A MAJOR NEWSPAPER ENDORSES OUR EFFORTS!  EDITORIAL

The Daily Journal of Kankakee endorses our efforts to bring openness and transparency to Herscher CUSD #2.

A solid statement of postition from a newspaper with statewide reputation.

Editorial: Your government

05/05/2008

Adam Andrzejewski has a good idea.

Andrzejewski wants to promote open government by having school districts and other entities post all their checks and transactions on the Internet.

Good idea. Should have been done years ago, but not a panacea, as we will see. It would be especially challenging in Kankakee County, which, at times, cannot even figure out how much its employees are paid, in answer to a simple question.

Andrzejewski points to the Kankakee School District, which has been "torn apart" over the supposedly unauthorized purchase of a laptop computer by the now lame-duck superintendent. If the transaction had been posted up immediately on the Internet, people might have acted more rationally with the proof right before their eyes. There might, we hope, have also been a deterrent effect. If people realize their expenses would be open to the public, they might act with more caution and responsibility. Maybe. Then again, maybe not.

Years ago, in response to complaints about campaign spending, the federal government and the states enacted procedures forcing candidates to reveal their donors. Such laws are still imperfect, but eventually you can trace down who gives to whom. Of course, the media drumbeat for spending limitations has just about died now that Democrats outspend Republicans, but that's another story.

But the openness only works, you see, if people pay attention. When reports first became public, some 20-30 years ago, media would regularly report them. Now, they, in many cases, are too boring. Quick, turn the channel to Entertainment Tonight. How is the Sudoku puzzle coming?

In the long run, our leaders are only as responsible as we demand them to be. Every time we allow some official to lard the public payroll with his relatives, or award a fat contract to a donor, or pretend expenses are none of the public's business, good government dies a little bit.

Post public expenses on the Internet. Maybe, they can get them to come up like a pop-up, so they will be right in our faces.

The editorial is now archived clicking the link below will take you to the Daily Journal website, then search "Adam Andrzejewski" to find the editorial.