Question of the Early Evening
When the The Caesar Rodney Institute’s Garrett Wozniak puts up a database allowing students to go online and look up how much their teachers make (or don’t make), I wonder if he’ll put his salary info up as well. For the sake of…you know… transparency.
What’s good for schools is good for so-called non-paritsan think tanks right?
I bet it wouldn’t be as much as the teachers. I am all for G. W. putting his salary on line as soon as he starts being paid by the taxpayer.
You can actually get that information from the News Journal database just as easily. The state makes it available through FIOA. Why do you only have an issue with CRI having it?
Folks who get their salary paid by the taxpayers should expect their salaries to be public.
How much does political hack Orlando George suck out the public trough each year?
How much does political hack Garrett Wozniak suck out the Copeland trough each year?
Tsk, tsk, Art. Why do you and other partisan Rethugs always try to change the subject when they can’t answer a simple question? If you are somehow implying that DL has ignored Lonnie George and his gargantuan proclivities, here’s some late-night reading for you:
http://delawareliberal.net//2009/06/08/del-tech-has-the-joint-finance-committee-wired-heres-how/
http://delawareliberal.net//2009/06/03/chris-barrishs-story-on-lonnie-george-is-must-reading/
Now, Art, be honest. Can you imagine a ‘right-leaning’ blog doing something similar to some influential right-leaning R? Examples, please.
I do not understand why anyone would argue that a government paid salary should not be transparent and available to the public.
Whether some wacko partisan is advocating it or not, all government cash flows should be public.
Think tanks and other 521 type political activities should not get a tax exemption – or they should be required to publish their finances too.
I agree. C’mon Garrett …how much?
…then before you know it, all tax-exempt organizations should be forced to publish all salaries, because they are, afterall, receiving benefit at the expense of the tax payer.
Ombudsman’s slippery slope alert is complete.
Hey Chubby, you first, how much is your allowance?
When I start my transparency obsessed non-partisan think tank you’ll be the first to know what Soros is paying me.
I’m cool with that Smitty…
What would be an example of a non-profit that should not have to be transparent with it’s books?
How often are non-profits used to funnel political thank yous? How much are they used for tax breaks or other less than charitable purposes? How much do athletes scam their charities?
If the money is tax exempt there is no reason for it to be private… though I could be persuaded by a good argument. I just can not think of a legitimate reason for it not to be available to the public…
Like Brandeis said…
‘Sunlight is the best disinfectant.’
Will they put BO’s birth certificate…just for the sake of transparency?…add the loan papers for the Countryside mortgages?
Stand back-the left-wingers will go nuts on this one…next blog, I’ll mention Sarah Palin, just to watch you all explode.
They have.
The people who pay the bill should know what the bill is.
When you pay Garret’s salary, you have the right to know.
It’s not about rights, silly David. It’s about transparency. You believe in transparency only when it’s demanded by law?
It is only about rights. I have long advocated privacy. Only the people who are part of an organization have any right to its sensitive numbers. You don’t have a right to know what I paid employees or got paid from a business. I don’t have any right to your tax returns unless I work for IRS. I don’t have any right to know how much you make unless I pay you.
If I had my way, only political appointees and elected officials would be have their salaries known by name. All others would be by position. My reasoning is that it makes it too easy for marketers or even identity theft people, but that is not how the law is written.
The reason we make the salary levels public is because the people making them often argue that they are not making enough. They plead poverty to the public. When you actually see their salaries and benefits, they make as much as most everyone else. It is relevant information for the public to decide. Why are Assistant principles in one district making six figures while in others they make no where near that? Is that a good expenditure of the local money?
Do you understand now?
E. S. I guess you don’t visit right leaning sites often enough. Whether it is Stoptaxing or delawarepolitics, delawarelibertarian, or commonsensepoliticalthought, you would see that their own sometimes are called out.
Now where is ATH?
Public education has largely degenerated into a goldplated bureaucratic rathole that seems immune from criticism. There are some wonderful public schools but they are often the exception rather than the rule.
The “educational establishment” uses some simplistic criteria to define the path to excellence. This translates to spending more money. Smaller class sizes and more money spent per pupil will allegedly result in academic excellence. On that basis, the schools in the District of Columbia should be the best in the nation and those in Delaware should not be far behind.
There is a great stress placed on “credentialism” in which teacher who take mind-numbing “education” courses are deemed somehow superior to those with both a mastery and love of their chosen subject.
Quite often, boards of education are staffed with lackeys for the Establishment and do as they are told.
Perhaps this reflects the enthusiasm for the latest in trendiness and gimmickry.
Many social studies textbooks are catechisms of political correctness and this trend often extends to more fact-based subjects such as science and math.
Who decided to dump phonics in favor of the whole-language approach? This was certain to be a disservice for those with dyslexia. There was even ‘consensual math’ and a flurry of support for ‘ebonics’? How much construction money was wasted on remodeling those ‘open classrooms’ that were briefly the rage? Just what prompted some boneheads in the Capitol District to buy a program known as “Math Trailblazers”? Was it simply a matter of wining and dining the right people or was there a payoff? Or maybe trendiness alone was enough.
E. D. Hirsch has some harsh and overdue words of criticism for the Educational Establishment and he is no ‘right winger’.
Republican David said:
Only the people who are part of an organization have any right to its sensitive numbers. You don’t have a right to know what I paid employees or got paid from a business. I don’t have any right to your tax returns unless I work for IRS. I don’t have any right to know how much you make unless I pay you.
I do not think the same ‘privacy’ rights should apply to a tax exempt organization. I think it is insane actually. If an organization is exempt from taxes it should have public finance data published.
Think tanks, 521’s, and religious organizations on the right and he left are often simply ways to get around campaign finance rules or ways to use tax free money for advocacy. If they want a tax exemption they should publish their financial records.
If you are allowed to buy ad time and sponsor conferences (and often poison debate with half-truths and partisan talking points) and you take a tax exemption for it I should know how much funding you receive and frankly who is contributing and how broad your base of support is. It should be part of the public record.
It is not as if this prevents a preson, organization, or company from doing it privately if they do not want this information disclosed. They can pay taxes on the activity and do it privately.