In more positive news....

Perhaps the federal government needs to take a look at how we do things here in Virginia to learn how to increase transparency for a lower cost... (okay, that's not the only lesson they could learn from Virginia- the #1 best managed state, but that's another post entirely...)

The Heartland Institute reports...

Virginia taxpayers scored a big win in the 2009 General Assembly session ... [with] a bill putting more of the state’s budget and expenditures online in a user-friendly format easily accessible to the general public.

Now that's great news in and of itself. Making it even better? The pricetag.

Early in the legislative session the bill faced serious opposition from all parties when the Department of Planning and Budget hung a $3 million price tag on it. However, Cuccinelli worked closely with Virginia’s auditor of public accounts, Walter Kucharski, to eliminate any financial impact or additional burden on taxpayers.

Government spending transparency? No added costs to taxpayers? Priceless.