Government transparency

Publication: The Montana Standard

Editorial
July 8, 2007

Watchdog groups in Washington, D.C., are keeping an eye on our Montana politicians and letting us know how they're doing. The Sunlight Foundation recently contacted The Standard about a simple way for Montana's congressional delegation to become a national leader in terms of government transparency and accountability. All it would take is for Sen. Max Baucus to begin publishing on his congressional Web site his previous day's schedule.

Making good on a campaign promise, Sen. Jon Tester has been posting his schedule online since he started, and more recently, Rep. Denny Rehberg began doing it. If Baucus joined in, "Montana's would be the first state congressional delegation whose members all open their work schedule to the public," according to Ellen S. Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit founded in January 2006 to work on strengthening the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents.

"The idea of having an entire congressional delegation posting their schedules is significant," Miller wrote. "It guarantees that every citizen in Montana gets to know how their members spend their time and how they represent the state." She acknowledged it might not always be easy for lawmakers to reveal when they've been meeting with lobbyists, for example, or attending fundraisers. But as long as they're "soliciting a wide range of viewpoints, meeting with the humble as well as the high powered," their public schedules can demonstrate they're doing the people's work.

A quick check of Tester's Web site on Friday showed a relatively light schedule for last week, given the July Fourth holiday, but all of the senator's public Montana stops for the week were posted online. Similarly, Rehberg was back in Montana last week with a sparse schedule over the holiday.

We agree with the Sunshine Foundation that it's important for representatives to be open about how they spend their days, and the online posting of schedules is a good start. With just three people representing the fourth largest state in the country, our congressional delegation already faces a great challenge in trying to stay in touch with Montanans, and this is one relatively easy way to keep people in the loop.

Another watchdog group, Citizens Against Government Waste, is urging members of Congress to make all their spending requests public. Senators were required to submit their final requests for earmarks to the Senate Appropriations Committee by May 15, according to the group's Web site, and the similar deadline for House members was April 27.

"On behalf of the taxpayers who will pay for these projects, and in the name of transparency and accountability in government, CAGW is asking all members of Congress to make their requests available to the public," reads the group's Web site.

A list of House members who have and have not responded was updated June 29 and indicates that Rehberg responded "No" to the request. An updated Senate list is to be released in the next few weeks. So far, Tester and Baucus haven't responded either way.

This, too, presents an excellent opportunity for lawmakers to demonstrate that they are truly working for the folks back home, and we urge our whole Montana delegation to be forthcoming with this information. While some politicians have proudly stated they didn't request any earmarks, we believe there is a place for federal funding in some state and local projects and the people have the right to know what lawmakers are requesting on our behalf.

As the watchdog group says, it is our money after all. Sometimes elected officials at all levels of government have a tendency to forget that very important fact.