In late October, I was honored to be contacted by leaders of the Michigan state legislature who had heard about my office’s government transparency efforts and hope to emulate those efforts in their own state. They were particularly interested in creating a state government transparency Web site, much like the one we established for South Carolina.

Being a big believer in the notion that transparency is the key ingredient for good government, I was more than happy to offer my guidance.

They not only wanted to know the process we used to let citizens view the individual expenditures of more than 80 state agencies, but how much it cost.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that the folks in Michigan who want a transparency Web site were hearing the same excuses I ran into when I began pushing for such a site in South Carolina.

But while some who are skeptical of online transparency have estimated the cost to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, the truth is it can be done for a mere fraction of that, I told them.

In fact, my office did it with no additional funds, just a lot of work. (I have since estimated the cost in “man-hours” to be in the tens of thousands -- not hundreds of thousands. For that, I have to thank my dedicated staff for their long hours and for putting up with me through all of it.)

It will be interesting to see whether their transparency efforts are successful. I will keep my fingers crossed.

Here at home, South Carolina has made great strides in the area of open-government.

Shortly after we unveiled the state government transparency Web site, my office began a campaign to persuade towns, cities, counties and school districts to do the same.

The results have been overwhelming. At the time of this writing, 15 local units of government have put their check registers online, giving taxpayers click-of-a-mouse access to details about how their hard-earned dollars are being used.

They are: the counties of Charleston, Dorchester and Anderson and Aiken; the municipalities of Georgetown, Cayce, Myrtle Beach, Surfside Beach, Turbevillle, Aiken, Charleston, Chesnee and Irmo; the Holly Springs Fire & Rescue District in Spartanburg County and the Berkeley County School District.

Several other towns, cities and counties have told me they plan to post their check registers online soon.

In addition, we recently began putting individual “stimulus” expenditures on the Comptroller General’s Office Web site, www.cg.sc.gov.

When it comes to pulling back the curtains of government, so that citizens can see how decisions that affect them are made and how their money is spent, there is still much, much room for improvement here at home and across the country.

Still, we can take pride in the fact that South Carolina is considered a national leader in government transparency.