The Center for Public Integrity

PaperTrail BlogPaper Trail Blog

RSS Feed

ACCOUNTABILITY: Let the Sun Shine In During Sunshine Week

By Andrew Green | March 16, 2009, 2:35 pm

image This marks one of PaperTrail’s favorite weeks of the year. No, not Spring Break. Sunshine Week.

Sunshine Week, led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, revolves around two questions that every citizen has the right to ask: What is the government doing? And why is it doing it?

Over at Sunshine Week headquarters, they’ve posted a lot of valuable info. What jumps out to PaperTrail is the 2009 Survey of State Government Information. The survey found that, while more information is available digitally, “some of the most important information is being left offline” or requires payment to access. In some states that includes records as basic as death certificates.

Starting with a list of 20 government records, the survey offers a state-by-state breakdown of how digitally accessible those records are. And while you’re at it, tell us your stories about looking for public records online.

Check back with PaperTrail as we celebrate Sunshine Week with additional coverage, including a tutorial on how to file a Freedom of Information Act request.

Next entry: POLITICS: Eric Holder and the Chamber of Commerce
Previous entry: ENVIRONMENT: More Coal Ash on the Way?

Comments (2) | Add a comment Print this





  • Please enter the word you see in the image below:

  • Facebook

Comments

  1. Posted by: rpughperry on March 29, 2009, 8:01 pm

    The current whistleblower laws are woefully inadequate in regard to the rise in corruption across the spectrum of business and government.  As these incidents of corruption rise, so do the number of government employees who know the specifics of what happened.  Unfortunately there are few if any protections for those civil servants who are punished for knowing whether they ever blow the whistle or not.  There are instances of intergovernment collusion that span from the local to the federal level but no point of entry for exposure because those who are sworn to protect refuse to act.  My concern is what will be done to ensure the safety of and justice for these type employees and exposure of the wrongdoers who clearly have no intention of turning themselves in?  I asked this question of openthegovernment.org but got no response.  Public Citizen inquired if I had received a response from openthegovernment.  I responded that I had not and pretty much posed the above to Public Citizen.  They said it was a great question but had no answers.  I believe this matter should be fully investigated.  Talk about shadow government…

  2. Posted by: Peter Newbatt Smith on April 08, 2009, 11:44 am

    To rpughperry:
    It sounds as if you’re already familiar with how limited the protections for whistleblowers currently are. In addition to OpenTheGovernment.org and Public Citizen, two other groups very involved in this issue are the Government Accountability Project (www.whistleblower.org) and the Project on Government Oversight (www.pogo.org). Groups like those, as well as the Center for Public Integrity, try to inform the public about the existing problems and proposed remedies (though the Center does not advocate for one position or another on such issues).
    But if your question is “What will be done?” that’s above our pay grade. Congress and the president will ultimately decide this. Last week several groups, including those named above, called on President Obama to address the issue. Here’s a news release (http://www.pogo.org/pogo-files/alerts/whistleblower-issues/wi-wp-20090401.html) and a news report (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2009/04/a_new_coalition_of_good.html).
    Thank you for your interest.

    Peter Newbatt Smith
    Research Editor
    Center for Public Integrity

Add a comment

Do you have an opinion about this post?
Log in / Register to become part of the conversation!

Search this section

The Center Blog, PaperTrail The Data Mine The Daily Watchdog
Popular Tags

President Obama, Election '08, Environmental Protection Agency, Politics, politics, Energy, Coal Ash, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, John Murtha, Environment, Transportation, Freedom of Information Act, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, Public I Podcast, Federal Election Commission, Justice Department, Tennessee, Alabama, Blue Dogs, Bill Buzenberg

Sign Up

Receive important updates by e-mail.

User Log In



Forget your password?

User registration

Become a fan
image Follow the Center

Stay Connected

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter and get the latest from our in-depth investigations, articles, interviews, blogs, videos, and more.

Support the Center

Your support will help us bring you more investigations, articles, interviews and news related materials relevant to U.S. politics and politics abroad.

Donate

About the Center

The Center for Public Integrity is dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern in the USA and around the world.

More about the Center

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

The Center’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is a collaboration of some of the world’s leading investigative reporters. ICIJ extends globally the Center’s style of watchdog journalism, working with 100 reporters in 50 countries to produce long-term, transnational projects.

ICIJ website