Transparency advocates and lawmakers have mixed reaction to a failing grade an advocacy group gave Wisconsin's online access to government spending data.

The U.S. Public Interest Research Group recently gave Wisconsin an "F," because the state does not have an all-in-one transparency website that reports spending in "checkbook-level" detail.

"We don't see any reason not to do this, and it's not acceptable that Wisconsin is lagging the way we are," said Johanna Lathrop, an attorney with the group's Wisconsin division.

Thirty-two states have comprehensive websites that allow visitors to easily find information about how state governments are spending money, according to the report. Wisconsin was one of 18 states to receive a failing grade, and 14 of those states have no such site.

The grade is somewhat misleading, said the head of a statewide council that pushes for openness and transparency in government.

"I'm a little worried about people saying Wisconsin earns an F; I don't know how fair that is," said Bill Lueders, president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council. "I think there are places you could go to get state budget information for state agencies and the state of Wisconsin as a whole."

The state Department of Administration, which is responsible for tracking Wisconsin's budgetary details, especially when it comes to stimulus dollars, continues to provide online access to such information, Administration Department spokeswoman Carla Vigue said Friday in an e-mail message.

State agencies, including the University of Wisconsin System and the Department of Transportation, post extensive spending reports on their websites, Vigue wrote.

In her efforts to hold the DOT more accountable for its use of private contractors, state Sen. Julie Lassa, D-Stevens Point, has had to submit several lengthy open records requests for such information, while having a comprehensive website would make it more readily available and cheaper to locate.

"I definitely believe that Wisconsin can improve the transparency of what the state spends taxpayers' money on," Lassa said, suggesting a portal website, directing visitors to each department's individual pages. "There certainly is a lot of room for improvement."

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