 | Growth & Justice and Common Cause Minnesota urge Pawlenty to make unallotment process open and transparent
Common Cause Minnesota and Growth & Justice, two groups that place a high value on government accountability, are calling on Governor Tim Pawlenty to make the unallotment process open and transparent. The groups sent a to the governor asking him to disclose all input and lobbying efforts directed at the governor’s office to influence unallotment decisions. Common Cause and Growth & Justice also are encouraging the governor to open up the process to allow for a reasonable public comment period, allowing citizens to react to proposed unallotments.
“The unallotment process is unfamiliar to most Minnesotans and yet they will be affected enormously by the unallotments that your office imposes in coming months,” said Dane Smith, president of Growth & Justice, in the letter to Governor Pawlenty. “It is crucial that this process be open and transparent so that all stakeholders respect the outcome.”
Current law requires only minimal disclosure of unallotment decisions, including a 15-day notice to the Legislative Advisory Commission, comprised of top legislative leaders. Expanding that disclosure and allowing broader public input - adhering to the spirit and not just the letter of Minnesota laws that require openness - sends an important signal. The unallotment process has been used sparingly in recent decades for emergencies in the midst of budget periods. But unallotment has never been used on such a broad front at the beginning of a budget period to slash hundreds of millions of dollars in public appropriations. That money provides economic security and long-term economic investment for millions of Minnesotans.
The groups applauded Gov. Pawlenty for standards that he set back in March of this year when he created the Transparency and Accountability Project to “empower citizens to help hold government accountable.” The governor's commitment to openness and transparency in the state budgeting process must now be continued throughout the unallotment process, they contend.
The call for more openness around unallotment coincides with a national gathering in Minneapolis this weekend, the 2009 Summit of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. The summit is hosted locally by the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information. For details, go to , or call Mary Treacy, executive director of the coalition, at 712-781-4234.
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