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Whose budget is it?
Budget-transparency legislation merits Gov. Kaine's support
Date published: 1/8/2008 VIRGINIANS might imagine, in this age where democracy and technology intersect, that they could examine the state's budget to the nth detail with a few computer keystrokes. They would be surprised to discover that most legislators lack that capability, and that budget minutiae are the closely guarded jewels of a few dozen lawmakers who aren't itching to share them with Joe Commonwealth. Now, however, Gov. Kaine and legislators have a chance to crack the elite's information armoire wide open.Yesterday in Richmond, two state senators--Centreville Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Fairfax Democrat Chap Petersen--and Del. Ben Cline, R-Amherst, were to have unveiled proposed legislation on the eve of the 2008 General Assembly that would make every jot and tittle of the state budget easily accessible to the computerized public--"down to the program, vendor, and contract levels," says Tertium Quids, a libertarian group boosting the measure. Tertium Quids' proudest boast would be "Honey, I shrunk the government!", but a complete, easy-to-access budget profile would be valuable to activists of all stripes, including those who could point to data suggesting their programs were underfunded. Lobbyists and companies keen to bid on state business also would find the fingertip information useful, says Mr. Cuccinelli. A couple of existent programs nibble around the edges of what the senator and his co-patrons hope to accomplish. Virginia Performs, an administration creation, rates the progress of state agencies in pursuing quality-of-life goals. The state Auditor of Public Accounts' Commonwealth Data Point, a Web site, paints a broad-brush portrait of how state government operates, including in the budgetary realm. But both programs are deficient in the all-important "fine print" category. Mr. Kaine should support this transparency initiative, not because it would make his life easier operationally--the measure, for example, would expose to the cyberized world the practice of some state agencies to shift funds among program accounts--but because in principle it's the right and progressive thing to do. The money with which the legislative cardinalate and administration nabobs play government is the people's money. They should be able to see what becomes of it, quickly and easily, every step of the way.
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 1/8/2008
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