Montgomery – Providing unprecedented disclosure through a move that breaks
the tradition of several administrations, Gov. Bob Riley on Tuesday voluntarily
posted on his state website a detailed accounting of expenditures from the
Governor’s Contingency Fund as well as a full listing of all trips he, his wife,
First Lady Patsy Riley, or his immediate staff have taken on state owned
aircraft.
Traditionally, Alabama governors have gone to great lengths to hide such
information from public scrutiny and have routinely denied requests made by the
media under the state open records law. Official flight logs pertaining to the
governor’s aircraft, for instance, have contained little, if any, information
that would allow the general public to discern how it was being used, who was
flying on it and where it was going at any given time. Contingency fund
expenditures have been handled in a similar, secretive manner.
“I’ve never understood how past governors could say taxpayers have no
business knowing how taxpayer dollars are being spent,” Riley said. “State
government should be open, accessible and accountable to the citizens it serves,
and voluntarily posting this information on the Internet is, in my opinion, a
huge step toward achieving that goal.”
Riley noted that while he has released this information on his own accord
and has pledged to update it on a quarterly basis, his administration is
proposing legislation that would statutorily require future governors to follow
his example. The bill has already received a favorable report from legislative
committee.
The Governor’s Contingency Fund, as outlined by the Code of Alabama, is
intended to fund, among other purposes, “the ordinary expenses of the executive
department, including but not limited to the expenses of the governor, the
governor’s office and staff.”
The contingency fund information Riley posted on the Internet includes the
dates expenditures were made, the total amount that was paid to any particular
vendor and a brief explanation of why the expenditures were justified. The
listed amount paid to individual vendors is an aggregate total of bills that
were submitted during the fiscal quarter, and, in many cases, numerous bills
were submitted over the three-month period.
Several contingency fund bills left over from the previous administration
were not paid until the office changed hands on January 20, 2003, and those
expenditures are reflected, as well.
The information relating to state plane usage includes the date of each
flight, its destination, a manifest of passengers, the purpose of the flight and
the date of the return trip. Each flight originated from the state hangar
located in Montgomery, and each was for official state business.
The governor’s extraordinary actions fulfill yet another pledge made in his
Plan for Change, a blueprint for state government reform and accountability that
Riley released during his successful gubernatorial campaign.
The information can be accessed by going to www.governor.state.al.us on the
Internet.
 Click
here to view the records
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