Hey Bureaucrats! Show Us the Money!
This entry was posted on 7/1/2008 11:16 AM and is filed under TAXES,State of Michigan.
"What are you doing with our money?". That is a legitimate question for taxpayers to ask government bureaucrats who are our employees. But their answer is "None of your business, go away and don't bother us."
When State Rep. Jack Hoogendyck asked the question on behalf of his taxpaying constituents that essentially is what Lansing Department heads told him. Oh, they didn't come right out and say it that way. They simply gave him the run around and slow-walked him through the bureaucratic maze. When he persisted he eventually received information that was often misleading and false in many cases.
He discovered case after case of departmental errors that cost us all many millions. In some cases departments had claimed insufficient funding when in fact they had surpluses. In most cases departments had illegally overspent their budgets and not been reigned in due to the failure of Governor Granholm to perform her mandatory oversight duties.
In part as a result of this State Government built a massive deficit which lead to a massive tax increase for us.
For details see Suburban Voice postings in July and August 2007.
Since then, Attorney General Mike Cox and Secretary of State Terry Lynn Land have unilaterally ordered their departments to record all financial transactions online in a manner visible to the public. Democrat controlled departments have resisted calls for them to do likewise. What are they still hiding?
Jack Hoogendyck is a candidate for US Senate where his fervor for fiscal responsibility would be a welcome asset.
The movement to make the actions of governmental bureaucracy transparent to the citizens has been embraced by 9 states nationwide but initiatives by Republican legislators to do the same for Michiganders have been blocked by Democrat leaders in Lansing.
Contrast this with Livingston County where the Board of Commissioners review departmental spending performance monthly - woe betide any department head that heads in the direction of overspending. The County's reputation for fiscal responsibility is unsurpassed in the state.
Now Brighton Township, in Livingston County, has mandated online financial transparency following the leadership of a responsive board of trustees and urged on by Americans for Prosperity local representative Lana Theis. Lana is a candidate for Brighton Treasurer in the August primary and deserves voter support.
Another Livingston township, Tyrone, has a number of candidates in the August primary whose platform includes financial transparency. They are Suzanne Anderson, Keith Kremer, Brian Miles, and Steve Hasbrouk. Their position also should be supported by voters.
The movement for transparency in government is clearly urgently needed and its growth heralds a marked advance in the strength of our Republic. Government should be much more "by the people".
Russell Spencer
