Open public spending to public
Web page about New York's Freedom of Information Law Credit: New York State
Should there be a searchable database to know how state and local tax dollars are spent?
One already exists, but getting continued access to the needed information could be in jeopardy. On Thursday, a state appellate court in Manhattan was asked to reverse a ruling in a Freedom of Information Law case that could hamstring efforts to bring transparency to government spending.
The appeal was brought by the Manhattan Institute's Empire Center for New York State Policy, which operates SeeThroughNY.net, a database that includes the wages of more than of 1.5 million public employees, as well as the pension data for 478,000 retirees, state contracts and the spending by legislators on local projects called "member items."
The policy center has already posted pension benefits for all retired New York City workers -- except its police and firefighters. The exception is because a lower-court ruling upheld a refusal by the trustees of those funds to release the pension data. The reason: Crooks could use the information to burglarize the homes of retired officers to get their firearms. A crook smart enough to use a database, however, would probably know not to break into the home of a former cop with a gun. The names and pension data of former non-city officers have been online for two years without any problems.
The real danger is creating a giant loophole in an important law that forces open the door of secrecy that all governments want shut.
