1889 Institute: Legislature should reverse itself and increase transparency

Oklahoma Legislature Should Reverse Itself and Increase Transparency By Byron Schlomach Just out this year, Hugh Jackman stars in HBO’s Bad Education, a movie about Frank Tassone, the one-time superintendent of the Roslyn, New York school district who, along with an accomplice, stole $11.2 million in district funds. It’s been called the “largest public school embezzlement in U.S. history,” but is actually the “largest public school embezzlement ever discovered in U.S. history” since there is no way to be sure that a worse theft has not occurred. Had Pamela Gluckin, Tassone’s partner in crime, not had her son buy $83,000 in home remodeling supplies with the school’s credit card, and alert Home Depot employees not called someone, Gluckin and Tassone likely would have gotten away with their theft. The movie’s dramatization of a student reporter digging into filed receipts and investigating suspicious (fake) vendors reflects the hard work of real-life reporters at the time. But what if concerned individuals could look at a government entity’s transactions after downloading from the internet without filing Freedom of Information Act requests, going to court for access, or digging through boxes? A Tassone or Gluckin would likely steal no more than a pittance if others could look over their shoulders so easily. Read more » by Jamison Faught - December 19, 2020 at 09:48PM

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