The question was a classic, slow-pitch softball: Do you support a bill to enable Maryland residents to track state spending online in an easily searchable, up-to-date Google-like database? Every delegate from the Washington suburbs regardless of party should have hit this one right out of the park with a resounding “Of course, it’s their money!”
The surprisingly tepid response to The Examiner’s question about the proposed Maryland Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2007, however, speaks volumes about the Maryland political establishment and its representatives in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. To say this response was disappointing is to put it mildly.
Only six delegates from among the two local state House delegations would go on record supporting a bill to put most state spending online, including grants, loans, and other financial assistance. The bill — HB 1252, introduced by Del. Warren Miller, R-Howard — is the Maryland version of the bill that became federal law last September.
Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., were the main sponsors of the measure. Eleven states are currently moving forward with legislation doing the same thing at the state level.
Some Maryland delegates we contacted candidly admitted they had never even heard of the transparency bill. But the vast majority didn’t bother to respond to our repeated phone calls and e-mails. One would think they’d welcome the chance to provide their constituents with the same level of transparency that’s now required of the federal government. But then few politicians in Annapolis have been known for being open and transparent about their money dealings.
That will have to change sooner or later, however, because the Internet is steadily revolutionizing how people work, study and play. Its revolutionary impact on politics and government has not been fully realized. Keeping it difficult to get the nitty-gritty details of how state agencies in Annapolis spend tax dollars is to be expected of career bureaucrats long accustomed to merely cursory oversight by state politicians more interested in getting re-elected. But elected members of the General Assembly are supposed to put the people’s interests first.
So three cheers for Montgomery County Delegates Saqib Ali, Roger Manno, Karen Montgomery, and Craig Rice, as well as Delegates Victor Ramirez and Veronica Turner from Prince George’s County, who have publicly stated they intend to do just that.
Raspberries to the rest of the Washington area delegation. When called to bat for government transparency and accountability, you guys struck out this time. But don’t worry, you will see this pitch from The Examiner again until you get it right, or the people call you out on strikes.
