We have big news to share, if you haven’t already seen your Columbus Dispatch, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Dayton Daily News, Toledo Blade, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal or any of the more than 30 other Ohio newspapers that ran the story yesterday.

The Buckeye Institute’s public salary databases served as the first major government transparency initiatives in Ohio. Since our launch of the project four years ago, there have been nearly 12 million searches performed on our website.

We always hoped that one day the government itself would provide this same kind of information directly to taxpayers, but truly never believed that day would come — let alone in our lifetimes.

Accordingly, we could not be more excited that our pipedream has become reality. Many thanks to all of you who supported our efforts to shine some sunshine into the dark recesses of government checkbooks.

Insert your own drumroll here, please. You may have read in your local paper (nearly all of them cited Buckeye’s groundbreaking work on this issue) that Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has enacted The Buckeye Institute’s longstanding vision that state government would be open and transparent, disclosing its spending line by line to the taxpayers who support its operation. In so doing, Mandel propelled Ohio to lead the nation on government transparency, setting the new standard for accountability. Mandel deserves major kudos for having the courage to complete this project against the wishes of almost every elected official in the state.

The new “Ohio Checkbook” that Treasurer Mandel has launched is a comprehensive and user-friendly database that tracks every state government expenditure going back to 2008 — eclipsing even Buckeye’s own work for the past four years! This database is — to second Tina Turner’s sentiment — “simply the best, better than all the rest.”

Last year, Mandel generously lauded The Buckeye Institute, stating:

I met with the Buckeye Institute before formally launching the Treasurer’s Transparency Project because they are pioneers on government transparency initiatives in Ohio. They were the first Ohio organization to take public employee salary data and other relevant public information and put it online in usable and searchable databases, and we thought that state government should build upon their success. We have been proud to partner with the Buckeye Institute on initiatives to expand government transparency and accountability, and continue to be grateful for their leadership on these important issues.

Buckeye’s lead government transparency expert, our Statehouse Liaison and Policy Analyst, Greg R. Lawson, testified today before the Ohio Senate on the issue as well. The pending “Open Ohio” bill would codify the Treasurer’s efforts so that a future officeholder would not be able to simply pull the shades back down on Ohio taxpayers and block that crucial disinfecting sunlight.

Mr. Lawson stated in his testimony, “…transparency helps citizens understand what questions to ask of their government officials. When empowered in this way, taxpayers can facilitate real change and greater fiscal accountability.”