Jim Bowers - Candidate for 7th District State Representative
Class of ’76 football team (l to r ) – Jim Bowers, Jerry Ambrogi, Shawn McClafferty, Tom Brooks, Billy DiNardo, Chuck Paski, Kevin Coghlan, Jim Downey, Jim DeCarlo, Brian Gremminger, Kevin Healy
 
 
Need help with Delaware Services?
The Delaware Helpline
Where do you vote?
Polling Place Locator
 
Becky Bowers
A Message from Becky Bowers
 

 

 

 

 

Open Government

Jim is a member of the Delaware Taxpayer Coalition.  He spoke at a news conference and had the following points:

  • We need to Hold the govt. accountable.  Govt needs to be open and accountable.
  • Recent studies have shown that trust in government is at an all-time low
  •  The Transparency package put together by Sen. Copeland and Rep. Lavelle will provide tools for the average citizen to identify waste, fraud & abuse in the way govt. handles its finances. Opponents view these initiatives as ways to slow the growth of gov. spending.
  • Need to go beyond FOIA.  FOIA makes info available not accessible. 
  • If taxpayers are picking up the bill, they ought to be able to look at every item on the receipt…
  • Delaware citizens are deeply compassionate people.  But we are also deeply pragmatic people.  We want results.  Not a politics of moral gestures.
Jim Bowers
Jim speaks at a press conference in Legislative hall about his support for the Fiscal Transparency Package which will make state government more open and accountable.

3/12/2008 - Press Conference - Press Play to View Video:


State Sen. Charles Copeland, State Rep. Greg Lavelle, Jim Bowers of the Delaware Taxpayer Coalition and Erik Arneson, Communications and Policy Director to PA State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi discuss the Delaware Transparency Package and the recent passage of open government legislation in Pennsylvania.

 

Lawmakers renew open-government push
Bills aimed to force colleagues to stop stalling

By J.L. MILLER, The News Journal
Posted Thursday, March 13, 2008

DOVER -- Senate Republicans, frustrated by what they see as foot-dragging on their package of bills to force state agencies to open their finances -- and their checkbooks -- to public scrutiny, are trying to do an end run around the Senate and its desk-drawer veto.

Senate Minority Leader Charles L. Copeland, R-West Farms, joined Rep. Greg Lavelle, R-Sharpley, in announcing Thursday that they will introduce the same bills in the House, hoping to build momentum there that the Senate will be unable to ignore.

Whether that tactic will work remains to be seen: Even if the House passes the measures, they still require Senate approval to become law -- and many a bill has sailed through the House only to disappear without a trace in the Senate.

But at least the GOP legislation is guaranteed a hearing in the House, where bills must be heard within 10 legislative days of introduction. That chamber also happens to be run by the Republicans.

Copeland's bills, which were introduced Jan. 9, haven't budged in the Senate, where committee chairs can lock bills in their desk drawers and leave them to die. Six of the bills are in the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Sen. Nancy Cook, D-Kenton, while the seventh is in the Executive Committee, chaired by Senate President Pro Tem Thurman Adams Jr., D-Bridgeville.

"Once again, the Senate rules are stifling discussion," Copeland said. Senate Bills 182 through 188, whose House versions are expected to be introduced today or next week, would:

  • Require state government and school districts to set up searchable databases that would allow people to find financial details such as purchase orders.
  • Require state and school district checkbooks, excluding payroll, to be posted on the Web. Government would have to post pay and benefits by job title at the start of each budget year.
  • Require the Delaware Economic Development Office to post information on how the Delaware Strategic Fund invests in business around the state.
  • Require the state's budget and bond bills to be introduced three days and two days, respectively, before the Legislature's June 30 adjournment deadline. That would give the public -- and legislators -- more time to study the bills before they are passed.

Lavelle said it is important that this information be readily available to citizens, because they deserve an accounting of how their money is being spent. "It is not our money. It is money that we collect in taxes," Lavelle said.

Jim Bowers, of the Delaware Taxpayer Coalition, said the bills "are going to give tools for the average citizen to identify waste, fraud and abuse" in government spending.

Contact J.L. Miller at 678-4271 or jlmiller@delawareonline.com.

 
 
JimBowers.com - Paid for by Friends of Jim Bowers - Vote for Jim on November 4th!