TodayLegislators need to clean up their open records mess
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Any parent of a teen-ager knows the drill:
You ask to have a simple, basic task done n hang up your coat, empty the dishwasher, write a thank-you note to Aunt Sally for the birthday present n and you’d think you’d ordered the little darling to build the Great Wall of China from sand using a teaspoon.
First you get the moan and the eye-roll, then your teen rises with great effort and stomps off to perform the chore n albeit very slowly and with loud protests.
And once th e job is done, it is likely the results aren’t what you hoped.
That kind of drama came to mind as I watched the state House debate open records reform last week, broadcast live on the Pennsylvania Cable Network.
As representative after representative took the floor, it was evident that for many of them, crafting a new law to improve citizen access to the inner workings of government was painful.
“Look at how hard we’re working,” they signaled by their late hours and furrowed brows. “This is so incredibly complicated, but since our constituents insist, we’re putting the time in, when we could be working on something that really matters.”
As if creating an informed citizenry and fostering trust between government and voters isn’t one of the most important jobs an elected official has.
And their focus wasn’t on drafting a workable law, it was on trying to ferret out every possible thing that could go wrong if the public suddenly began asking for information that, in 46 other states, is available as a matter of course. That’s why House Bill 443 wound up with nearly 100 amendments virtually overnight.
It’s too bad they didn’t put this kind of effort into, say, Act 1, which was supposed to reform school property taxes last spring.
The House in particular seems bound and determined to make any new access law so complicated it will be worse than what we have now.
The big red herring, dragged across the floor repeatedly, was “legislator-constituent” confidentiality. You can tell that a lot of these reps went to law school. They think everything they do should be secret. That’s why 127 of 196 voted to exclude e-mail generated in the course of the state’s business.
That’s all e-mail, not just between legislators and constituents, but also with vendors, staff, state agencies and others.
As our own state Rep. Will Gabig says, “It’s a Mack Truck loophole.”
All area Cumberland County House members — Gabig, R-199; Glen Grell, R-87; Rob Kauffman, R-89; and Jerry Nailor, R-88 — voted to make e-mails public, except Scott Perry, R-92, who says some e-mail should be excluded.
But for the majority voting to exclude? Never mind that 49 states have managed just fine with including e-mail in their open records law. They have found ways to preserve the electronic record, manage the volume of information and protect what should be private, without putting a wholesale blackout on what is simply a form of communication.
This is what is driving me crazy about the Legislature’s overall approach to improving public access to the records that show how tax money is spent and policy is made.
The majority are acting like nobody, in the history of the republic, has ever had to do this before. Hours are being wasted on debating points that other people have answered, and answered well, if only they would look around.
Big business does this all the time. If there’s a problem, you don’t waste time reinventing the wheel n you scan your industry and find someone who has already dealt with it. You either learn from their mistakes or adopt their solution.
Really good companies are constantly seeking such “best practices” to make themselves better.
There are a lot of open records “best practices” to draw from across the country. It just takes a little homework.
If you want to know more about how other states have handled open records laws n their “best practices,” if you will n I recommend these Web sites:
• The Better Government Association at www.bettergov.org. This independent, non-partisan organization was formed in 1923 to combat the influence of the Capone mob in Chicago but does much more today. It generated the study that ranks Pennsylvania 47th in the nation for its poor open records law and 40th for public integrity.
• WikiFoia at http://openrecords.wordpress.com. This blog follows what’s going on around the country regarding open records, mainly from the citizen point of view. It has useful links to other Web sites and organizations.
• Passopenrecords.org at www.passopenrecords.org. Go here to know what’s happening in Harrisburg as the various open records bills are debated and altered n and what people around the state are saying.
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Hope Stephan is executive editor of The Sentinel. You can reach her at 240-7133 or hstephan@cumberlink.com
