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OSPRI PRESIDENT FELKNER TO BE GUEST ON JOHN DEPETRO RADIO SHOW
August 18, 2009
Providence, RI - Bill Felkner, President of the Ocean State Policy Research Institute, announced that he will be a featured guest on the John DePetro radio show tomorrow morning, August 19th, at 6:40am. Felkner will discuss OSPRI's Rhode Island Votes website, as well as the national movement to track legislation and voting records. The John DePetro show is on WPRO 630AM and can be streamed live by going to www.630wpro.com.
"I'm glad to have the opportunity to continue to spread the word about the Ocean State Policy Research Institute's efforts to promote transparency in government," said Felkner. "Rhode Island Votes is a very important resource for the people of Rhode Island to utilize. I think we all want to know how our elected officials are voting on important legislation and that information isn't always available from the press, but it is always available on Rhode Island Votes."
Rhode Island Votes, one portion of the Ocean State Policy Research Institute's Transparency Train, provides concise, plain-English descriptions of every bill introduced in the Rhode Island legislature. The website also categorizes the bills and tracks their status, including information on which legislators voted for, or against, each bill.
"I think we've seen an awakening amongst the voters over the past few years," Felkner said. "People are tired of being misled by their elected officials. We're simply providing the public with easy access to the facts."
Felkner added that the podcast of his appearance on the John DePetro show would be posted on the OSPRI website as soon as it is available.
About OSPRI:
Created in 2007, our work is focused on crafting sound public policy based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, and traditional American values. We offer timely research and analysis on important issues to be shared with elected officials, the media, business leaders, community organizations and individual citizens. In recent months, we have been responsible for such successful projects as the Transparency Train, a public financial and legislative information repository, as well as regular updates published and available on our website and companion blog.
About The Transparency Train:
The Transparency Train Web Portal (www.transparencytrain.org) provides access to a variety of websites designed to present public information in a Google-style searchable format. These sites include:
RI Data: contains every budget, payroll, public employee contract and monthly check register for all cities, towns and school districts in Rhode Island
RI Votes: an online database of legislation and voting records
LRB Watch: analysis and information on the State Labor Relations Board.
RI Schools: an interactive website that allows viewers to create comparative graphs of school districts plotting various metrics such as cost per student, test scores and the number of employees (coming Summer 2009)
RI Donors: will contain a "connect the dots" approach to viewing political and lobbying finances (coming Fall 2009)
Take Action: a "how-to" manual that shows citizens how to file Freedom Of Information Act requests for public information and what to do if they don't comply
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