Over the course of the last few months, I've had government boards provide a variety of excuses why they can't be more transparent. So far, we've been able to work through all the issues with little trouble. Until now.

This morning, one government body located in southwest Idaho told me it simply can't provide a transaction level accounting of all the taxpayer spending it does. Interesting. I'll let you know how this plays out. For now, you should just know that so far, every organization we have approached has had the technological capability of providing the data we seek -- that you as a taxpayer are entitled to view. I have since filed a public records request for the data, which I don't mind doing and have done many times before. The question now is, how will this government board respond?

By way of an update, today, I received complete transaction level data from the city of Pocatello. I met with Mayor Roger Chase last month, and he was extremely gracious and willing to work on this project. My thanks to him and all the other city, county, highway and school officials who have provided the data for this project.