The Blog

Governor Chris Gregoire Governor Chris Gregoire

05/19/08

The commitment of state agencies to provide information to the public as quickly and accurately as possible was confirmed this week when the State Auditor's Office released its latest performance audit. State cabinet agencies had a 94 percent success rate in the audit. The few mistakes were clerical errors and not attempts to withhold information.

I have made accountability to the people a top priority. In early 2006, I directed all agencies to renew their commitment to openness and the principles of the Public Records Act. And in 2007, I put resources in place to increase the availability of electronic copies of public records.

Washington state government was recently recognized by the Pew Center on the States as one of the top three states for sharing information. The Center looked at each state's willingness to share data, its capability to generate good information, and its ability to get the right people to use the data. We are proud of this achievement and the results of this audit, and we are committed to becoming even better at providing citizens with timely, accurate information.