Sunshine's the best thing to control waste, fraud, abuse, and stupidity

On Right and Left, a Push for Government Openness By JASON DePARLE NYTimes.com Homepage: July 3, 2006

WASHINGTON, July 2 — Exasperated by his party's failure to cut government spending, Senator Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, is seeking cyberhelp. Mr. Coburn wants to create a public database, searchable over the Internet, that would list most government contracts and grants — exposing hundreds of billions in annual spending to instant desktop view.

While advocating for openness, Mr. Coburn is also placing a philosophical bet that the more the public learns about federal spending, the less it will want. "Sunshine's the best thing we've got to control waste, fraud and abuse," he said. "It's also the best thing we've got to control stupidity. It'll be a force for the government we need."

Liberal groups, while also praising openness, are hoping for a new appreciation of what government does, like providing clean water and feeding the hungry. "We need to remind people where Uncle Sam helps us each day," said Gary Bass, director of OMB Watch, a liberal group that got its start monitoring the White House Office of Management and Budget.

On the right, support for the plan reflects an old concern about spending and a new faith in the power of blogs. Supporters picture a citizen army of e-watchdogs, greatly increasing the influence of antispending groups in Washington. "Now that you've got the Internet, you'll have tens of thousands of watchdogs," said Bridgett G. Wagner of the Heritage Foundation, who is leading a coalition of conservative groups that support the Coburn bill. "That's what people see in it."...A number of blogs popular among conservatives have praised Mr. Coburn's bill. Instapundit, among the most popular, has pushed it.

The push for openness runs counter to the trend of increased secrecy among government officials who cite the need to protect national security. Criticizing that trend, Mr. Tapscott said, "people in the Pentagon, like bureaucrats everywhere, overclassify too much because of the basic instinct to protect yourself." But Mr. Coburn said he was comfortable with the overall level of secrecy. His database would adhere to current disclosure rules, he said.

What if sunlight so cleanses the government that the public wants more of it? Grover Norquist, an antitax advocate who supports the House bill, just laughed. "They might say, 'Oh my goodness, look at all the good work that's being done,' " he said. "But I'm willing to take that chance."