An innovative website giving the public access to all state government-related spending will be launched by the State Ethics Board before fall 2007. This website is the first of its kind in the United States.
The Contract Sunshine website is expected to be running before the merger of the state Ethics Board and the Elections Board this fall.
Gov. Jim Doyle signed a bill into law last May that would create a website making all information related to state government finances and the awarding of government contracts in Wisconsin accessible to the pubic.
At this point in time, there is no single place where citizens or businesses can go to find information about all the various purchases the agencies of the State of Wisconsin, according to Director for the Ethics Board Roth Judd.
""Our idea is that we're going to make this absolutely transparent. All the business out there bidding on government contracts will know who's winning those contracts,"" Judd said. ""This is a great way to look at the spending practices of a particular agency or campus.""
Doyle has included $30,000 in the budget for spending on the website, which Judd said illustrates his support for the initiative.
Judd said the website promises to be easily accessible to the general public as well as for state agencies and universities to enter information.
""We had a focus group last month for some agencies to come in and try out some ideas and tell us how we can make this really easy for them to comply,"" Judd said.
Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause Wisconsin, a government watchdog organization said programs like this help to instill confidence in the state when it comes to budgetary spending and the awarding of contracts.
""When you're talking about something like companies or entities that do business with the state, I think there's a wide-spread perception sometimes ... some individuals or groups are getting favorable treatment from state governments over others because one entity made a campaign contribution,"" Heck said.
The website follows a number of other revolutionary initiatives of the Ethics Board meant to ensure ""good government"" practices.
""Wisconsin's the only state in the country where a person can look up a bill and learn who's lobbying on it and what their positions are. We're way ahead of all other states in this connection"" Judd said. ""The other thing we've done recently is to create an online index to the financial interests of government officials where you can look up any state agency, like the Board of Regents, or a legislative committee, and find all the financial interests held by the key executive of that agency.""
Later this fall, after the Ethics Board and Elections Board merge to form the Government Accountability Board. Judd said he hopes to build on the success of these three initiatives and add a searchable online index about financial contributions, which the state of Wisconsin does not currently have.
