Opinion: Records czar out of loop
April 14, 2009
OPINION
York Daily Record
Bad habits die hard -- and Pennsylvania has a nasty one.
No, we're not talking about smoking. Well, come to think of it, we are -- in a sense.
You've heard of the proverbial smoke-filled room? The place where politicians and assorted bigshots get together, puff on their stogies and make important decisions about how our government and community will be run?
Those rooms might be generally smoke-free nowadays (progress!), but they still exist -- figuratively, at least. Faced with a public clamoring for information, the pols slam the door shut and hide out in their old boys club.
No citizens allowed.
No open-records advocates either, according to Terry Mutchler.
She's the executive director of the state's new Office of Public Records, an organization set up to referee disputes that arise out of Pennsylvania's new and supposedly improved open records law.
She was appointed by Gov. Ed Rendell after a big political show of how committed he is to openness in state and local government. "Since taking office in 2003, I've worked very hard to make Pennsylvania open for business," he said. "With the signing of this bill, now it's also open for inspection."
Except when it's not.
Ms. Mutchler recently wrote to the governor complaining that the administration hasn't been cooperative with her office. In the three-page letter obtained by the Philadelphia Inquirer, she says:
A spokesman for the governor said the conflicts between the administration and the open records office are "procedural and not substantive."
What, really, is the difference? If you believe in open government (substance), then do everything in your power to make records available to the public (procedure).
Unfortunately, secrecy is standard operating procedure in Pennsylvania government.
It's a bad habit that you can't quit just by signing a bill.
You have to go cold turkey and actually quit being secretive.
York Daily Record
Bad habits die hard -- and Pennsylvania has a nasty one.
No, we're not talking about smoking. Well, come to think of it, we are -- in a sense.
You've heard of the proverbial smoke-filled room? The place where politicians and assorted bigshots get together, puff on their stogies and make important decisions about how our government and community will be run?
Those rooms might be generally smoke-free nowadays (progress!), but they still exist -- figuratively, at least. Faced with a public clamoring for information, the pols slam the door shut and hide out in their old boys club.
No citizens allowed.
No open-records advocates either, according to Terry Mutchler.
She's the executive director of the state's new Office of Public Records, an organization set up to referee disputes that arise out of Pennsylvania's new and supposedly improved open records law.
She was appointed by Gov. Ed Rendell after a big political show of how committed he is to openness in state and local government. "Since taking office in 2003, I've worked very hard to make Pennsylvania open for business," he said. "With the signing of this bill, now it's also open for inspection."
Except when it's not.
Ms. Mutchler recently wrote to the governor complaining that the administration hasn't been cooperative with her office. In the three-page letter obtained by the Philadelphia Inquirer, she says:
- Administration lawyers have told representatives of state agencies not to take her calls but to insist she put her inquiries in writing.
- She hasn't been able to schedule a meeting with Cabinet secretaries to discuss how to implement the new law.
- She has been denied the opportunity to hold training sessions with open records officers in state agencies.
- She wrote: "Some agencies ... are using the Right-to-Know law as a shield with which to block information rather than a tool with which to open records of government."
A spokesman for the governor said the conflicts between the administration and the open records office are "procedural and not substantive."
What, really, is the difference? If you believe in open government (substance), then do everything in your power to make records available to the public (procedure).
Unfortunately, secrecy is standard operating procedure in Pennsylvania government.
It's a bad habit that you can't quit just by signing a bill.
You have to go cold turkey and actually quit being secretive.
