Getting serious about governmental transparency

By Lt. Governor André Bauer

In the face of continuing news reports of lost, found, and stolen state funds, I am unveiling the Lieutenant Governor’s Office transparency initiative that can be quickly adopted at little cost by all state agencies, giving taxpayers an unprecedented view of state finances.

As a true conservative I believe that the people, the voters, the taxpayers, my constituents, have an absolute right to know how state government is handling their finances.

Therefore I am as shocked as any other taxpayer to hear about $5 million being stolen from Department of Social Services, one $7,000 check after another for more than five years.

I am as frustrated as any other elected official to hear that while we grapple with cuts to hospice programs for seniors and autism services for children, hundreds of millions of dollars are hidden from public view in reserve accounts by the Department of Health and Human Services.

I am as baffled as any business person that $250,000 for a veterans program can be ‘lost’ in the Governor’s Office, only to be quickly ‘found’ when a legislator calls for an audit.

Therefore I am completely delighted to implement a solution that lets anyone go to the internet and view what is tantamount to the monthly bank statement for every state agency.

This builds on the commendable efforts of Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom to provide taxpayers what are essentially the cancelled checks of South Carolina state government.

But, we can -- and we must -- do much more.

I applaud him for embracing my initiative by going the further step, which places on the internet a current report used by all state agencies and issued by his office – and is the equivalent of a monthly bank statement. It shows not only the checks written, but the balances.

My staff and Comptroller General Eckstrom’s staff are working together to make this process more user friendly. The beginning point is for state agencies to turn these monthly reports into pdf files that can be placed on the internet with little cost. Our objective ultimately is to adapt technology so that these reports become data bases that can be researched by taxpayers.

In the meantime, today I am sending every agency head in South Carolina my personal request that they take the identical steps we have taken in the Office of the Lieutenant Governor.

Let’s restore taxpayer confidence in our stewardship of their money. Let’s get serious about transparency. The people who pay the bills – the hard-working taxpayers of South Carolina – deserve no less.

A watershed time for state government

An Opinion Piece By Richard Eckstrom, S.C. Comptroller General

When you're spending other people's hard-earned money, it's just common courtesy to let them know how it's spent.

That's not a principle always embraced by government. Too often, tax dollars are spent under a shroud of secrecy, and decisions which affect your family are made out of public view.

Fortunately, this is a watershed time for South Carolina government. There's a growing movement afoot to improve and reform government, and chief among the reforms is increased transparency.

Earlier this year, I implemented a transparency measure with Governor Sanford which allows anyone with Internet access to view spending data on state agencies. It’s linked to the Comptroller General’s Web site -- www.cg.sc.gov -- and contains detailed yearly and monthly spending information for 80-plus state agencies. The premise is that state agencies are far more accountable when their spending is done in the open, and the taxpayers should have as many tools as possible to find out how their money is spent.

Aside from allowing taxpayers to see how their hard-earned dollars are used, it should serve as a reminder to public officials that their spending will be seen, and therefore they should act responsibly with your tax dollars. Sunshine, as they say, is the best disinfectant.

Several weeks ago, a bipartisan group of lawmakers announced they’re renewing a push to have more legislative votes recorded for the public to see. There are too many “voice votes” on important issues, they rightly contend, and so they’re now leading a charge to have more votes cast on the record, in full view of the citizenry.

Like the spending-transparency Web site, this would be a tremendous step toward a more open, accountable government. Elected representatives who truly vote in their constituents' best interests should welcome this change.

Empowering ordinary citizens with the access to how money is spent and how their representatives vote will help safeguard the public trust, hold those in charge of our purse strings accountable and allow people to make better-informed decisions in the voting booth. At a time when many believe there is a real crisis of leadership and trust in our country, these common-sense reforms are more important than ever.

Ultimately, an informed citizenry is the watchdog that ensures sound governance.

In an election year, "change" and "accountability" become political buzz-words, so it is encouraging to know there's a serious challenge to the "business-as-usual" mindset which is pervasive in Columbia. Other good-government reforms which will likely see vigorous debate during the upcoming session include restructuring state government so that it operates more efficiently, and capping the growth in state spending so that overzealous government doesn’t outpace our ability to pay for it.

But if we are to truly change the ways of Columbia, we must first change the way we view the role of government: We serve the people, and they have a right to know how we spend public money and how we arrive at decisions that impact them.

Good government can flourish best in full view of the public.