The D.C. Open Government Coalition testified Friday (13) against proposed budget cuts for the Office of Open Government and in favor of a separate board of directors. OGC Government Affairs chair Bob Becker reviewed these and other problems but only the budget came up in questions, and that only briefly. The hearing was before the Council Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety chaired by Charles Allen (D-Ward 6).
A new board, said Becker, is even more necessary than when it was proposed last year because of multiple missteps by the current overseers, the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (BEGA). The open government office is under the Board (purely for purposes of making the director appointment) but its statute makes clear its independence in all other ways which has led to friction over the years. (See earlier blog posts on the issue here and here.) Read more…