The Public Editor: Accountable to the public for whom they work

Sacramento Bee ^ | 3/9/8 | Armando Acu&ntillde;a

[SmithL]

The Bee's posting last week of an online database making it easy to look up the salaries of state workers by name has made two things clear:

First, many state workers are irate, complaining it is an invasion of their privacy. Second, the database is wildly popular, with more than 2 million page views in just the first three days, setting a sacbee.com record by a quantum leap that's growing each day.

Beyond those two facts, though, there's little agreement.

Certainly for hundreds of state workers who called or e-mailed my office, nothing will suffice except the database's removal. Many workers were urged on by their unions.

The volume of e-mails was so heavy, it's a wonder the state's computer system didn't crash, since most came from state computers.

This is, after all, a company town, and that company is government, with 16 percent of the city's work force being state employees. They make up about 12 percent of all workers in our four-county region.

The reality is that the likelihood of The Bee taking down the database is nil.

Nor should it come down, in my opinion.

More broadly, given the paper's legal right to publish public records and the courts coming down on the side of transparency, the question posed by some state workers is whether The Bee should have published the database.

I think the answer is yes.

That will irritate some state workers, at least those still reading the paper, as many said they were dropping their subscriptions in protest.

It is important – if ultimately unsatisfying to the critics – to put what the paper is doing in context....

[SmithL]

Search for a state worker's salary

[SmithL]

Your tax Dollars at Work Ping

[Carry_Okie]

Waow. A newspaper performing a public service (for once)!

With "public servants" taking umbrage at publication of public information (as usual)!!

Amazing. May such wonders never cease.

[RightWhale]

The problem is to identify ‘the public.’

[calcowgirl]

The reality is that the likelihood of The Bee taking down the database is nil.

I liked this answer!

Thank you, Sac Bee!

[Carry_Okie]

My first reaction when I saw this was that it was a whole new playground for ccg. ;-))

[PrincessB]

They aren’t the only state that does this. In Missouri, we have “The Blue Book” which is now online. The information is about 2 years old, but you can look up the salary for any state employee, including people who work for the universities.

I bet almost every state has some provision like this, through secretaries of state or other administrative offices.

[LibFreeOrDie]

In New Hampshire, the Union Leader newspaper published the salaries of state employees, including those in the state college system.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pLduFqLXLHcksrCrHgtXhPg

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pLduFqLXLHcm46Y1aZ_QuaQ

The local towns publish lists of employees and salaries every year at this time, for town meetings and voting.

And the new mayor of Nashua published a teacher salary calculator, to show what teachers would be earning for every combination of degree and experience under the proposed contract.

[calcowgirl]

Like I need another playground? ROFL.

[SmithL]

Institute for Regenerative Medicine? Isn't that what they call the Stem-Cell bureaucracy?

[calcowgirl]

Institute for Regenerative Medicine? Isn't that what they call the Stem-Cell bureaucracy?

Yep! Out of that graphic, I found the first four to be (arguably) justifiable salaries. The last one is ridiculous, as is the $6 billion that is being poured into it. Bunch of crooks, as far as I'm concerned.