Acknowledgments

Washington state is lucky. It has legions of people who want to make state and local government more visible, more accountable, and ultimately more effective and responsive. Some of the very best of those people worked on this project.

We want to thank our authors. They came from academia, as with David Cuillier and Peggy Watt. Some are current and former journalists, in particular George Erb, Mike Fancher and Robert McClure. Most of them are attorneys on transparency’s front lines: William John Crittenden, Judy Endejan, Michele Earl-Hubbard, Kathy George, Joan K. Mell and Hannah Sells Marcley. Our authors are the reason why this report is so comprehensive.

Equally indispensable are the people who assembled this report so that you can read it. We’d like to thank our eagle-eyed copy editor, Cynthia Flash, page designer Mary LaFleur and illustrator Kelly Shea. Web designer James Frederick and WashCOG webmaster Peggy Watt made this report accessible online.

WashCOG’s passionate executive director, Juli Bunting, kept the organization going while many of us were consumed by this project.

Report co-editors George Erb and Jim Simon began their collaboration at a uniquely Seattle location: the Starbucks at the Kraken Community Iceplex. They consumed large amounts of coffee and tea while working on this report.

Throughout, Erb and Simon relied on Mike Fancher for his leadership and counsel. We’re going to call him honorary co-editor no matter what he says.

Above all, this report would not have been possible without the financial support of Jim and Birte Falconer, along with WashCOG’s other donors. They are helping us make Washington state a more transparent and better place for everyone. Open government really is good government.