The Ocean State Policy Research Institute pledges to bring transparency to Rhode Island with a three-year, three-phase project that will provide "easily accessible and usable" financial information for every city, town and school district in the state.
Providence, Rhode Island - March 24, 2008-
"Rhode Island is in a financial crisis. This is OUR money. That means WE are in a financial crisis and it is time WE do something about it," said William Felkner, president of the Ocean State Policy Research Institute.
On March 20th, the Providence Journal reported that the RI Resource Recovery Corporation, a quasi-public body, had given away $401,000 of our tax dollars without any public oversight. That same day, the Valley Breeze reported that the Woonsocket administration had raided the pension for over $503,000 labeling it an "administrative fee."
March 20th was also the first day that the Ocean State Policy Research Institute started sending out requests for public information.
William Felkner has pledged the resources of OSPRI to open the door to transparency. "Every day we hear of another story where the government is spending our money without public input. As Milton Friedman said, spending other people's money is rarely done efficiently." Felkner contends that "with more public scrutiny, we will have less public debt."
Public involvement in Rhode Island is limited as is the access to public information. The expenditures of the state - the contracts, legislative grants, and much of the legislation running through the State House - are often decided behind closed doors. If we aren't allowed in the room we should at least look to see what they did. It is for this reason that the Ocean State Policy Research Institute is very proud to announce the start of a three-year project to bring transparency to Rhode Island. "Open the Door" - it's our money!
During Phase One OSPRI will compile every budget, payroll and employee contract for every city, town and school district in the state. The appropriate data will be formatted and summarized for apples to apples comparisons and made available via a centralized Internet location.
Phase Two will introduce an online check registry where every dollar spent will be available in a Google-style searchable format. Do you want to see where the pension fund went? Find it online. Want to see how much the town paid for snow removal - maybe you want to put in a cheaper bid. Find it online.
Phase Three will be a similarly formatted database of legislative votes.
"We have started this project by collecting the low hanging fruit." Felkner said acknowledging that the entire project is no small task. "We have arranged funding for three years just to develop the infrastructure. We understand some people may be less than cooperative but the writing is on the wall. Governor Carcieri has proposed transparency in public employee contract negotiations. General Treasurer Caprio has proposed transparency in his department's expenditures. This is not a partisan issue. RI citizens have a right to expect public information to be in an easily accessible and usable format - and OSPRI intends to provide just that."
"We hope that the public will find this information useful," said Felkner.
