At last night's work session on Senator Lisa Marrache's bill, LD 1353, to hide public employees names, the Judiciary Committee voted a unanimous "Ought Not To Pass," sending a message that Maine government should stay open and accountable to citizens and taxpayers.
The Exception Magazine posts a newsletter from Tarren Bragdon, CEO of the Maine Heritage Policy Center. Bragdon says "Last night, The Maine Heritage Policy Center and Open Government supporters in Maine scored a major victory"
The Village Soup says that the killed bill had labor groups support.
Chris Cinquemani, Public Affairs Director for Maine Leads, a citizen group committed to lower taxes and government transparency, said in the organizations press release, "Elected officials, regardless of their party, have an obligation to protect our right to access public information. The members of the Judiciary Committee met that obligation, and defended the citizens and taxpayers from an attack on open government."
Read other stories in the Central Maine Morning Sentinel and Seacoast Online.
Listen to MPBN's coverage of the defeated bill and read their coverage here.
I can certainly see how knowing what the State pays for services and what the State pays for salaries, aids us all in our role as concerned taxpayers, in letting our elected officials know we will hold them to account for what they spend.
How though does knowing or being able to quickly find out via your web site that, in 2008, Scott G. Lindsay, earned $44,309 and has a benefits package of $31,788 advance that cause? The individual's name is irrelevant to any sort of neutral spending analysis a taxpayer might want or need to perform.