That’s public money . . . end of story
Jul 19th, 2007 by JamieB
An article in Tuesday’s Scranton Times-Tribune (“Carbondale district withholds travel receipts”) points to twin notions, which are both widespread and deeply ingrained in this Commonwealth:
1. Expense records turned in by public officials, many of whom serve on a voluntary basis, are treated as private matters; and
2. What the press is doing with its constant requests to see such records is prying into other people’s business.
Of course, I don’t really know what is actually going through the minds of public officials who withhold records – or who delay their availability to the press – because they often don’t tell you that, either. But the impression they leave is that these are hardly urgent matters.
As the Carbondale Area School District solicitor, Jeffrey Levine, said in the Times-Tribune article, “There’s no reason I didn’t review [the records] sooner. I just didn’t get over there yet.”
True, in this case, we are only talking about something over a $1,000 that a board member spent to attend school director training in San Francisco.
But the point is not whether such expenses are a valid use of public funds or not – it’s up to the school board, and ultimately the people who elect it, to decide what training its members should have, how much it should cost, and where it should take place.
Nor is the point whether the money was well-spent – although one board member said, “I think there are abuses of money.”
These are important issues, but they are issues that should be decided by the voters – and the public is in no position to judge either one of them unless the voters know the facts.
The point is basic and very simple – and it is one that is abused with alarming regularity throughout Pennsylvania:
“That’s public money,” said Terri Henning, legal counsel for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, “and the public is entitled to see how the money is spent.”
Only then can the people decide whether their money is being well, fairly and legally spent – and whether they are being well, fairly and legally served by their public officials.