Fiscal Transparency Gets A Boost In Pennsylvania

By Rachel Martin | PA Independent

One high-level official in Pennsylvania is determined to cut costs, even in unorthodox ways.

When he’s in Pittsburgh on business, for instance, Auditor General Eugene Pasquale sleeps on his mom’s couch, to save on hotel costs.

“We’re the ones that are critical about people not being accountable, so we try to practice what we preach,” DePasquale told Watchdog.org.

DePasquale’s office has conducted more than 10,000 audits since 2013.

He’s the first statewide elected official to post his expenses online, though other top office-holders in the state aren’t so forthcoming — even in this age when such disclosures are so easy.

Travel expenses for any state office are available via Pennsylvania’s Open Records Law, but this is the first time a high-ranking state official has proactively presented the information to taxpayers.

“DePasquale’s actions are commendable and a model for other officials and agencies at both the state and local levels,” Barry Kauffman told Watchdog. He is executive director of Common Cause Pennsylvania, a government accountability group.

“Generally speaking, I think all executive agencies — and even the Legislature — should, DePasquale said. “It’s taxpayers’ money; the public has a right to know how it’s spent.”

While Gov. Tom Wolf  campaigned on transparency, his office isn’t ready to make public his travel expenses.

“Transparency is very important to Governor Wolf,” Jeff Sheridan, spokesman for the governor, told Watchdog. However, “That’s not something we’ve made a decision on.”

Sheridan pointed to other moves by Wolf, including a gift ban for those within the executive branch and an executive order requiring competitive bidding when the executive branch calls upon outside legal counsel. Sheridan said written justifications for such work would go online.

Wolf plans to post his schedule, Sheridan said, a novel move for this state’s governors, though it won’t include information about travel costs.

Legislative travel is an even bigger mystery, with no public disclosure of costs when lawmakers make trips around the state. Members of the General Assembly who live more than 50 miles from the capital are also eligible to receive daily per diem payments, trackable via right-to-know requests.

The information DePasquale is publishing is required to be disclosed under the Open Records Law, but providing it proactively is more efficient for agencies and taxpayers.

“It’s not like you have to move mountains to do this,” he said.

DePasquale was elected to the state House in 2006, and soon after he began posting his expenses on his website, though fellow legislators didn’t welcome the move.

In members’ disapproval, “I forged one of the most bipartisan moments in the Legislature,” he said. But some came around, asking how they could do the same; DePasquale said he thinks 15 to 20 legislators currently do so.

Kauffman said his group has “urged local governments especially to post this information on their websites.” Pittsburgh has apparently received the message.

The Fiscal Focus Pittsburgh site launched this week. Users can delve into all sorts of data, comparing over recent years departments and expense categories with a variety of graphs or pie charts. It also allows users to share specific results they’ve pulled up over social media.

While DePasquale’s disclosure is laudable, it only represents a small slice of his department’s spending. When asked, DePasquale said he might also be willing to look into getting his whole department online, though that would obviously take a bit more doing.

In January, the state Department of Education unveiled a new tool on its website. As Watchdog reported, “financial information can now be found alongside data on school quality and academic performance.” Among other functions, users can break down a district’s spending, as well as compare spending among up to four districts at a time.

Martin can be reached at rmartin@watchdog.org, and follow her @RMartinWatchdog for more.