This is one of those strange bedfellows things where one can appreciate ideas from people who are usually nuts. The Mackinac Institute in Michigan got the Secretary of State there to do this and has been going after smaller governments and agencies to follow suit. It's a pretty nice idea all in all.

We could find out how many ways you can make out a check to Homer Williams.

Homer Williams
Williams, Homer
Homer Williams LLC
Homer Williams & Co
Homer Williams Esquire
Homer Williams Inc.

The PDC check register is the one that will never see the light of day.

This is a great idea. It goes right along with Obama's transparency issue....I wouldn't rule this out as people are getting fed up with the way the bureaucrats are spending our tax dollars. I hope Fish reads your blog today and thinks about it.... Make his fellow commissioners and Mayor acountable for their actions

One can view the Alaska checkbook online, too: http://fin.admin.state.ak.us/dof/checkbook_online/index.jsp

Certainly it might help shed daylight on activities we know go on. But it isn't going to fix everything. If something of value is given away without any money changing hands, it's still under the radar.

Think of the giveaways to Homer in SoWa, for example.

The City of Portland has a check register? I thought they operated under the same assumption as my ex-wife: if they still have checks in the checkbook, there still must be money in the account.

Here's another idea. There was an article in Saturday's Wall Street Journal by Nebraska State Treasurer Shane Osborn about financial accountability, and how they have created a website to inform citizens in Nebraska about how their tax dollars are spent. Imagine if citizens of Portland, much less Oregon, had a searchable database that discloses every aspect of governement spending, and at a mere cost of $38,000 according to Mr. Osborn for the State of Nebraska.