passopenrecords.org

Yesterday’s report on our Open Records Challenge about the students at Lock Haven University was great news on a number of fronts:

• The students did a terrific job. . . they were both dogged and polite as they plugged away at their assignments. That is a great combination for a reporter.

• The challenge was not frivolous and it did not create a burden of busy work for municipal and school district employees. It was a real exercise in public access, and in most of the cases the requests were fulfilled with little hardship to anyone.

• Best of all, the public employees understood the nature of the requests and and the importance of public access, and they made the records easily and readily accessible. Their districts should be proud.

Elsewhere in Pennsylvania:

• It’s also time to open the curtain regarding Pennsylvania’s antiquated open records law. If it’s a matter of public record, it should be easily viewable by the public that pays for its government.

Government is not private business. The leaders are put there by residents and are supposed to serve them in a public realm. This reform also is embarrassingly overdue.

• To: Hon. H. Scott Conklin, College, PA

Voters say it is time for Pennsylvania lawmakers to pass legislation expanding the state’s open records law. A strong open records law would include the following components:

1. Acknowledgment that records belong to the public
2. Improved definition of ‘public record’ and a presumption of access to public records
3. Burden of proof on the agency denying access
4. A broader definition of ‘agency’ that includes the Legislature, state-related universities and organizations that rely on state funding
5. Creation of a centralized administrative appeal office, open records ombudsman, or similar entity that assists citizens with records denials without the need for court action
6. Meaningful penalties for open records law violations.

Please visit passopenrecords.org/pennsylvania-legislative-advocates/ and pledge your support.

–Name Withheld–

• Longtime [Windber] Borough Manager Rich Wargo’s final departure was affirmed Tuesday with Borough Council’s unanimous approval of a severance package.

In an unusual move defended by the borough’s attorney, terms of the deal were not released.

“It’s a confidential arrangement between Mr. Wargo and the council,” borough Solicitor Jeffrey Berkey said.

Pressed to explain the deal’s legality under Pennsylvania’s Open Meetings Law and Open Records Law, Berkey said, “I don’t have any other comment, other than the council agreed the severance package would be confidential.”

Contracts discussed at public meetings or approved by government bodies normally must be available to the public.

• The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has a golden opportunity to build trust and credibility with the public, but it is apparently going to shun it.

After an open records request from the Associated Press to see who has acted as references for gaming license applications, the agency declared that information confidential.

For people already wary of an industry with a storied history of corruption in other states, this can’t sit well.

Consider why the issue cropped up in the first place: Word somehow leaked out that a sitting U.S. attorney’s name was used as a reference for a license applicant – a man who just happens to be under investigation concerning whether he has ties to a reputed Scranton mobster.

The issue has been hanging out there for more than a year, yet the gaming board awarded a license to Louis DeNaples. It’s difficult to avoid speculating how much influence was brought to bear simply through the use of U.S. Attorney Thomas Marino’s name.

The gaming board maintains that the names of applicants’ references and the letters they write should be kept secret so that people can speak freely with the board. That’s one of the oddest pieces of reasoning we’ve heard for keeping affairs that should be the public’s business behind close doors.

• Open Records. Next, there are very important, fundamental governmental reforms. At the top of this list is the need to bring Pennsylvania’s antiquated Open Records law – the worst in the nation – into the 21st century. Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, has made this his top priority. In addition, he supports separate legislative proposals to include the General Assembly’s finances and those of the appellate courts under the Open Records Law’s purview. Both changes are essential to restore the public’s faith in government.