Washington Examiner

By: Michael Barnhart
OpEd Contributor
March 15, 2010

This week marks “Sunshine Week,” highlighting the importance of transparency and freedom of information.

Government transparency matters because it guarantees access to information that empowers every citizen to hold government officials accountable for the conduct of the public’s business and the spending of taxpayers’ money. Official accountability to the citizen is the cornerstone of self-government and liberty.

Without transparency, there can be no accountability. And, without accountability, there is no self-government, and “government of the people” becomes government over the people.

Opportunities for government transparency have never been greater. The Internet allows direct, low-cost access to virtually unlimited quantities of documents and data, while an array of telecommunications devices can instantly transmit information to millions of citizens simultaneously.

But for all the power of these technologies, the vast majority of state and local governments fail miserably at transparency.

On March 9, Sunshine Review announced the recipients of the “Sunny Award” to state and local government Web sites scoring a nine or 10 on a 10-point transparency checklist of information about taxes, budgets, contracts, audits, permits and officials’ contact information.