Government Accountability
Back-room deals and closed doors are not the stuff of free governments. Our work is making governments more transparent and accountable to citizens.
There’s a 29-mile section of Interstate 15 that cuts across Arizona’s northwest corner that’s noteworthy for its limited access -- if you live south of the Grand Canyon, the only way you can get to it without crossing into Nevada or Utah is to make a long detour and drive dirt roads.
The Goldwater Institute's Starlee Rhoades appeared on KPNX's Sunday Square Off along with former candidate for attorney general Felecia Rotellini, and Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts, where they discussed campaign finance, pensions, and CPS.
The Goldwater Institute’s recent court victory protecting taxpayer rights is already having a ripple effect throughout the state.
Recently, the U.S. Department of Labor released data on how much each state “overpays” in unemployment insurance (UI) benefits.
Months after the housing bubble burst in 2007, Arizona passed a state budget that many knew was out of balance the day it was passed. By summer of 2007, there was even talk of having a special session to fix the situation.
From Phoenix to Pima County, politicians and public-sector unions routinely agree to put union representatives on the government payroll, paying them millions of taxpayer dollars exclusively for union work, renewing these agreements year after year.
Arizona may be a right-to-work state, but a new investigation by the Goldwater Institute shows that public-employee unions still wield outsized influence on elected officials—and they are using that power to feather their own nests.
Phoenix taxpayers spend millions of dollars to pay full salary and benefits for city employees to work exclusively for labor unions, a Goldwater Institute investigation found.
Collective bargaining agreements with seven labor organizations require the city to pay union officers and provide members with thousands of additional hours to conduct union business instead of doing their government jobs.
A government that operates behind closed doors cannot be the government of a free people. The Goldwater Institute has prompted several reforms shining light into the inner workings of government, including the nation’s most comprehensive online database of line-by-line government spending and restrictions on politicians using tax money for self-promotion. Our regular watchdog reports are helping citizens hold their elected officials accountable.
Gov. Janet Napolitano has a strange idea of how to deal with the state's expected huge revenue shortfalls this year and next year.
Granted she did say in her State of the State address this week that she planned to ask state departments to reduce spending to help deal with an estimated $1 billion shortfall in tax revenues this year - one-tenth of Arizona's $10.6 billion budget. That's a wise fiscal step, if it is truly implemented.