Transparency

Corporate executives have obligations not only to stockholders, but
also to other stakeholders, including customers, creditors, and the
greater community. However, government officials, at least from the
government ethics point of view, have overwhelming obligations only
to members of their immediate community. Is this right?<br>
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Are Americans turning First Amendment free speech into a fetish? The
reason I ask this question is because, after writing this sentence in <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/content/carrigan-free-speech-case-goes-suprem…; target="”_blank”">a
recent blog post</a> — "Saying that a local legislator [with a conflict of interest] has a free
speech right to vote is no different than

It's been four days since <a href="http://www.sunshineweek.org/&quot; target="”_blank”">Sunshine
Week</a> ended, but it's not too late to point out <a href="http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Main_Page&quot; target="”_blank”">Sunshine Review</a>'s

I continue to be thankful for Sarah Palin's incredible ability to get
pedestrian government ethics issues into the public eye. This time it's
the use of private e-mails for public business, according to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/us/politics/24palin.html&quot; target="”_blank”">an
article in yesterday's New York <i>Times</i></a>.<br>
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When I started getting involved with my town's government several years ago, I
quickly found that limited access to budget and other
financial information was a serious problem. The town government would not even put the
annual budget online, despite the fact that my town has town meetings
to discuss the budget and a budget referendum thereafter. It was clear
that the board of selectmen and the department heads did not want the
public to be able to prepare for these meetings and ask difficult
questions.<br>
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Who should pay for a lack of government transparency, the officials
keeping the secrets or the citizens who lack access to information?<br>
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It's hard not to get excited about our new president when he says and
does the right things when it comes to government ethics. In <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/FreedomofInformationAct/&quot; target="”_blank”">a
memo</a> to heads of executive departments and agencies, President
Obama wrote:<ul>

It's an excellent way to start an administration, with two executive
orders on government ethics and transparency. It sends an important
message to governments at all levels that even in the midst of economic
crisis and war, ethics is a number one priority.<br>