Auditor candidates clash over transparency plan

By Michael Illiano
The Sheridan Press
Via Wyoming News Exchange
 
SHERIDAN — The candidates for state auditor continue to spar over plans to improve transparency in state government as the focus shifts to the efficacy of a Republican working group created to examine the issue.
Last week, Republican auditor candidate Kristi Racines and Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Gordon announced the members of a working group convened to bring stakeholders together to discuss the state’s issues with government transparency.
The group includes Sheridan-resident Gail Symons, who also serves on the state’s Government Efficiency Commission; Cheyenne-resident John Masters; Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander; Rep. Tom Walters, R-Casper; and an unannounced media member.
Gordon and Racines intend for the group to consider holistic solutions to government transparency that not only deal with technical barriers to a more transparent government, but also reduce the complexity of the state government and its budget so the average citizen can make sense of the state’s finances.
“Ensuring transparency in government is essential,” Gordon said in a statement announcing the group’s members. “Wyoming citizens must have the tools, context and resources they need to view and understand how our state budgets our revenues and expends our funds.”
Democratic auditor candidate Jeff Dockter, though, has criticized the group, calling it a political stunt.
“In reality, their plan only delays publishing public data until their partisan work group tells Wyoming citizens what type of transparency plan they think is best for Wyoming,” Dockter said.
The state auditor’s office is currently defending itself from two lawsuits that claim it has overcharged for and been slow to provide public records requests.
State Auditor Cynthia Cloud has said the delay is the result of outdated software that cannot remove personal information, like medical records or social security numbers, from the records it pulls from the database.
Therefore, Cloud said, the records being requested have to be scrubbed manually.
Dockter believes the state’s vendor-payment website can be reconfigured to provide links to current and historical payment information and has vowed to publish that information on his first day in office if elected.
In an interview with The Sheridan Press in April, Cloud estimated it would cost $435,000 to update the state’s record-keeping software.
The Republican candidates have not announced a specific technical solution to that issue, but aim to formulate a solution through the working group that it can present to the state Legislature.
Both Dockter and the Republican candidates agree, though, that releasing the data is only part of the solution and the release will need to provide residents with context to understand the data.