Bill Barrow, writing for The Times-Picayune:
BATON ROUGE — With the backing of Gov. Bobby Jindal, a House committee killed a bill that would have opened nearly all records of the governor’s executive office to public inspection, a move that the legislative sponsor said would bring real transparency to a state that touts the concept. …
The… »
Matt Scallan, writing for The Times-Picayune:
Faced with a slumping real estate market, more Louisiana clerks of court are moving public records to the Internet, both as a convenience and a way to shore up their bottom lines.
“It’s expensive to do, but I’m hoping it generates a little revenue,” said St. Charles Parish Clerk Charles Oubre,… »
Matt Sanchez, writing for the Citizen Media Law Project:
Washington state political blogger Stefan Sharkansky won a $225,000 settlement last week from a county government that took two years to comply with his request for information. The settlement ended Sharkansky’s lawsuit against King County over officials’ improper delay in producing documents related to the state’s… »
Obama names Chopra, Zients to top posts
New Mexico Business Daily
President Barack Obama named two men who have been executives at Washington-area businesses to lead efforts to improve the government’s use of technology and the performance of federal employees.
In his weekly Saturday morning radio address, Obama said he appointed Aneesh Chopra, Virginia’s secretary of technology and… »
A moment in time that helped to raise awareness of the NolaStat reform — this was WWL TV reporter Scott Satchfield’s report on the presentation to the City Council Governmental Affairs Committee on January 15, 2009. Click the image below to see the report on… »
An email from Council Vice President Arnie Fielkow:
New Orleans, LA - April 22, 2009 - At tomorrow’s regular City Council meeting, Council Vice President Fielkow will introduce a Resolution that urges the Administration, pursuant to the Home Rule Charter, to require full disclosure of all subcontractors and individuals having a financial interest in any professional… »
There are lots of ways to stifle public access to government records. Despite the implementation of new Sunshine Laws in Pennsylvania, the new open records director complains that Governor Rendell is using procedural tactics to block public access to records.
For example, the Lebanon, Pennsylvania Daily News editorialized:
That lawyers for the administration have told state agency… »
The Advocate:
The Florida-based Citizens Access Project, which monitors government transparency across the country, ranked Louisiana dead last in transparency for access to records in the Governor’s Office.
Governor Jindal has been praised for the ethics reforms he was able to get passed in the Louisiana legislature, although the “gold standard” as been challenged by critics who… »
The Times-Picayune:
Transparency has been law for years
Posted by Letters to the Editor April 14, 2009 4:29PM
Re: “Subcontractors at the center of N.O. ethics issues, ” Page 1, April 12. Thanks to Michelle Krupa for her article highlighting issues related to subcontractors associated with public contracts. This is the reason that in September 2005, after Hurricane… »
“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate to prefer the latter” (Thomas Jefferson, 1787).
As newspapers across the nation cut back their staffs or fold up for good, a reasonable concern is how the watchdog role of the “fourth… »
