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Wednesday, May 02, 2007

'Lift the Lid on Pennsylvania Government'

It's been awhile since I compiled one of my "Pennsylvania By The Numbers" columns.

That's where I show you how awful Pennsylvania ranks in all sorts of economic and social vitality rankings. The Keystone State lags behind the rest of the states in so many areas and the ranking have gotten worse during the Rendell administration.

I'm working on a new batch of numbers, but here's one bottom-of-the-barrel ranking for today's purposes. The Better Government Association, a national watchdog group, ranks Pennsylvania's open records laws 48th in the country. Actually, Pennsylvania is tied for 48 with Alaska. Only Alabama and South Dakota were considered worse. Check out the full list at http://www.bettergov.org/

Newspapers and media trade organizations like the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association have been leading the charge for decades to improve your access to public records. The emphasis is you "your access." A lot of people don't realize how important it is for the public to have access to timely information about how government conducts the people's business and spend your tax dollars.

Open record reform should be of concern to everyone in Pennsylvania, not just to newspaper editors and reporters.

The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association has launches a new campaign to increase the public's access to government information.

The association has created a Web site, www.passopenrecords.org to "Lift the Lid on Pennsylvania Government."

This site will help you become familiar with Pennsylvania's Open Records Law, commonly known as the Sunshine Act, and it will also provide you with resources to keep government on its toes.

The association needs citizens from across the state to get involved in the campaign. Yes, newspapers serve as watchdogs for the public, but it’s a heavy load. We could use a little help.

The association's effort to let the sunshine in is focused on state legislation to expand Pennsylvania’s open records law, considered one of the most restrictive in the nation.

"This state has a long, sad tradition of keeping its citizens in the dark when it comes to information about government operations," said PNA President Tim Williams,.

Some recent examples include the following:
  • The Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency spent $862,000 in board retreats over a five year period, yet fought a lengthy and expensive court battle (which it eventually lost) to keep the expense details private.
  • The Pennsylvania State University has fought to keep the salary of football coach Joe Paterno private, despite the fact that Paterno participates in the State Employees' Retirement System and the university receives millions in state funding each year. That case is before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
  • In 2005 and 2006, Pennsylvania legislators paid $3.6 million in taxpayer-funded bonuses to legislative staffers. These payments were not previously disclosed because the General Assembly has exempted itself from the state’s open records law and did not release the information until recently.
  • Two of Gov. Rendell's cabinet secretaries signed off on more than $4 million in grants to organizations where their spouses were employed. The case is before the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission, which has already ruled that the top Rendell officials are in violation of state policies.
Open records reform benefits every Pennsylvania taxpayer. Its time to hold your legislator to the fire on this issue. Are they working for you or are they trying to keep things from you?

While newspapers and their trade association are taking the lead in the fight to reform Pennsylvania's open records laws, you need to join the battle.

Go to http://www.passopenrecords.org to learn more about the need for open records reform.

There's also another interesting site to learn more about open records: www.WikiFoia.org

This is a site aimed at assisting people in understanding Open Records and collaborating on filing requests. This link will take you directly to the page dedicated to Pennsylvania: https://wikifoia.pbwiki.com/Pennsylvania

1 comment:

passopenrecords said...

Thanks for the plug, Tony! - The crew at passopenrecords.org