Opinion: Budget cuts would gut commitment to open government
OPINION
By Terry Mutchler
Pennsylvania Office of Open Records
All is not well at Pennsylvania's new Office of Open Records.
Speaking as its first executive director, I find that a difficult but necessary truth to express. I am asking citizens and other open-government advocates for help. We are at a crossroads and citizens should have an accurate and honest picture of what's happening with this aspect of their government.
Pennsylvania last year rewrote its archaic right-to-know law and created an independent office to resolve records disputes. As of Jan. 1, 2009, all government records were presumed to be open unless they meet conditions specified in the law. Gov. Ed Rendell and Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi championed this cause and I applaud them for pulling Pennsylvania out of the dark ages.
However, they also both agreed to underfund the Office of Open Records by more than $300,000. Without that money, the office will have to cut staff. That means citizens' appeals will be delayed or worse. Some that are not acted on will slip into the "deemed denied" stage, a status which can be overturned only if a citizen goes to court. This will happen merely because we won't have enough hands on deck to handle open-records requests.
The law is seven months old. With nine staff members as of May 2009, we so far have met all our statutorily mandated deadlines while processing about 600 appeals, 2,400 e-mails and 1,200 telephone calls and conducting more than 200 training sessions. Forty-eight of our decisions have been challenged in the Court of Common Pleas or the Commonwealth Court, requiring nearly full-time legal attention.
Our staff works 12 to 15 hours a day because they are committed to open government and to ensuring that citizens have access to their government. But this cannot be sustained, especially as more people become aware of the law and seek to take advantage of its provisions. A significant budget cut such as that proposed by the governor and legislators would gut the progress that this commonwealth has made regarding open government.
It's easy in these brutal economic times to say, "We all need to cut back; we all must suffer." But the Office of Open Records is in its infancy and does not have fat to cut. Slashing its budget is not just a matter of sharing the pain -- it would undermine the state's commitment to open and honest government.
The very purpose of our office is to secure citizens' right to know what their government is doing, to foster accountability, to prevent abuses of power and promote trust in government.
I implore lawmakers and the Rendell administration to fund their stated mission of open, accountable government with enough money to make it succeed. I urge citizens to express their views to their legislators during this critical budget crisis.
Terry Mutchler is the executive director of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records.
By Terry Mutchler
Pennsylvania Office of Open Records
All is not well at Pennsylvania's new Office of Open Records.
Speaking as its first executive director, I find that a difficult but necessary truth to express. I am asking citizens and other open-government advocates for help. We are at a crossroads and citizens should have an accurate and honest picture of what's happening with this aspect of their government.
Pennsylvania last year rewrote its archaic right-to-know law and created an independent office to resolve records disputes. As of Jan. 1, 2009, all government records were presumed to be open unless they meet conditions specified in the law. Gov. Ed Rendell and Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi championed this cause and I applaud them for pulling Pennsylvania out of the dark ages.
However, they also both agreed to underfund the Office of Open Records by more than $300,000. Without that money, the office will have to cut staff. That means citizens' appeals will be delayed or worse. Some that are not acted on will slip into the "deemed denied" stage, a status which can be overturned only if a citizen goes to court. This will happen merely because we won't have enough hands on deck to handle open-records requests.
The law is seven months old. With nine staff members as of May 2009, we so far have met all our statutorily mandated deadlines while processing about 600 appeals, 2,400 e-mails and 1,200 telephone calls and conducting more than 200 training sessions. Forty-eight of our decisions have been challenged in the Court of Common Pleas or the Commonwealth Court, requiring nearly full-time legal attention.
Our staff works 12 to 15 hours a day because they are committed to open government and to ensuring that citizens have access to their government. But this cannot be sustained, especially as more people become aware of the law and seek to take advantage of its provisions. A significant budget cut such as that proposed by the governor and legislators would gut the progress that this commonwealth has made regarding open government.
It's easy in these brutal economic times to say, "We all need to cut back; we all must suffer." But the Office of Open Records is in its infancy and does not have fat to cut. Slashing its budget is not just a matter of sharing the pain -- it would undermine the state's commitment to open and honest government.
The very purpose of our office is to secure citizens' right to know what their government is doing, to foster accountability, to prevent abuses of power and promote trust in government.
I implore lawmakers and the Rendell administration to fund their stated mission of open, accountable government with enough money to make it succeed. I urge citizens to express their views to their legislators during this critical budget crisis.
Terry Mutchler is the executive director of the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records.