In a year of budget cuts, DPS is whining about the cost of publishing the Sex Offender Registry. According to one of their spokesmen, eliminating the registry could save $3 million a year. The Open Records Project published the first … Continued
A society might be more trusting if citizens could see the tax returns of all their fellow taxpayers. Norway is doing exactly this. To be complete, Norway might also publish the citizens receiving taxpayer funded services. Some possibilities ramifications to … Continued
Those of us who tackle the taxpayer funded bureacracies often experience the arrogance and hypocrisy of so called civil servants first hand. A New York activist who goes by the handle “Jimmy Justice” captures bureacratic arrogance and hypocrisy on video … Continued
Enron avoided public scrutiny of many of its shady business dealings by placing them out of public view in off balance sheet entities. Now the employees of Washington taxpayers are using a similar ruse to place their activities out of … Continued
The Houston Chronicle has posted a computerized database of 81,000 public employees of various local entities including City of Houston, Harris County, and the Houston Independent School District. Some readers have objected to the publication of names and salaries as … Continued
Leroy Schad molested an 11 year old boy. Now District Judge Ron Svaty has sentenced him to five years of probation and house arrest, and ordered him to prominently post signs declaring his sex offender status Schad said the loneliness … Continued
Government bureacracies implement a standard set of dodges to avoid the accountability that comes from disclosure. In its dealings with FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), The Advocate newspaper has been the victim of two of the most common ploys to … Continued
Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck said he would not name the lone pharmaceutical chemical found in the city’s drinking water. Once again a “people’s servant” concludes that he knows what’s best for you. The Open Records Project remembers similar arguments against … Continued
The Texas Department of Public Safety plans to update its online sex offender registry this spring to let people know where offenders work or go to school. https://records.txdps.state.tx.us/DPS_WEB/Sor/index.aspx Anyone can go to the state’s site to look up a person … Continued
During the past five years, nearly half of Oregon teachers disciplined for sexual misconduct with a child left their school districts with confidential agreements. The Oregon response is sadly similar to that of the Texas Youth Commission and Catholic Archdiocese … Continued