (sunlightfoundation.com) is all about this. You should talk to them.
I love your ideas and vision for returning Kansas to the present age. Keep up the good work, man.
Hey, a Republican in North Carolina here; I’m not quite ready to donate $8.88 to a Democrat, but you look like you’ve got a lot more sense than most in either party.
Have you ever looked into NAIS? As Kansas is an agricultural state, you’ll find it’s important. the USDA website will tell you one view, and it’s a CLOSED-GOVERNMENT view. The nonais.org website has a different perspective. The fundamental question seems to resolve around whether “voluntary” actually means “mandatory” and whether we still have a Constitution. Your voters (eventually your constituants) will ask you about it.
Oh my gosh - I really hope you win, and please, if you do, continue your career! Go to the Senate! We need more technology-savvy people who are interested in working for their constituency in legislation. Good luck! I hope you win!
Sean, I’m a displaced Kansan, currently living (and voting :( )in San Antonio. However, I try to keep up on Kansas news and politics and I’m happy to be part of your backup (I didn’t make the cut to be in the 3000).
While I thoroughly support your platform, (to paraphrase Renee Zellweger), you had me at XKCD.
Hi, I’m ready to donate, but would like to know if you’re interested in taking the “Change Congress” pledge; or if not, your reasoned objections to it. Thanks!
the Internets are running for office on an honest, open and adorably geeky platform - and in one of the states that needs it most! Go, Mr. Tevis! Go!
I admire your use of soopar sekrit Intarwebz tekneekz to garner support and convey a sense of openness and honesty that’s typically so lacking in candidate Websites. If this is a sign of what the Tubes can offer in the way of changing American politics, we may not be going as steeply downhill as I thought.
I hope you’re interested in stopping the state government from spending money on stupid things (like Phill Kline’s entire term in office) and focus on things that make Kansas successful and an unembarrassing place to live.
Shouldn’t there be something like a giant circle and slash through the closed door graphic?
...or an unsmiley face? Perhaps with tears?
Here is a perfect example of why we need precisly the type of Transparency that Sean is talking about:
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/9/1/123950/4791
“Federal government involved in raids on protesters”, as one of the few people paying attention put it. If the government across the board put information online - made its *decisions* online - the public would be able to both understand the reasoning for outrageous behavior and more easily question it.
Good work, Sean. Best of luck.
-chrsi blask
