Opinion: State officials want gambling control board to open up
OPINION
The Beaver County Times
The state's gambling board has a penchant for secrecy, and Auditor General Jack Wagner and Treasurer Robert McCord want it to open up to the public.
Wagner last week accused the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board of violating state law by allowing millions of dollars in contracts to be awarded without approving them at public meetings. The Associated Press reported Wagner said his office's audit uncovered 19 service contracts worth about $7 million that should have been approved by the seven-member gaming board at a public meeting. He said doing so in private violated the state's Sunshine Act, which governs public access to government meetings, and he is forwarding the audit's findings to the state attorney general's office.
Naturally, the board contends that what it has done is perfectly legal. However, a spokesman said agency officials will take the findings very seriously and, when practical, will approve contracts with a public vote.
That's not good enough. It leaves it up to those in control of the flow of information to decide what information should be released. They and they alone would determine the amount of sunshine that they want to let in on their closed-door decisions. For that reason, the attorney general's office needs to give serious consideration to Wagner's findings.
McCord has been pushing for more openness as well, and he has received some much-needed support from Commonwealth Court, which ruled 6-0 that his court challenge to be allowed to sit in on the board's executive sessions has merit and could proceed.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the gambling board had barred McCord from its executive sessions, arguing that as a nonvoting "ex officio" member he could only attend public hearings. State law is unclear whether the state treasurer has the right to sit in on private sessions. If the gambling board appeals this ruling, the higher courts should side with McCord - and openness.
The secretiveness of the gambling board should come as no surprise. It's history repeating itself. Pennsylvania's record on allowing its residents to have access to public records and open meetings is notoriously bad.
The Beaver County Times
The state's gambling board has a penchant for secrecy, and Auditor General Jack Wagner and Treasurer Robert McCord want it to open up to the public.
Wagner last week accused the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board of violating state law by allowing millions of dollars in contracts to be awarded without approving them at public meetings. The Associated Press reported Wagner said his office's audit uncovered 19 service contracts worth about $7 million that should have been approved by the seven-member gaming board at a public meeting. He said doing so in private violated the state's Sunshine Act, which governs public access to government meetings, and he is forwarding the audit's findings to the state attorney general's office.
Naturally, the board contends that what it has done is perfectly legal. However, a spokesman said agency officials will take the findings very seriously and, when practical, will approve contracts with a public vote.
That's not good enough. It leaves it up to those in control of the flow of information to decide what information should be released. They and they alone would determine the amount of sunshine that they want to let in on their closed-door decisions. For that reason, the attorney general's office needs to give serious consideration to Wagner's findings.
McCord has been pushing for more openness as well, and he has received some much-needed support from Commonwealth Court, which ruled 6-0 that his court challenge to be allowed to sit in on the board's executive sessions has merit and could proceed.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the gambling board had barred McCord from its executive sessions, arguing that as a nonvoting "ex officio" member he could only attend public hearings. State law is unclear whether the state treasurer has the right to sit in on private sessions. If the gambling board appeals this ruling, the higher courts should side with McCord - and openness.
The secretiveness of the gambling board should come as no surprise. It's history repeating itself. Pennsylvania's record on allowing its residents to have access to public records and open meetings is notoriously bad.
