MARREN: Shine some light on government

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March 14, 2010

By Tim Marren<br><a href="mailto:tim.marren@lockportjournal.com">E-mail Tim</a> The Lockport Union-Sun %26 Journal Sun Mar 14, 2010, 12:01 AM EST

In the newspaper industry, there is always an interest, and rightfully so, in shining light on public figures, contracts, salaries and more government business.

It seems New York newspapers may take the cake in this mission because of how corrupt almost every facet of government is these days.

That shouldn’t be an indictment of all, but let’s be honest — it’s a neck-and-neck race between New York and California in the battle for dysfunction supremacy.

I think New York is running away with it, but I’m biased.

Because of the eagerness of the nation’s newspapers — which by the way, still should the standard in reliable, accurate and trustworthy news coverage of all mediums — Sunshine Week was created by newspaper editors in Florida in 2002. It has now been adopted by newspapers nationwide.

Starting today and running for one week, Sunshine Week is celebrated around the country. Celebrated may seem like an odd word for what some may consider a boring topic, but for us newspaper employees or you, the fan of the printed word, I think it’s safe to assume the freedom of information to you, the taxpayer, is of high importance.

In digging around the Internet for good examples of open government or access to government records, I found seethroughny.com.

What a great find this was.

Empire Center for New York State Policy, a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, established a site where anyone, free of charge, can search the site for public salaries, contracts, expenditures and more.

Basically, if you’ve been accustomed to reading our salary stories over the years where the salaries of school or city officials are listed, now you can do it anytime you like from a Web site. All free of charge.

Now, the access is great, but when paired with newspaper analysis and stories, you have a great package. I know for this newspaper, access to salaries so easily for all government and schools that we cover will make reporting that much easier and more complete.

If there’s a question about pay or a contract, now it’s right at our fingertips.

It goes to show the power of the Internet and online databases, which can’t be denied. It also shows that there’s interest for this type of information 24-7. And the fact that the site seems to funded on donations alone is amazing to me.

Take a moment this week and visit the site. It’s just one of many examples online where you can get information easily and quickly. Type in the name of a senator, supervisor or mayor. Maybe you want to see what your child’s teacher makes.

You can find it all here.

What you find should elicit different reactions, some good and some bad. But keep in mind that in some instances you’re getting good bang for your buck with some teacher salaries, administrators, city or town officials — whoever.

But ... there are some other instances where you are getting burned and may question if someone or some contact is really worth your hard-earned money.

That’s up to you.

Shine some light this week on your government, and see what’s revealed.

Tim Marren is managing editor of the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal. Contact him at tim.marren@lockportjournal.com or 439-9222.

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