The Thomas Jefferson Institute asked that question of 513 candidates for local office in Virginia for whom email addresses were available, asking them to pledge to support efforts to make government more transparent for the voters. Sixty-four candidates took the pledge and signed the “2013 Government Transparency Pledge.” Michael Thompson, President of the Jefferson Institute stated, “these local candidates have agreed that government should be more open and transparent, that budgets should be accessible on line as should government contracts, organizational charts and calendars of all meetings.” He went on to say, “these candidates understand that government becomes better when the light of transparency is shown upon it.”