BRADENTON — The Libertarian Party of Manatee County hopes to provide citizens and government employees an opportunity to anonymously report acts of government waste. The political party launched GovStoppers.com this week, where residents can upload pictures or documents that show government waste, fraud or corruption, without the posts being traced back to the person who submitted them.





"While some agencies may have ways to report fraud, often a report must be made to the very agency involved, for example the School Board website," says LPMC Chair Ray Wolff. "This is bit like the fox watching the hen house. GovStopper.com is a better way to make such reports."





Wolff says local Libertarians seek to establish more transparency and accountability to Manatee County and its various city and other governments with GovStoppers.





"As the Libertarian Party of Manatee County, we see one of our roles as a third party is to bring openness, trust and transparency to our local government," Wolff says. "With help from the public and government employees, GovStoppers can be the impartial and anonymous way to bring local government waste and corruption to light."





The website is built with anonymity in mind, said Wolff, using anonymous third-party messaging and email to access GovStoppers and send files. Its photo upload feature does not log or store information that could link the photos with the sender.





Wolff says that the Libertarians—America’s fastest growing political party—face ballot access restrictions engineered by the major parties, intended to discourage independents and third-party candidates from winning office and affecting political change, but that GovStoppers is a way for members to magnify their impact.





"Even with those limitations, Libertarians can promote change in our local Manatee government," Wolff said. "Although we are hopeful that our local government agencies are free from fraud, bribes, nepotism, misuse of resources, bribes, employee waste and corruption, GovStoppers.com is here should they need to be reported."



