Conservative think tank aims to document wasteful government spending

A conservative think tank rolled out a "piglet" book this morning that documents what the group calls wasteful spending at all levels of Nevada government along with a call for greater transparency in public finances.

The Nevada Policy Research Institute's "Nevada Piglet Book 2008" has examples of "egregious" and "downright ridiculous" expenditures, said spokesman Andy Matthews — everything from millions of dollars in health care overpayments by the state Department of Health and Human Services to the $200 Clark County spent for four 100-pound pigs.

At a small press conference releasing the report, Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, said he wanted to "caution against anyone characterizing this as hating government in any way. That's not what this is about."

"Government uncovered more than half of the problems here," he said. "Waste is not a thing. It is an ongoing process. It needs to be carefully guarded against at all times, and forever, and that's really a big piece of what government managers and management is supposed to do."

Some of the misspending in the report dates back several years. In some cases, the incidents led to criminal investigations. Others could be a matter of opinon, such as spending $105,000 for a skate park or $61,500 for public service announcements on flood safety.

Steven Miller, NPRI's vice president for policy, also acknowledged that his group hadn't done additional research to see if the problems in the report had been addressed or corrected.

Instead, they are trying to get more agencies to make financial information more readily available to the public.

"We have a project in place to assist county agencies with making this information regularly available," he said. "At present, there is no common template ... for reporting information to the public."

More information is available at www.npri.org and www.transparentnevada.com.