passopenrecords.org

Look for film clips early next week of our recent interviews with Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware) and freshman Representative Tim Mahoney (D-Fayette), sponsors of Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 443 respectively. These are two of the three open records bills currently working their way through the legislative process. The third is Senator Jim Ferlo (D-Allegheny)’s SB 765. Senator Ferlo had to cancel our interview at the last minute, and we are trying to reschedule it.

In the meantime, here are some excerpts from an op-ed piece Sen. Pileggi published recently in the Morning Call of Allentown:

Pennsylvania has implemented many important government reforms this year. . . . .

But, the true cornerstone of government reform is strengthening our Open Records Law. This is my top legislative priority. Why? Because openness builds trust. Transparency allows the public to review government actions, to understand what we do, to see when we do well and when we should be held accountable.

The primary issue in changing that law is to decide whether it should recognize government records as open unless specifically excepted.

Although everyone recognizes that some records should not be public, it is difficult to construct a list of exceptions that is narrow, clear, and supported by everyone who has a legitimate interest.

The citizens of Pennsylvania are demanding government that is more open, more accessible, and more accountable. There is no better way to respond than by strengthening our Open Records Law.

And here are some reaons why:

News reporters who are more than bodies in newsrooms being spoon-fed information by public officials can fill a book with stories about the troubles they have obtaining public records.

One of my favorites involves a Chartiers-Houston School District office clerk’s reaction in 1994 when I asked for the salaries of the principals at the public schools in her district in Washington County, Pa. She said she understood that the salaries were public information, except, in her opinion, they were to be kept private. My request was denied in what was then a test the print media launched into Pennsylvania’s conflicting right-to-know law.

And then there was the case of police in Beaver who trailed me out of town while running a check on my driving history after I asked to see the police blotter, records that Pennsylvania’s courts have ruled should be readily available for inspection by residents. . . .

My experiences were nothing compared to what happened after Jim Parsons, an investigative reporter for WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh, sought to inspect the travel expenses of officials with the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, which provides grants and loans to offset the cost of a college education. Parsons eventually got to see the documents after the station spent $70,000 in legal costs to force PHEAA to hand them over. And then, Parsons was hit with a $16,000 bill for the cost of making copies and the time it took PHEAA officials to black out what they didn’t want him to see in the documents.

PHEAA, meanwhile, incurred $400,000 in legal expenses over the court battle. The reporter uncovered abuses at the agency that left many people wondering how many kids could have been put through school had the agency been a little more responsible with its expense accounts.

Now there is a story that just will not die:

A Montgomery County Democratic lawmaker is the latest to pile on the pack of legislators demanding changes at the state’s student financial aid agency.

Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, announced Monday he is introducing legislation to reform the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. His proposal would include spending restrictions, ensuring turnover every 12 years of board members, and making the agency and its nonprofit, private foundation subject to the state’s Open Records law and state audits.

Shapiro cited “the abuse and excesses” at PHEAA as the justification behind his legislation in a speech to the Pennsylvania Press Club at the Hilton Harrisburg.

He referred specifically to the more than $800,000 spent on board retreats between 2000 and 2005, $400,000 spent on a legal fight with media outlets to block the disclosure of records detailing retreat spending, and the more than $570,000 on executive bonuses.

“Their mismanagement reflects poorly on all of us … in state government,” Shapiro said. “We need to change that culture at PHEAA.”

Republican Sens. John Rafferty, R-Montgomery, and Jane Orie, R-Allegheny, are leading a charge in the Senate for reforms at PHEAA that could include looking into privatizing the agency, banning bonuses and requiring annual audits. Gov. Ed Rendell has endorsed their efforts.

Sen. Sean Logan, D-Allegheny, who is vice chairman of PHEAA’s board, said he and the board chairman, Rep. Bill Adolph, R-Delaware, have made reforms in the six months since they assumed their leadership posts, including a strict travel expense reimbursement policy and a code of ethics.

“The reforms will continue, but we’re not going to do one more reform just to do one more press release,” Logan said. “We have to do it in a measured approach because … we want to make sure we’re not tying the hands of folks making hundreds of millions of dollars for the agency.”

Shapiro is calling for restricting PHEAA from spending money on board retreats, event sponsorships and promotional items that don’t describe one of its aid programs. Shapiro cited the pom-poms PHEAA bought for Penn State’s game with Notre Dame as an expense he would ban.

PHEAA spokesman Keith New said the board has not gone on a retreat since 2005, so that’s “a nonissue.” As for the other spending restrictions, he said, “it seems there would need to be some clear qualifying language.”

Shapiro also is taking aim at opening up records for the Pennsylvania Higher Education Foundation, a fund-raising arm for PHEAA designed to support higher education initiatives. New said it has handed out $43 million in aid and expects to dole out another $11 million this academic year.

Money for those grants primarily came from PHEAA. The foundation, headed by PHEAA’s retired CEO and President Michael Hershock, has received $86 million to date, with nearly $9 of every $10 coming from PHEAA, New said.

He said the foundation makes available its tax returns, financial reports and certain other information, but it is not subject to the open records law.