Right-wing think tank leaks salaries of Florida public employees via new website

The Foundation for Government Accountability logo (Pic via Facebook ) The Foundation for Government Accountability debuted a new website today — an online database of the salaries of public employees:  FloridaOpenGov.org . The website is almost a replica of a project by Foundation President Tarren Bragdon at his last place of employment, the Maine Heritage Policy Center. According to a press release from the organization , the website is a compilation of “about 35 million public records detailing nearly $1.4 trillion in spending and payroll by state, county, municipality and school.” Here is some of the data included in the database, according to the release: County government payroll (FY 1997-2011) Local K-12 public education payroll (FY 1997-2011) State government payroll (1995-2010) Local government spending (FY 1993-2010) State vendor payments (FY 2005-2011) Steve Mistler of the  Sun-Journal   wrote in September 2010 that Bragdon’s group in Maine “fed the public’s oft-held suspicion that government is too wasteful published the names and salaries of every state employee on  maineopengov.org,  and linked it to the center’s homepage.” Critics called the website a “cynical hijacking of transparency to foster public mistrust in government,” Mistler reported

Amandeep Coleman

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Last updated: Jul 31, 2020 | Jan 10, 2012

Image has not been found. URL: http://images.americanindependent.com/Foundation-for-Government-Accountability-360x270.jpgThe Foundation for Government Accountability logo (Photo: Facebook)

The Foundation for Government Accountability debuted a new website Monday — an online database of the salaries of Florida’s public employees: FloridaOpenGov.org.

The website is almost a replica of a project by Foundation President Tarren Bragdon at his last place of employment, the Maine Heritage Policy Center.

According to a press release from the organization, the website is a compilation of “about 35 million public records detailing nearly $1.4 trillion in spending and payroll by state, county, municipality and school.”

Here is some of the data included in the database, according to the release:

• County government payroll (FY 1997-2011)
• Local K-12 public education payroll (FY 1997-2011)
• State government payroll (1995-2010)
• Local government spending (FY 1993-2010)
• State vendor payments (FY 2005-2011)

Steve Mistler of the Sun-Journal wrote in September 2010 that Bragdon’s group in Maine “fed the public’s oft-held suspicion that government is too wasteful [when it] published the names and salaries of every state employee on maineopengov.org, and linked it to the center’s homepage.” Critics called the website a “cynical hijacking of transparency to foster public mistrust in government,” Mistler reported.

The Foundation’s new website is very similar to the Maine project in that it details almost every state salary.

According to the press release release, the group’s webpage is also picking up some endorsements from state legislators:

The Foundation has so far declined to disclose the source of its own funding. Bragdon has previously said that ”initial donors who were interested in having [him] here” in Florida were responsible for his move to the state. In the few months that the Foundation has been in Naples, one of the group’s pamphlets was included in the state’s defense of a controversial law requiring temporary cash assistance applicants to undergo a drug test before receiving benefits. The law was recently stopped from being implemented; the Foundation’s pamphlet was deemed “not competent expert opinion” by Judge Mary Scriven.

The Foundation has also set its sights on influencing Florida’s 2012 legislative session and has been touting the state’s controversial Medicaid reform with right-wing “free market” groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council.