The public in public records
Mar 5th, 2008 by JamieB
As big a victory [the] enactment of a new Pennsylvania open records law is for the media, wrote the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in an editorial, the biggest winner is the public.
The new law ensures greater and easier access to public records, which means the public will be better able to monitor how taxpayer dollars are spent and the public’s business is conducted.
When the media acts as a “watchdog” on the public’s behalf by investigating allegations of wrongdoing by officials, the new law should help bring problems to light more quickly and more fully.
Perhaps nothing represents the truth of that sentiment more than Jan Murphy’s dogged efforts to uncover the spending shenanigans of the board of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. After years of unconscionable stonewalling and legal obfuscation by the agency to keep its activities from public view, Murphy’s stories contributed powerfully to the fight for open records reform. To honor her persistence — and her results — the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association last fall awarded Murphy its highest honor, the Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence.
Now, announces her paper, the Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Murphy’s reporting on PHEAA has earned a first-prize award for investigative reporting in the 2007 National Awards for Education Reporting presented by the National Education Writers Association.
The contest awards prizes in 18 categories and is the only independently judged education writing competition of its kind in the United States.
Murphy’s stories detailed how the student-aid agency spent more than $2.2 million on promotional giveaways over five years, the equivalent of 553 grants for students in state universities or 885 grants for those attending community colleges.
The waste included $3,392 for “gummy brains,” a novelty given to employees to promote the launch of a new “big brain” brand.
“This is all money that could have gone to student grants,” Murphy said. “Time will tell how serious PHEAA is about fiscal reform.
“The public deserves to know how their money is being spent,” she said.
Now hopefully, it will have a better chance.