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State Unveils News Transparency Website

State of Indiana

The governor’s office has unveiled a new website aiming to improving transparency and accountability in state government -- a one-stop shop for Hoosiers keeping tabs on state agencies’ performance.

The state’s previous transparency portal earned Indiana the title of most transparent state government site by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a consumer watchdog organization. 

Indiana Chief Information Officer Paul Baltzell says the new website brings together information on the financial health of the state from a variety of different sources and tracks the governor’s primary goals (what he calls his Roadmap). 

Baltzell says the site also allows Hoosiers to follow the performance of state agencies, in a user-friendly way, through what’s called key performance indicators.

“You’re going to see the good, the bad, and the ugly," Baltzell says.  "So if there is a performance area that we’re missing, we obviously as an agency should dig deeper, right, as to what’s causing that problem.  But we want to be transparent and kind of show where we’re at, so all the KPIs we’re measured on will be published up there.”

But Rep. Matt Pierce (D-Bloomington) says the problem is that while the state does well at the basics of transparency, digging deeper is still an issue.  He says the legislature needs to step up its oversight.

“Because I think every administration would like to be able to operate in a way where they’re not having every single thing they do scrutinized, but in reality that’s how you get the best government – you need to everybody in there seeing exactly what you’re doing,” Pierce says.

Pierce notes that Republicans in the legislature have rebuffed attempts to create more transparency with INDOT land purchases and Indiana Economic Development Corporation job commitment deals. 

Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.