Show Us the Money, Arnold
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants you to know where the money goes.
It's finally time for Californians to start watching Big Brother.
On Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched a new website to help make California's government more transparent.
Within minutes on reportingtransparency.ca.gov, you could discover such interesting tidbits as:
- Department of Motor Vehicles Director George Valverde filed a $420 reimbursement claim with the DMV for "travel required to attend a symposium on privacy issues at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology" (PDF).
- The director of California State Parks, Ruth Coleman, reported a $30 lunch on April 7, 2008, on her California Form 700, Schedule D (PDF).
- Matthew Cate, of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, has a spouse who owns A Drop of Paint (PDF).
OK, so "interesting" is a bit of an overstatement, but it's still nice to know this information is out there. Obviously this isn't the transparency end game, but it's a start.
"By making the economic, gift and travel information of the senior members of my administration easily available online, we are taking unprecedented steps to open up our government to the people -- yet another critical step toward more government transparency," Schwarzenegger said.
