Environmental Working Group--Pioneer in Transparency

Having been there when ASCS was responding to the initial EWG FOIA request, I was struck by this comment (from an article mostly focused on Arkansas rice):

The group’s farm-subsidy database has played a pivotal role in the policy debates surrounding U. S. agricultural policy, said Sallie James, a trade-policy analyst with the Washington-based Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

“I’m lobbying for [Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group ] to get a public service medal,” James said. “I can’t think of anything that’s been done in the public policy arena in the last 20 years that has had as much of an impact as this seemingly simple Freedom of Information request.”

It's true enough, but you have to add in the Internet as a vital enabler.