by Bea Peterson
Matthew E.B. Brotmann is a Special Advisor on Policy and Public Information for the NYS Office of the Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo. On Tuesday, June 23, he introduced the seniors at the Rensselaer County Everett Wagar Senior Service Center to Project Sunlight, a website that explains New York State government and how it works.The website was initiated by Cuomo who states “Transparency and disclosure are the pillars of restoring integrity and public trust to government.”
Brotmann said the website contains no commentary and no editorialization. He added, New York has one of
the most archaic state governments in the country. As an attorney, he said, he was surprised to learn that the Court of Appeals is the highest court in the state, and the Supreme Court is the lower court.
Brotmann said Project Sunlight makes it easy to do a general search of all the databases. “Who donated to who and where was it used,” he said. There’s contract information and member items. “What’s my assemblyman or Senator doing?” What bills have they proposed and who is lobbying for or against that bill? All the information is easily available. “We don’t create the data. We find it and put it together,” he said. Information can be researched by county. “Use it as a phone book,” he added.
Brotmann researched one community, for instance, and found that it had 51 government entities in it. “That’s one of the reasons the Attorney General is trying to make consolidation of local governments a law.”
Project Sunlight, www.sunlightny.org, allows the general public to research any bill, learn more about lobbyists, follow their tax dollars, retrieve campaign finance records or monitor charitable contributions.
Wagar Senior Center Director Penny Jones told the seniors that if they did not have a computer, she would be happy to help them navigate the website on the computer at the Center or they could use the computers at the Grafton Library.
Brotmann pointed out there is a place on the website to ask questions. “We want to make it responsive,” he said. “People do have a right to know.” Before becoming a special advisor to the Attorney General Brotmann was an assistant district attorney in Westchester dealing with criminal intelligence.
The website is available on Google by typing NY Project Sunlight. Rensselaer County Legislator Keith Hammond praised the program when he introduced Brotmann to the seniors.