We hear it every election season from politicians, “Transparency, Transparency, Transparency!” Then we get this;
The city of Sioux Falls has rejected a request from the Argus Leader to make public an audit report critical of Sioux Falls Convention Center management. Lead Auditor Rich Oksol denied the open records request Tuesday, arguing that the audit is a draft. “When it’s still in the draft stage, it’s still up for the discussion between the person being audited and the audit committee,” Oksol said.
Here’s the deal, if you don’t want to be transparent, then don’t tell us you will be in your campaigns. Most people probably don’t care two shits about the audit (or the fact that the convention center continues to make less money each year while asking to expand). Of course, the councilors (and mayor) throw it in the lap of a city employee;
“Although no precedential case has been found that would decide this issue exactly on point, it appears more likely than not that this draft report is not a public record,” stated Assistant City Attorney Gail Eiesland in a written opinion.
Then she goes on to pass the buck back to the public officials;
Reached Tuesday, Eiesland said the audit committee could decide to make the audit public.
“They have the option to release the record or not,” she said.
Isn’t this how code enforcement turned into such an unconstitutional fucking mess? I’m just saying.
“I think our goal has been to be out in the open as much as we can. In the end, all we are trying to do is to shine light on the practices of different departments and making sure the public’s money is being spent and handled appropriately,” Jamison said.
If your goal is to be open, then release the document and stop shagging the monkey. IMO they are trying to ‘tweak’ the numbers before the public sees the report.