Budget cuts threaten disclosure
BY ROBERT SWIFT
The [Scranton] Times-Tribune Harrisburg Bureau Chief
HARRISBURG -- The ability of two oversight agencies to carry out their mandates is threatened by state budget cuts, a watchdog group says.
Pennsylvania Common Cause is urging the governor and lawmakers to maintain funding for the Office of Open Records and the state Ethics Commission at previous year levels.
The open records law is the product of a reform movement dating from the controversy over the repealed legislative pay raise four years ago. The law, intended to make government documents more accessible to the public, took effect Jan. 1. The state Ethics Commission acts on complaints about ethical transgressions involving public officials. To carry out their respective mandates, the records office needs a $1.3 million budget and the ethics commission needs a $2.2 million budget, according to Common Cause.
Mr. Rendell and Senate Republicans, who form the chamber's majority, have both proposed $1 million for the open records and $2 million for the ethics commission.
"You cannot threaten the integrity of state government, which already is on shaky ground with the voters, by weakening essential oversight agencies through starvation funding," said Common Cause director Barry Kauffman in an open letter to elected leaders.
A $1 million budget was sufficient when the open records office was starting up, Mr. Kauffman said, but it falls short now that the office is fully staffed and handling appeals and court cases involving citizens' requests for public documents from government agencies.
Meanwhile, both Mr. Rendell and the Senate would cut roughly $260,000 set aside for implementation of another state reform law - the 2006 lobbyist disclosure act. This represents a 37 percent cut from the governor's initial budget of $700,000 in February.
The cuts will force the Department of State to cancel some planned improvements to the lobbyist reporting Web site at www.dos.state.pa.us, said Leslie Amoros, department spokeswoman.
The agency just completed a site upgrade last month that allows for attachments to lobbyists' expense filings and easier search functions, she said. But plans to upgrade the lobbyist directory and provide a cross-reference to lobbyists and the interests they represent would be affected by the cuts.
"The simple reality is that cuts have to be made in programs across the board, including the open records office," said Mr. Rendell's spokesman Chuck Ardo. "It is in no way indicative of the value we place on the office, but rather in recognition of the financial reality we find ourselves in."
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-9, Chester, has a special interest in open records as the sponsor of that law.
Mr. Pileggi considers the open records office a core function of government just like the attorney general's office and judiciary, both of which are due for significant cuts.
But the senator said constituents are demanding a no-tax-hike budget.
"The unfortunate fact is we have a limited number of dollars to cover an unlimited number of requests for funding," he added.
The [Scranton] Times-Tribune Harrisburg Bureau Chief
HARRISBURG -- The ability of two oversight agencies to carry out their mandates is threatened by state budget cuts, a watchdog group says.
Pennsylvania Common Cause is urging the governor and lawmakers to maintain funding for the Office of Open Records and the state Ethics Commission at previous year levels.
The open records law is the product of a reform movement dating from the controversy over the repealed legislative pay raise four years ago. The law, intended to make government documents more accessible to the public, took effect Jan. 1. The state Ethics Commission acts on complaints about ethical transgressions involving public officials. To carry out their respective mandates, the records office needs a $1.3 million budget and the ethics commission needs a $2.2 million budget, according to Common Cause.
Mr. Rendell and Senate Republicans, who form the chamber's majority, have both proposed $1 million for the open records and $2 million for the ethics commission.
"You cannot threaten the integrity of state government, which already is on shaky ground with the voters, by weakening essential oversight agencies through starvation funding," said Common Cause director Barry Kauffman in an open letter to elected leaders.
A $1 million budget was sufficient when the open records office was starting up, Mr. Kauffman said, but it falls short now that the office is fully staffed and handling appeals and court cases involving citizens' requests for public documents from government agencies.
Meanwhile, both Mr. Rendell and the Senate would cut roughly $260,000 set aside for implementation of another state reform law - the 2006 lobbyist disclosure act. This represents a 37 percent cut from the governor's initial budget of $700,000 in February.
The cuts will force the Department of State to cancel some planned improvements to the lobbyist reporting Web site at www.dos.state.pa.us, said Leslie Amoros, department spokeswoman.
The agency just completed a site upgrade last month that allows for attachments to lobbyists' expense filings and easier search functions, she said. But plans to upgrade the lobbyist directory and provide a cross-reference to lobbyists and the interests they represent would be affected by the cuts.
"The simple reality is that cuts have to be made in programs across the board, including the open records office," said Mr. Rendell's spokesman Chuck Ardo. "It is in no way indicative of the value we place on the office, but rather in recognition of the financial reality we find ourselves in."
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-9, Chester, has a special interest in open records as the sponsor of that law.
Mr. Pileggi considers the open records office a core function of government just like the attorney general's office and judiciary, both of which are due for significant cuts.
But the senator said constituents are demanding a no-tax-hike budget.
"The unfortunate fact is we have a limited number of dollars to cover an unlimited number of requests for funding," he added.