Online Accountability

==Demand online accountability==
: By Brad Bumsted, STATE CAPITOL REPORTER, February 4, 2007
HARRISBURG
Eugene DePasquale's heart was in the right place.
The freshman Democrat House member from York and
native Pittsburgher took a huge step in the spirit of
legislative reform when he voluntarily began posting a
summary of his expenses on his Web page.
It's more than other members have been willing to do.
For that, he deserves credit.
However, there can be a potentially huge difference
between what a lawmaker chooses to put in a summary
versus the actual report filed with the House Chief
Clerk's Office.
Legislators, paid about $73,000 per year, are entitled
to expenses of $148 per day when they are on official
business, plus a state-paid rental car, district
office rent and incidentals such as frames, photos,
flags and trinkets for their constituents.
There are major differences on how your lawmakers
spend the money. Some collect few per diems. Others
choose to drive their personal vehicle and get
reimbursed for mileage.
But knowing exactly what your lawmakers are doing with
this money can be as hard to find out as Joe Paterno's
salary.
Well, not quite that hard.
Still, you can't view these expenses without
personally driving to Harrisburg and submitting a
request in writing. You better have money for a hotel
too. It can take days or weeks for officials in the
House and Senate clerks' offices to fill the request.
It's your money they are spending but it's heavily
shielded to protect lawmakers. The first thing clerks'
officials do is notify the legislator that you are
looking it up.
"It's no longer enough to tell your constituents that
your records are at the clerk's office and that your
constituents are welcome to make a trip to Harrisburg
to review the records," said Harrisburg activist Gene
Stilp, an advocate of legislative reform.
It's outrageous that lawmakers get a monthly report
from the chief clerks' offices showing how much money
they've spent but you can't see it.
Years ago, former Rep. Larry Roberts, D-Uniontown, put
those reports on his Web page. He took heat from other
lawmakers for doing so.
All of this information should be available online --
and be complete.
There's a dangerous precedent to be set if legislators
put up their own summaries. I'm not suggesting
legislators would falsify that information. That would
be stupid. It could easily be checked.
But if legislators follow DePasquale's lead and post
their own summaries there's likely to be no
uniformity.
Nothing would prevent a legislator from eliminating,
say, a certain category of spending on the basis that
it's "not important" or combining expenditures to
obfuscate specific expenses.
We keep hearing lawmakers of both parties say they
support "reform" and "transparency."
Legislative expenses are just one of many elements
that need to be addressed.
The best "reform" is always to shine light on how
money is spent.
If lawmakers knew every penny would be posted on the
Internet, you'd see scores of new fiscal
conservatives.
The argument you'll hear against this is, well, it
wouldn't be fair. Just putting these numbers online
wouldn't provide context on how the money was spent,
they'll say. Political opponents could use the reports
to make them look bad.
But the numbers are what they are.
Contact your state House and Senate members and ask
them to post monthly reports and individual vouchers
from the chief clerks' offices on their Web pages.
Both chambers should enact a rule requiring this of
all lawmakers.
It's your money.
Brad Bumsted can be reached at bbumsted@tribweb.com or
(717) 787-1405.
category:accountability
category:news coverage