From Jim Stergios:
In all the excitement over the launch of www.massopenbooks.com, some have pitted our efforts against those currently underway in the State Treasurer’s office and the Executive Office of Administration and Finance. Nothing is further from the truth. Pioneer has been pushing the transparency rock up Beacon Hill (feels more like a mountain) for years. We look forward to the website that the Treasurer/ANF is looking to release later this fall. The public needs access to public information, and that means we need many more hands getting the information out. When it comes to transparency, the more the merrier.
Treasurer Grossman campaigned on this issue — and we applaud him for his progress. Our goal is to keep pushing for more transparency; that’s the Pioneer brand. Only through friendly competition and collaboration will we be able to ensure that the public has access to public information. So try out MassOpenBooks.com. It’s a great tool. And when the Treasurer/ANF website comes out, use that one, too.
We will keep pushing for open government through all of our transparency tools and operations —
- MassReportCards.com which lets you evaluate and compare all schools in the Commonwealth
- MassCityStats.com which lets you compare older, industrialized cities on key metrics, and
- MuniShare.com which allows you access to the highest-quality reports generated by local government on important policy issues
So why don’t you be the change you wish to see?
I asked earlier where your money comes from to spread your point of view. Maybe you missed it, so thanks for giving me another chance to ask the question.
It’s all on the Pioneer website. One of the first things I did at Pioneer was put all of our financial and other reporting information online.
I saw your budget, with a few numbers, large fonts, and generous margins. But your revenue sources were awfully vague. “Corporate donations” and “foundation donations” is barely detail beyond “revenue”. I’m curious which corporations think highly enough of your work to underwrite so much of it, and which foundations put their tax-exempt money in your coffers do the same. How many individuals do you have donating? What’s the median donation?
Transparency only counts when it’s useful. If you lead by example, it’ll be easier to see your values as sincerely held rather than politically useful.
Gee whiz, your timing is great given the fact that the Treasurer who campaigned on “transparency” is all over the Boston Globe with tens of thousands of dollars accepted to his campaign by the alcohol beverage industry that he is responsible for not just “overseeing Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) but the enforcement division, too.
Find another poster child who is walking the walk not just talking the talk. The only thing that is more transparent on Beacon Hill is the arrogance with which the money in politics is flaunted and dismissed.
Enforce that!