Truly Open Government

On September 24th, Secretary of State Brad Johnson became the first state-level official in Montana to begin posting his schedule online.

Following the lead of Montana’s Congressional Delegation, including Congressman Denny Rehberg, Johnson posts each day’s schedule for any member of the public to view.

When he began posting the schedule, Johnson called on all other state elected officials to do likewise.  So far, there has been no move from Governor Schweitzer, Attorney General McGrath, Auditor Morrison, or Superintendent McCulloch to follow suit.

This is just another example of Republicans leading the way on openness in state Government. On constituency funds, Johnson’s disclosure was also more complete than any other state official, and Senator Roy Brown’s bill to ban constituency funds went farther than the Democrat version. On July 27, GOP Chairman Erik Iverson called for greater financial disclosure from the Governor’s office – and still Governor Schweitzer has taken no action.