Jindal ranked last place for transparency
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 find a mismatch between what Jindal says, and what he does. Other critics argue that Jindal asks legislators to do as he says, not as he does.
Jindal has implemented a novel Web site, LaTrac, which allows users to track state expenditures to vendors, but it doesn’t go far enough to be truly useful.
More troubling, Jindal’s own office has been widely criticized for not adhering to the state public records law, the same as every other government entity in Louisiana is obliged to do.
Governor Jindal clearly has more work to do to secure his own legacy, and to fulfill the promise of a gold standard for transparency and accountability in Louisiana.
One legislator has a solution for Jindal:
That’s why we encourage the governor and lawmakers to support House Bill 169, a bill pre-filed by state Rep. Wayne Waddell, R-Shreveport, that would make most records in the Governor’s Office subject to the state’s public records law.
The state’s public records law requires that most types of records generated by state and local governments be made available to the public. But there are a few exceptions, and records within the Governor’s Office are among those now exempted from the state’s public records law. …
Waddell’s bill preserves a few limited exceptions from the public records law for gubernatorial records, but if signed into law, it would greatly expand the number and types of records in the Governor’s Office subject to public review.
Aides to Jindal have promised to review the bill and “work with Rep. Waddell during the session.”
