Speakers call for state spending transparency by posting their complete budgets on the Internet

Grover Norquist, one of Washingtion’s most effective issues management strategists for over two decades and president of Americans for Tax Reform, spoke Tuesday at the Red Lion Colonial Hotel to a mixed bag of conservative legislators and community members about the conservative movement in government today.

Montana should join the growing number of states offering complete transparency by posting their complete budgets on the Internet in plain English so taxpayers can search all government spending, by program, speakers told a forum Tuesday.

Local governments and school districts should follow suit, they said. That way, taxpayers who want to find out how much government agencies spent on a ream of paper, new office furniture or to mow the grass can do so easily. People could easily look up what a particular government employee or teacher is paid, speakers said.

"In the next 10 years, I believe all government will be transparent in the United States," Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, told the Montana Legislators’ Government Accountability Forum.

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON – IR State Bureau

Full Story: http://helenair.com/articles/2008/11/12/state/top/70lo_081112_grover.txt

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