Weekend update
Sep 4th, 2007 by dani_k
Hooray for access! The Washington Observer-Reporter noted Friday that The Washington County prothonary and register of wills are posting their documents online. Some documents - such as protection-from-abuse-cases - will not be available online, and users will have to register with the county in order to gain access to the site.
Also on Friday in Western PA, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that the city’s ethics board has sent a letter to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl which lists proposed changes to the city’s ethics code. The mayor is refusing to release the letter, and the Tribune-Review has filed an open-records request asking for the letter.
From the article:
Kate DeSimone, an assistant city solicitor who works with the board, said the letter isn’t subject to the state open records law because the board members consider the letter to be “personal between them and the mayor.”
“If they think that’s a private matter, that’s insane,” said Councilman Bill Peduto, who often criticizes Ravenstahl’s administration. “It was a letter from a public board, from a public meeting that was sent to a public official. What makes them think the public can’t see it?”
We’ll have more as this develops.
On Sunday, the Centre Daily Times reported on the state of Centre County bridges - a story, which CDT editor Bob Heisse pointed out, that the paper wasn’t able to tell until PennDOT was bowed to public pressure and released bridge rating information to the public.
The Centre Daily Times published an excellent editorial today which illustrates the need for open records reform in Pennsylvania, using the gaming interests of Louis DeNaples as an example. Take a look:
DeNaples plans to open a casino in the former Mount Airy Lodge in the Poconos next month. Writing on his behalf to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Marino. According to a DeNaples spokesman, the two men have been friends since the 1990s.
Does the public have the right to know that and how it may have affected DeNaples’ application?
No, that’s confidential, the gaming board maintains.
Also this weekend, the Chambersburg Public Opinion and Lewistown Sentinel urged their readers to join the PA Open Records Challenge, while the Allentown Morning Call urged readers to attend the PA Freedom of Information Coalition’s Open Records Forums.
And last but not least, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a front page story yesterday on Pennsylvania school boards and local governments’ dislike of the PA Open Records Challenge, even though the PSBA “could not, however, name any specific district that had been inundated with requests related to the contest.”