Blanket policy
Dec 11th, 2007 by JamieB
Dan Moul (R-Adams) recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Evening Sun in Hanover. Mr. Moul, who was elected to the House as part of the 2006 reform wave that led to the replacement of 50 state legislators after the 2005 pay-raise scandal, explained why he voted to exclude all emails from the open-records bill:
“While I campaigned on a reform platform and I support openness and transparency in government, I voted against an amendment to include e-mail in the open records law because I did not feel that it was in the best interest of Pennsylvania citizens, especially the citizens of my district who communicate with me more often via e-mail than any other means. . . .
“I receive more than 500 e-mails per week, most from constituents and many of those are of a private or confidential nature. If someone e-mails me about a health condition or other hardship, they expect a certain degree of discretion. I simply do not believe that a person’s health, personal hardships or private communications with their elected officials should be a matter of public record.”
I agree with pretty much everything Rep. Moul has written. But let’s change a single word in his letter: If someone emails me about. . . . “ What if someone writes him a letter? Calls him on his office phone? Or his cell phone? Sends him a fax? Posts on his Facebook? Should the communication be treated as less private, less personal, less confidential? If not, then shouldn’t we exclude all telephone calls, letters, faxes, etc. from open-records legislation? Do you see where this is going?
Rep. Moul himself points out that “most” of the 500-plus emails he gets each week are from constituents and “many” of those are of a private nature. What about the others? By his logic they are excluded from public scrutiny as well. It is not hard to guess how business – particularly business that people want to keep secret – will be done in the future.
“My concern is that if privacy cannot be maintained in e-mail,” concluded Rep. Moul, “it will have a chilling effect on communication between elected leaders and the citizens they represent. When it comes to e-mail, a blanket policy does nothing to protect the privacy rights of individuals. It is simply bad policy and I cannot support it.”
But a blanket policy is – one that excludes all emails regardless of their content – is exactly what Rep. Moul voted for. Such a policy does nothing to protect the public’s fundamental and essential right to know.