Docket In Your Pocket, an application that can pull Pennsylvania court records dating back to 2000, hit its 500,000th search last week.

The app, which launched in October and was covered by the Inquirer, the Philadelphia Business Journal and NBC 10, is now available on iPhone and Android smartphones as well as many tablet devices and cost $2.99.

So far, Pennsylvania’s court data are the only state records the app can access, but the developers, Iowa-based attorney Matt Haindfield and computer programmer Tim Byrnes, are hoping to expand to other states, according to the latest press release.

To test Docket in Your Pocket the first people this reporter searched on the iPhone version of the app were my brand new employers — Technically Philly. At best, the hope was to quickly dig up some real dirt. At worst, surely one of these Philly residents had incurred a traffic violation over the last few years.

Nada.

What I did not expect was that the only one of the four of us to return any dockets would be this reporter — a traffic violation for going significantly over the 65 mile per hour speed limit in Tioga County dating back to 2006.

Digging up dirt on your co-workers was not precisely what Haindfield had in mind when he decided to develop Docket in Your Pocket, but no doubt the app is being used for just that sort of snooping. The biggest Docket in Your Pocket user group has turned out to be single women running background checks on potential love interests, notes the press release.

500,000: that’s a lot of suspicious dudes.

Following quiet structural changes at the Philadelphia Parking Authority, the oft-criticized state-run agency announced today a transparency-driven social media campaign.

After news this month of staff sensitivity training and staff restructuring around customer service, the PPA will launch outreach efforts through Facebook, Twitter, QR codes and other tools.

Find the PPA on Twitter @PhilaParking and on Facebook here.

Tossing out an estimated 1.7 million tickets a year and forking over $99.6 million to the city and school district, according to a press release, hasn’t always earned the love of residents and visitors alike. The agency is famously the subject of the A&E reality show ‘Parking Wars,’ suggesting a divide between parkers and enforcers.

“While solving problems and addressing customer issues will be a major thrust, we will also use Facebook and Twitter to keep the public informed about parking emergencies during inclement weather – special holiday parking
discounts – parking at the airport during holiday rushes, as well as residential parking issues in our neighborhoods,” PPA Executive Director Vince Fenerty said in a press release. “Facebook and Twitter will help us better educate the public about parking regulations in the city, as well as our signage.”

The PPA strategy has been led by ChatterBlast Media, a Center City-based social media consulting firm. Evan Urbania and Matt Ray of Chatterblast worked with new PPA Customer Service Director Sue Cornell to develop the communications plan, according to the press release.

“The PPA will utilize online tools and social media platforms to allow users to get the information they need quickly and have access to support using new technologies and tools,” said Urbania.

Urbania says the technical components include:

• “A highly customized Facebook page with easy to access links and frequently used resources on the PPA website and throughout the web.”
• “A customer support system called Get Satisfaction integrated into Facebook, which allows for community-based support and access to PPA resources for questions, problems and praise.”
• “Involver applications integrated into Facebook to allow for interactive promotions, information sharing and a professional backend to manage everything.”
• “A blog added to the current PPA website to share informational resources and content quickly with the online customer community.”
• “A team-based channel management solution called Spredfast which allows for internal and external team members to schedule content, respond to issues and track progress from one dashboard.”

“We’re moving forward and using the latest online communications tools and strategies to encourage interaction with our customers and improve our overall customer service,” said Customer Service Director Cornell

Perzel entering Dauphin County courthouse Wednesday afternoon. (Via the Harrisburg Patriot-News)

John Perzel, the embattled, former powerful state Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, plead guilty to eight of 82 counts of corruption, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette first reported. The plea bargain comes ahead of a planned trial this fall.

The corruption charges largely stemmed from accusations that Perzel masterminded the spending of $10 million in taxpayer dollars to deploy a software system to evaluate voter trends meant to keep GOP lawmakers in power. Others in Perzel’s Northeast Philadelphia district office plead guilty last month. The minimum sentence for Perzel is 18 months and the maximum is 24 years, the Tribune Review reported.

From 2007 to 2010, Perzel, a 30-year veteran, lost his speaker role, was indicted and then lost the 172nd legislative district seat to young Democrat Kevin Boyle, who had never won an election before.

Read more in a comprehensive package by Northeast Philadelphia hyperlocal site NEast Philly covering John Perzel.

[Full Disclosure: This reporter also worked on that NEast Philly report.]

For half a century, Pennsylvania had an embarrassingly bad open-records policy. The 1957 law held that all government records were closed to the public unless a citizen met the legal burden of explaining why they should be available. A 2009 law, championed by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, turned this idiocy upside down: It made government records open unless the government could show they were covered by one of a number of exceptions. And it created an Office of Open Records (OOR) for citizens to appeal to when agencies denied their requests. That office has thus far been a staunch advocate for open government, taking a generous view of what records should be made public and helping citizens get them. But a new court decision, reported in the Inquirer on Monday, threatens to shut the door on open records, at least part way. It forces citizens to jump through hoops in order to get the help of the OOR…

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Tom Corbett and Steve Ballmer look at computers in Malvern.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett led the ribbon cutting opening the Microsoft Technology Center in Malvern.

[Ballmer joined Corbett] to officially open the Philadelphia Microsoft Technology Center, a state-of-the-art facility designed to help companies throughout the mid-Atlantic region improve their use of technology to grow their businesses, add jobs, and strengthen their local communities… The 17,500 square foot facility, located in Malvern, Pa., just outside of Philadelphia, is provides access to Microsoft technologies and support staff who will work with companies in the region to envision, architect and demonstrate secure, customized solutions based on Microsoft and partner technologies, anything from cloud computing to business productivity infrastructure optimization.

We love the region, we love Malvern, but can’t we agree that investing in the future is investing in cities, like, Philadelphia and not, uhm, Malvern? As Peter Key from the Philadelphia Business Journal points out, nearby financial services giant Vanguard is happy, with some 22,000 Microsoft workstations. Maybe they’ll take the El there.

Asking for an infinite supply of anything is expensive, says Pennsylvania State Treasurer Rob McCord.

Rob McCord, PA State Treasurer

That might especially be said of transitions toward governmental transparency through technology.

“When I came into office, I was pounding on the table saying ‘Why don’t we have every contract over $5,000 shared online?’ McCord, who took the treasurer’s seat in 2009 told Technically Philly during an interview in Bryn Mawr last month. “Well, it’s because that’s impossible. We don’t have the capacity, and it would cost too much to get there right away.”

Outgoing Philadelphia CTO Allan Frank, too, said “moving the mountain” of updating outdated systems while simultaneously releasing data and moving forward transparency is a bigger project than many realize. Frank’s interim successor Tommy Jones says his priority is focusing on infrastructure because of capacity concerns.

So governments need to find the low cost, actionable start, he says, not the blue-sky ideal that won’t happen.

For McCord, that was launching an online contract system for the treasurer’s office alone. The treasurer’s office has also launched the McCord Report, quarterly PDF reports with data on state government spending and allocation.

“Sunlight disinfects. When you allow people to do important, expensive work without any check, without public review and public disclosure, you’re inviting corruption,” McCord says. “The more you’re able to expose relevant information the more you drive down the probability of corruption.”

Of corruption charges at the Delaware River Port Authority, McCord says: “You talk to people who said they didn’t know what they were doing was wrong, and, in most cases, I believe them.” A little more exposure through tracking the money in public ways online could have kept that from happening.

“We also need the reduced price of transparency, by reducing [staffing] requirements and finding inefficiencies. We are pushing very hard operationally on increased transparency,” he said. “But you can also have data that doesn’t turn itself into information.”

Knowing the shoe size of every state legislator is data but it isn’t likely useful, McCord said.

“Of course someday everything needs to be online and searchable, so you can say ‘How much money does that company get from government?’ I think we can get there, where every dollar ever spent is shared online,” McCord says. “But let’s start with something that can truly be accomplished.”

Rob McCord, your Pennsylvania state treasurer, wants you to have empathy for him.

Just about the highest ranking Democrat in state politics has an easy laugh and a friendly manner. But, he says, if you’re going to describe him, you ought to start first with his entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurs ought to stick together.

Since 1994, McCord, 51, served as a senior executive at Safeguard Scientifics and founded the Eastern Technology Fund. He co-founded Pennsylvania Early Stage Partners and, from 1996 to 2007, he led the Eastern Technology Council [Official bio here].

He’s a venture capitalist in background, a Harvard kid and a Wharton grad by education and now he’s in his first term safeguarding $120 billion in public funds. In that role, McCord is offering the office up to his base –  whom he describes as “job-creating, technology-orientated entrepreneurs”– for advising, investing and as a potential client.

If nothing else, he thinks the Philadelphia technology community ought to know who he is. If only because he grew up on the Main Line, invested in tech businesses here and, well, because when it comes to statewide representation, Philadelphia could use a friend.

Fortunately, McCord is swearing by the position for now, despite prognostications to the contrary that suggest he is a sure bet to run for governor.

“I love being treasurer. People who watch me will know, it looks a lot more fun to be treasurer than in Congress, which was another option,” McCord told Technically Philly. “I plan to run for reelection [in 2012], and I do not take it for granted. So I’m obsessively focused on the treasurer’s office.”

In between calls on his Blackberry, McCord met with Technically Philly in a crowded Cosi in Bryn Mawr to talk his background, how he could have a big impact if only he had a billion dollars and illiquid assets.

As always, edited for length and clarity

Not a lot of VC guys end up in office, why does your past fit the job?

My background in finance has proven acutely and extremely valuable in this position. No one from the Wharton School has held statewide office, I believe, let alone state treasurer. Nobody who gets in arguments about asset allocation has ever run for state treasurer. There have been bond underwriters, but not someone who talks about illiquid assets and entrepreneur-spurring assets. I have spent a lot of time in that area, so I thought with my venture capital background, I was able to really delve into these other issues that interested me.

I have… a good background to be in a chief investment officer role. …I just think it’s valuable for entrepreneurs to be represented by entrepreneurs and be asking the question ‘when we put this money to work, how much will come back in job creating, innovation-spurring endeavors in Pennsylvania?’

Rob McCord is sworn in as the new Pennsylvania State Treasurer during a ceremony held in the North Office Building. JOE HERMITT, The Patriot-News

Where is Philadelphia in this scheme of entrepreneurship compared nationally?

I’m a glass half full guy. Pennsylvania is doing very well, not perfect, but very well.

Most regions in the country couldn’t just add water — give them a certain amount of money — and have jobs follow. Philadelphia is one of those regions.

Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, is another. Very few people in the southeast known what is happening in that southwest portion. It takes more work there, but it’s real… I look at it region by region, and Pennsylvania has a uniquely high number of those regions that can offer wealth from entrepreneurial-ism.

So just add water?

Yes…if you had another billion dollars, if you said to entrepreneurs that we will back your company but you have to be located in the Greater Philadelphia region… there are few entrepreneurs who would say ‘no way, I can’t make that work.’

When you look at our operating costs when compared to Silicon Valley or San Francisco or Manhattan or Boston or even Austin, TX, we’re right up there with the rest of them [in terms of being a competitive place to be].

The Research Triangle in North Carolina and Philadelphia are two of the country’s best lower cost centers of entrepreneurship.

…I would say San Fran, Boston and Austin are ahead of us in the sexy for young people factor, and that means we should put more work into reminding people what a great place it is to live here. But when you look at your overall cost of doing business as a young, only modestly funded entrepreneur living in say Center City or Old City Philadelphia to the same pay living in Manhattan, it is just hugely different.

The lifestyle in Philadelphia is much greater than what you might say is Greater Connecticut, but you simply have more money washing around Greater Connecticut because you have people saying I want to be within 45 minutes of the doorstep of my portfolio CEO. The increase supply of capital makes the difference… [but don't think Philadelphia isn't competitive in a national way.]

…So, yes, if you gave me a billion dollars in venture capital in this area, I could make it one or two, but of course if you gave me the first five draft picks, I could improve the Eagles, so it’s harder than that. …In the end, we need to continue to sell Philly as this great region that it is but also be growing the entrepreneurial community that we need with the help of the schools to support it.

To some extent Ben Franklin Technology Partners is meant to invest in only locally-based companies, but is it realistic to think others would do the same?

[In my venture career], we certainly set up soft goals for how much investment and success we hoped to have in the local region. If you look at groups like Penn State alumns, Carnegie Mellion alumns, fans of Greater Philadelphia and if more private groups could increase their soft goals [around Philly-specific funding], that could start something.

Some career fiduciary bureaucrats are resistant because they don’t want to reduce possible earnings. So it’s about early funds. I would love to see nonprofis like foundations be involved where we run an experiment, we invest in a for-profit-way but the profit goes back in a foundation. [The foundation network] only invests in locally-based companies, and if they can prove the profitability and sustainability of the experiment, they open it up beyond Greater Philadelphia… It’s about understanding the value of various, strong local hubs of investment and entrepreneurship.

What is your role in making any of that happen?

In the treasurer’s office, people reach out, and we try to put them in touch with appropriate investors. Right now, our coffers are dry, like lots of governments….

They should continue to come say to us that ‘we’re a growing company and venture eligible and can you introduce us.’ The odds of us getting you fresh funding is very low right now, but we sell this region. As I travel around the country with conferences and meetings, and I’ll say to private equity managers that you’re a fool if you ‘re looking at Greater New York but not Greater Philadelphia. A lot of big companies are looking at more rollups — complete acquisition — so a local company gets wrapped up into a national scale… we can help connect there.

A sub item of that is that a lot of people are not ready for venture capital but don’t know it, so often we spend time educating people about that, and people want a sounding board on how to grow their companies, whether it’s angel or other moves, and we can help.

So other than reaching out, how should this community interact with you?

Offer empathy. [laughs]

…They should know that this is someone who has invested in companies like mine, who has grown companies like mine, who, to a certain extent, has worked at companies like mine, so at least I’m someone who empathizes with the cause. I’m a Democrat but a market-minded Democrat… so when an entrepreneur reaches out to me and tells me what legislation is hurting or helping them, I want to hear it and I listen, so know at least that there is representation in statewide office.

Big companies get a lot of representation because they buy it. … I tend to think job-creating, technology-orientated entrepreneurs and service providers who go out of their way to support them as my base. …So I want to help however I can….

We are something of a clearinghouse, so we can guide people to the services that their companies need. We have ginned up demand generally in the need for information technology support in Harrisburg.

Why is IT in government an important match?

There are two different directions: as cost reducer and quality of life improve and job creator.

As a cost reducer, when less money is used to get the same work done, you almost always need to call on technology, so we’ve been able to cut [treasury] payroll 16 percent while increasing productivity by 25 percent in our direct service areas.

How? What are specific examples?

In a number of ways… We improved decision rules in the Bureau of Unclaimed Property with on-going searches, some automated with various technologies, to look for people who reported [or when it has been found in government control.] Half of that unclaimed property doesn’t get collected. That’s a tax-free, limited effort to bring in revenue and reduce the cost of government. That’s since we we came into office… and just one example.

Similarly, we reduced the fees in our Vanguard [college savings] tuition account program… with increased tech both in Vanguard and in treasury with customer service and in simple maintenance… So look at pa529.com for details. We dramatically reduced fees, increased the amount collected in and reduced the cost of government through technology.

….We have to face that regardless of the exchange rate between China and us, uneducated labor will be less expensive outside our borders, so we have to create high value work. You do that with relationships and protectable technology advantages.

And that’s what I do best: relationships and protectable technology advantages.

After nearly a year of research and development, the Commonwealth has launched an interactive map to detail broadband access across the state in an effort to support broadand stimulus projects.

Mapping was part of $7.3 million federal broadband stimulus grant to show wireline, cable and wireless networks and to identify anchor institutions like schools, hospitals and government buildings, as we reported in January.

The information will be used to help business owners and residents identify places to locate their operations or families, according to a press release. It will also be used in a national map to be launched in February, which will additionally serve to inform broadband accessibility projects funded by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

The maps compliment unreleased prelimary documentation efforts performed by the City of Philadelphia when it applied for several broadband grants last year, a process we detailed in our Digital Philadelphia series.

The City applied for more than $35 million in federal opportunities, as we reported last September.

In July, the City was awarded a $6.4 million grant to fund public computer centers in the city, which will bring 800 new computers to 48 centers at city rec centers, homeless shelters, public housing and community-based organizations.

In coming months, Technically Philly will be investigating the economic impact of broadband accessibility in three distinct Philadelphia neighborhoods, as a winner of a grant provided by J-Lab’s Enterprise Reporting Fund, a William Penn Foundation-funded endeavor.

An interview with state Secretary of Administration Naomi Wyatt reveals that software for procurement, financials and budget, provided by SAP since 2002, has helped the state submit reports. The software provider’s BusinessObjects suite also has aided in more substantial and detailed reporting, which delves deep into the state’s 19 agencies and 3,500 vendors, grantees and subgrantees.

Be sure to read the entire interview with Wyatt over at GovTech.

We couldn’t quite believe it when Paul J. Mathison, founder of research firm pjmathison, told us that the Governor was planning to begin taxing computer service professionals for their work.

We understood the reasoning; the budget shortfall statewide, like here in Philadelphia, has called for drastic measures. But what surprised us most was that we hadn’t heard a thing about it.

Included in the Governor’s fiscal year 2011 budget is a proposal to drop the state sales tax from 6 to 4 percent while broadening the tax base to include other professionals currently exempt. Like computer service professionals.

And while we’ve seen coverage of the issue, after the fact, in Pittsburgh, and according to Mathison, a growing interest from technology stakeholders across the state, little has been done here in Philadelphia.

After the jump, we ask Mathison for the details on the proposed tax hike and what technology groups can do to fight it.

Could you tell us the proposed changes in the upcoming governor’s budget and how they will effect computer service professionals?

Included in the Governor’s budget proposal for the fiscal year 2011, which begins this coming July 1st, there is a proposal to reduce the state sales tax rate from 6 to 4 percent and extend the reach to include other goods and services currently not taxable under state sales tax.

The administration has listed 74 different classifications of goods and services that currently aren’t taxed and arguably could and should be, among those are professional services, like computer services.

There’s a little history behind the proposed changes that are a reminder of more than a decade ago, right?

This was previously done and tried, way back in 1992. There was an expected hole in the budget. The strategy there was to extend the sales tax to include all types of professional services and other items. I don’t think there was a combined plan to reduce the rates, but the goal was ‘we can tax more items and make up for this budget deficit.’

What was the reaction from the those professionals then?

The natural players ran to the governor’s office and said ‘don’t impose this tax on us.’ CPAs got exempted. Also lawyers and other groups got themselves exempted. As I recall it, only four groups got wacked with this tax. I remember three. Landscapers, who didn’t have an advocacy voice. Another was computer service professionals who at the time in the nascient stage of that industry were not galvanized together. A third was government lobbyists – they didn’t have their act organized. It’s no coincidence that right after this happened, [lobbyists] galvanized together and formed a trade association.

Then what happened?

In 1997, under [Governor Tom Ridge], when times got better, in the beginning or middle of dot com boom, it was perceived that they were squelching an industry and making Pennsylvania unattractive as a place to locate businesses. That tax was lifted.

How exactly would broadening the tax base to include computer professionals help the shortfall?

The state estimates that at least $300 million is forgone in state revenue by not subjecting computer services, custom programming, design and data processing services. That doesn’t necessarily mean that 300 million or more would be generated, because it would depend how exactly computer services are defined in any legislation.

What defines “computer services, custom programming, design and data processing services?”

You can probably appreciate that those definitions change from day to day. Do information systems consulting, business process, and media related [vocations] fit that definition? You can certainly debate about the final definition of what computer services are, but it’s perfectly posible that a bill would be crafted and enacted based on national SIC codes, and other codes IRS uses.

How are groups around the state reacting to the possible decision?

The Pittsburgh Tech Council has done a pretty good job of having public policy advocacy on their list of what their organization does. Likewise, CEO Kelly Lewis of the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania, is rallying his members, doing a good job of articulating the many issues, this being one they would not like to see happen. They’re busy.

And here in the Southeast? We haven’t heard much movement around the issue.

I would submit that an opportunity exists for us in Southeast part of state to try to speak with one voice on this issue and coordinate with these other tech groups around the state to make more of a unified presence and message in Harrisburg.

Any recommendations for how someone would help get this done?

Do your homework and get the facts. Second thing is a communications strategy, figuring out who target audiences are, including the governor’s office as well as the legislative branch. Include folks in House and Senate appropriattion committees and probably one or both of technology related committees in legislature. Craft and communicate the right message to these folks. We’re always interested and happy to council, advise and contribute what wisdom I can.