Transparency
A change is in order
School board vs. advisors on spending loopholes
When taxpayer money is being spent, is it really too much to ask that an independent oversight mechanism be established? If you listen in on recent meetings of the Clark County School District Bond Oversight Committee (BOC), you might think so.
Tell us what you think (but not really)
The Clark County School Board remains ambivalent on public discussion
Extending an olive branch to members of the public who attend board meetings, the Clark County School Board is at the same time admonishing them that, "This isn't an opportunity to go haywire."
Old Vegas lives
“Free” tax money is available, but integrity is hard to find
Board members of the Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency (LVRDA) and those who are dependent on them for taxpayer subsidies apparently have little shame. In response to recent public opposition to the LVRDA and its use of tax dollars to build lavish public facilities and subsidize big developers, board members of the LVRDA have jettisoned adherence to the state's ethics laws.
Transparency runarounds
CCSD attempts to subvert the public’s right to know
Despite lawmakers' desire to keep public records accessible and the people's business in the open, the very laws created to secure open government are often manipulated to erect walls and cloak agencies from public scrutiny.
NPRI's Transparency Project on the LVCVA: Feb. 16, 2009 update
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is attempting to redefine its legal identity and that of its top official in the wake of the Nevada Policy Research Institute's disclosures of improper spending, ethics violations and a longstanding breach of contract by the authority's advertising agency.
NPRI's Transparency Project on the LVCVA: Feb. 4, 2009 update
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's 14-member board of directors will face a crucial decision at its next meeting on Feb. 13: Whether to extend R&R Partners' $87 million-a-year advertising contract for another five years.
Rolling the Dice on the Taxpayers’ Dime
Nevada's redevelopment agencies spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars subsidizing private developers, which increases the tax burden on citizens and fosters corruption. There is a better way to encourage redevelopment.
The name game
More shenanigans from the Clark County school board
The Clark County school board has a reputation of filling its regular board meetings with a lot of pomp and circumstance. But on January 8, 2009, pomp and ceremony was entirely appropriate as the board took a break from its recent aversion to anything military.
NPRI's look at the LVCVA
Some important questions remain unanswered.
In late 2007, as the Nevada Policy Research Institute was gearing up a broad transparency-in-government initiative, the opportunity arose for NPRI and other state-based think tanks to obtain national funding to pursue state and local investigative reporting projects.
NPRI's Transparency Project on the LVCVA
The Nevada Policy Research Institute has made the issue of government transparency a top priority in 2008, as the issue has grown in prominence nationally and as the need for more transparency here Nevada has become clear.
