In this post, Steve Warmbir, member of the Sun-Times editorial board, lauds our transparency efforts — writing that our launch of CookEmployees.com was “the right thing to do.”

Steve goes further to detail the value of the Web site:

So what’s the value of the information?

To Average Joes, admittedly, not much.

They can see where their tax dollars go, which has some value, but it doesn’t mean much without context.

The folks who understand the context are the county employees themselves. They know which of their colleagues got their jobs through clout, which of them hardly show up to work because they don’t worry about getting fired, which of them are ripping off the taxpayers.

Those hard-working county employees see what goes on, see what those rascals get paid and sometimes, they pick up the phone.

They call the FBI.

They call the Better Government Association.

They call an investigative reporter.

That’s the true value of Peraica’s list.

It encourages people-in-the-know to drop a dime.

Those are the folks who help start federal investigations, help put stories in the newspaper, and once in a great while, actually help make a difference.