Senator Jamie Raskin

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=73306

Vote likely on spending website
Originally published April 03, 2008
By Meg Bernhardt

ANNAPOLIS -- A local state senator's attempt to create a website of state spending could be successful after all.

Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie made comments last week that he would not bring the measure up for a vote, but the committee unanimously approved it Tuesday afternoon. It will likely be up for a vote on the Senate floor today, with final approval later this week. State Sen. Alex Mooney, a Republican representing Frederick and Washington counties, proposed the transparency bill. The legislation would require the state to set up a searchable, public website listing all purchases more than $25,000. Mooney attributed the work of grassroots organizations and his co-sponsor Sen. Jamie Raskin. "We pushed hard for it, we had convincing arguments and obviously those carried the day this year," Mooney. The website would be modeled after a similar one at the federal level, www.usaspending.gov. Currie said last week he did not want to bring it up for a vote because the committee had not had enough time to deliberate on the implementation of the website. He also said it was similar to another state initiative already in place and voiced concerns about the cost of setting up the website. At a committee hearing, Currie asked Mooney how he would pay for the website. Mooney said he wasn't sure, but the website would ultimately pay for itself by preventing and stopping wasteful government spending. A few days later, when one of Currie's bills came up for a vote, Mooney asked him on the Senate floor how he would pay for it. Both bills would have cost around $200,000 annually, a small chunk of the roughly $30 billion annual budget, Mooney said. "If it's a high priority, you find a way to get it done," he said. Ryan O'Donnell, the executive director of Common Cause Maryland, lobbied in support of the bill. Common Cause is a statewide advocacy group focused on good government and campaign finance reform. He said the committee members realized the bill would create a more open government.

"It would be a supreme irony if we killed a fiscally responsible bill for fiscal reasons," he said.