According to a Coalition of 36 groups, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) have pledged to make their presidential administrations the “most transparent” ever. The candidates have each signed an “oath of presidential transparency” declaring that, should they become president in 2009, they will issue an executive order during their first month in office instructing the entire executive branch to put into practice the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. The act establishes a Google-like search tool that allows citizens to see how their tax dollars are being spent on federal contracts, grants and earmarks.

“The next president should be committed to transparency and accountability,” said Adrian Moore, vice president of research at Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank responsible for leading the effort. “Redesigning the federal government so that it is more accountable to taxpayers is a nonpartisan issue. Transparency will help produce a government focused on results instead of our current system, which is plagued by secrecy, wasteful spending and pork projects.”

The coalition has invited all of the major presidential candidates to sign the oath. It was first distributed to every presidential candidate’s headquarters on July 17 with “at least five follow-up emails or calls made to each campaign.”\

Said Sen. Brownback, “Government transparency is essential to government accountability. Americans need to feel they can trust their government.”

The following groups are part of the coalition:

• American Association of Physicians and Surgeons
• American Association of Small Property Owners
• Americans for Tax Reform
• Budget Watch Nevada
• Capital Research Center
• Center for Financial Privacy and Human Rights
• Center for Individual Freedom
• Citizen Outreach Project
• Citizens Against Government Waste
• Doctors for Open Government
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Evergreen Freedom Foundation
• FreedomWorks
• Grassroot Institute of Hawaii
• Iowa Public Policy Institute
• Liberty Coalition
• Mackinac Center for Public Policy
• Minnesota Free Market Institute
• Mississippi Center for Public Policy
• National Taxpayers Union
• Nevada Policy Research Institute
• Reason Foundation
• Republican Liberty Caucus
• Research Accountability Project
• Rio Grande Foundation
• Taxpayers League of Minnesota
• Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
• The Harbor League
• The Performance Institute
• The Project on Government Oversight
• The Pullins Report
• The Rutherford Institute
• US Bill of Rights Foundation
• Velvet Revolution
• Virginia Institute for Public Policy
• Washington Policy Center.