Transparency and Performance

When I entered the Legislature 8 years ago, information was hidden from voters. Though the Legislature had an advanced website, the decision was purposely made to not make Legislators’ votes readily accessible on the site. Why not? With straight faces, legislative leaders would say, because such information, taken out of context, could confuse voters.

Fortunately, we quickly changed our tune, and offered the public access to lots of information. Everything I have available – in terms of access to bills, voting records, floor and committee speeches – the public also has. I am not aware of any state doing better in terms of access, and I am aware of most states doing worse.

I believe a correlation exists between this transparency and the fact that Utah is widely recognized as the best-managed state in the Nation. Giving people direct access to information has 3 consequences. One, officials pay closer attention to their actions. Two, people can more readily hold officials accountable for their actions. And, three, officials can be bolder in their actions. The first 2 points are obvious. I’ll discuss the third point.

Transparency allows officials to be bolder, because they have a closer, more-informed relationship with constituents; and, in any event, there is no place to hide. Where good information is lacking, drivel flows back and forth between constituents and their elected officials; officials can hide behind aphorisms, and the public has a difficult time digging them out with a rehash of the week’s editorials. Available information, however, allows people to dig in more on their elected officials; likewise, it allows officials to cite to specifics in the record, to explain actions that contradict the wishes of the editorialists.

I believe we’ll see a shift in voters’ concerns, at least to some degree, away from the litmus of liberal or conservative toward a litmus of "conversative" or "non-conversative," with the conversative candidates having the advantage. Constituents don’t expect their representatives to vote like they would every time, but they do expect their representatives to dialogue with them and bring them into the process. Now, of course, this is nothing new; but, the ability of constituents and their elected officials to exchange information is accelerating at a staggering pace. And, I believe that this openness signifies great things for representative democracy.