Lack of Transparency in Governmental Spending

“If data is trapped in a labyrinth of bureaucratic red tape, then it’s not actually transparency.”

~Michelle Surka , Director, Campaign for Budget Transparency at The Public Interest Research Group

It got a lot tougher for states to earn a good grade in online transparency for governmental spending, thanks to a new element added to the battery of tests.

For the first time, the Public Interest Research Group included what they call a test drive for this year’s Following the Money Report and Michelle Surka, their campaign director for Budget Transparency cited it as the reason many states saw their grades fall. Since the annual’s first assessment in 2010, the number of states with failing grades has dropped from eighteen to four.

What states are spending to be make information on state spending more accessible to interested constituents ranges from the nominal to the multimillion and Surka told KGNU’s Robin Ryan that spending more doesn’t necessarily translate to a more effective site. She contends site quality has more to do with building a public facing site rather than with an eye toward internal use.

Colorado’s grades have gone as low as a D and as high as an A-, but earned a C+ for this most recent evaluation.

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