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In an effort to make Maine more transparent, MaineOpenGov.org has been working to collect spending data from municipalities and school districts in Maine.

Local governments have been wary about giving out this public information, with many towns refusing, stalling or asking for large sums of money to hand over town spending data. You will recount the tale of the Town of Alfred - who spent time and money to get back at The Maine Heritage Policy Center for a request for Alfred town data.

A recent story in the SeaCoastOnline shed some light into the situation, detailing the case of several town officials who refused the mandatory training that would help educate them on Right-to-Know issues and Maine's Freedom of Access laws.

Keeping public information hidden from citizens and taxpayers and refusing required training to help them uphold their duties is not what is needed from local officials in tough economic times and it begs the question - what is there to hide? 

If you are interested in putting your towns spending online, contact MaineOpenGov.org at info@maineopengov.org.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center has won the 2009 Sunshine Award, given by the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, for it's creation of the MaineOpenGov.org website.

The Maine Open Government Blog was highlighted in the article by Tarren Bragdon, CEO of the Maine Heritage Policy Center: "the site will soon feature blogs -- both anonymous and bylined, said Bragdon."

An article about this award was also published in the Ellsworth American.