Posted in Open Records on Jul 20th, 2007 No Comments »
Yesterday, we noted that Sen. Pileggi says open records reform is his top priority. The Scranton Times Tribune has a story that highlights just what a busy fall it’s going to be for the ladies and gentlemen in Harrisburg… We need your help to let legislators know that constituents care about open records.
Posted in Open Records News on Jul 19th, 2007 No Comments »
Today, The Harrisburg Patriot-News’ Brett Lieberman reports that the Center for Public Integrity gave PA a failing grade in financial disclosure.
Yesterday’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review had more on Hempfield School District’s $12,000 probe of staff emails.
And Wednesday’s Philadelphia Inquirer had a story on the budget in which Erik Arnenson, a spokesman […]
Posted in Open Records on Jul 19th, 2007 No Comments »
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 […]
Posted in Open Records on Jul 18th, 2007 No Comments »
• Senate moves to more open government
From a press release from Sen. Jake Corman (R-Centre):
As part of its effort to make state government more transparent, the Senate changed its rules to require the placement of the acts and statutes of the Pennsylvania state legislature on the Internet, according to Sen. Corman, the Senate’s Majority Policy […]
Posted in Open Records on Jul 17th, 2007 No Comments »
Last month, we blogged about PA’s restaurant inspections and asked if Harrisburg had a restaurant inspector.
Well, today I was able to obtain a certified copy of the minutes from the June 5 Harrisburg City Council’s Legislative session. (Yay for a hassle-free experience, although it cost a dollar for a four-page document!) […]
Posted in Open Records on Jul 17th, 2007 No Comments »
• In a column last week in the Delaware County Times, Gil Spencer wrote of his efforts to find out how much money the Penn-Delco School District had paid its solicitor, Mark Sereni, and his law firm.
Here, in his words is what happened:
A few weeks ago I asked then-Superintendent Leslye Abrutyn for Sereni’s bills. She […]
Posted in Open Records on Jul 16th, 2007 No Comments »
A couple of weeks ago I reported on a lawsuit in which the plaintiff, Craig J. Staudenmaier, argued that Allegheny County officials violated the current Right-to-Know law by charging him $1,000 to produce records he had requested and to which he was entitled. This seemed to him like a lot of money for what he […]
Posted in Open Records on Jul 13th, 2007 No Comments »
Not long ago a panel of judges from the Sixth U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal government violated the constitution when its investigators searched the stored email files of a businessman in a fraud investigation.
The government was investigating Steve Warshak, owner of Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, which markets supplements, including a “natural […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 12th, 2007 No Comments »
Dani here, I’m at BlogPhiladelphia until tomorrow afternoon…By chance, are any of our readers there?
Bueller?
Bueller?
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 11th, 2007 No Comments »
That’s what Vito Renda, owner of the Moonlight Café in Dover Township (near York) said when interviewed by a York Daily Record reporter about the PA Department of Agriculture’s online restaurant inspections database. That pretty much sums up a lot of what open records reform is about, doesn’t it?