A Fresh Breeze is Blowing
Oct 15th, 2007 by JamieB
On the morning of our press conference at the Capitol, there is a real hum of excitement about the possibility of meaningful open records legislation soon. . . .
A newly created FOI coalition and a great press association are teaming to make a huge difference in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvanians who have lobbied long and hard for a law ensuring broad access to state records should expect such a proposal to make it to Gov. Ed Rendell’s desk this fall, the Senate majority leader says.
“It’s been my objective to have that bill passed in the Senate before we leave this fall,” [Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware)] said in an interview with the [Lancaster] New Era’s editorial board on Thursday.
“I was hoping to get it passed in the month of October. It might bleed into early November. I’m optimistic that once we get the bill through the Senate that the House — I’ve been in touch with members of the House — will take the bill up quickly so we can get it onto the governor’s desk,” Pileggi said.
Rendell, who met with the New Era last October before his re-election, said he would support an open-records law that presumes all records held by agencies — including the Legislature — are available to the public. “I agree with that,” he said.
Members of both parties in the Republican-controlled Senate say the meaningful reform of the open-records law is at the top of the agenda when they return.
What others are saying:
• Senator Jim Ferlo (D-Allegheny): “It’s time for us to clean up state government. . . . [Open records reform] is probably the most important thing we will do this year.”
• Senator Mike Brubaker (R-Lancaster): “I’ll do anything it take to get it out of [the Senate State Government Committee],” said. “Everyone needs to understand whose records these are. These are public records.”
• Senator Richard Kasunic (D-Fayette): “If everything’s right, and we’re above board, we should not be afraid to give records to the public. . . . It is our intent to make sure we have one of the best open records laws in the land. . . . This is not window dressing . . . .This is not a dog and pony show, we’re very serious about this.”
• Representative Tim Mahoney, (D-Fayette): “We have to put the trust back in Harrisburg. . . . We, the people in Harrisburg, we need to be statesmen, not politicians. We need to work for the people, not the lobbyists.”
• Douglas E. Hill, County Commissioners Association: “We believe it to be imperative that open records legislation strike a balance between the public’s right to know and the individual’s right to privacy.”
• Teri Henning, Pennsylvania Newspaper Association: “The question shouldn’t be: ‘Can we withhold this record?’ It should be: ‘Is there a reason why we can’t or shouldn’t provide access?’ ”
• Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown: “It’s truly time to move Pennsylvania out of the dark ages.”
This might be of interest-a Pittsburgh city mayoral candidate willing to expedite right-to-know requests-smb
Stricter ethics rules proposed by DeSantis-check Trib story below
Stricter ethics rules proposed by DeSantis
By David M. Brown
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/search/s_527987.html
Republican mayoral candidate Mark DeSantis pledged that if elected, he would “significantly strengthen” Pittsburgh’s ethics code, appoint an independent ethics “compliance officer” and publish information about city contracts and vendors on the Internet.
Taxpayers need clear and accessible information on all aspects of public spending, DeSantis said during a news conference Monday at his Downtown headquarters.
“You can’t have excellent government without accountability, and part and parcel of that is total and complete transparency,” DeSantis said.
He faces Democratic Mayor Luke Ravenstahl in the Nov. 6 election.
DeSantis, a consultant and president of a technology company, released a plan for achieving “accountability and transparency.”
The challenger didn’t refer to Ravenstahl or cite specific current ethics or transparency issues, although the news conference was a thinly veiled attack on the mayor, who went before the Ethics Hearing Board in August after accepting two free days of golf at a charity event. The board absolved Ravenstahl of violating the city code.
Ravenstahl responded that “strengthening our ethics code and enforcing and ensuring a high level of transparency in government are critically important.”
“My administration is working earnestly on both fronts. I am glad my opponent agrees,” he said in an e-mail.
DeSantis proposed appointing a retired judge as an ethics compliance officer to oversee conduct by city employees — including the mayor — as well as hold annual ethics training classes and hear reports of possible ethics violations.
The candidate promised to establish a “performance pledge” that sets benchmarks for the work of all city departments, based on the highest performance levels in other cities, and provide quarterly progress reports.
Requests for public information under the state’s Right-to-Know law would be expedited by appointing a worker in the city law department to handle all of those requests, DeSantis said. Most right-to-know requests should be handled within five days — and at the most, 15 days — he said.
His plan calls for posting on the city’s Web site “all the specific reasons why the city awards contracts to each vendor,” whether any vendors were political contributors to the mayor, and the campaign finance reports of the mayor and all city elected officials.