“Keeping It Transparent”

Nick Budnick writes an excellent article in Tuesday’s Tribune about transparency in the current Portland City Council. But he says, “By some measures, Portland’s City Hall is the most transparent it’s ever been. The mayor, city commissioners and bureau heads all post their schedules regularly.” That’s a bit misleading. Tom Potter and Sam Adams post their calendars weekly, and past calendars cumulatively – that’s commendable. Dan Saltzman posts his calendar for the current and past week, but only posts the record to the Auditor’s site quarterly. And Erik Sten and Randy Leonard only post their calendars for the previous quarter, on the Auditor’s Lobbyist registration page.

So if a citizen wants to know who met with lobbyists last month, only Mayor Potter and Commissioner Adams make that information readily available.