Some concepts are just hard to grasp. Other ideas are easier to absorb. Or at least, they should be. It is apparent after Tuesday's city council meeting our elected leaders struggle to understand a fundamental aspect of the democratic process — the idea of open government.
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Read More… from Our View: Columbus (MS) city council strikes another blow against open government
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has championed greater transparency for government and groups in his cross-hairs during his three-plus years as the state's top law enforcement official. But when it comes to his own dealings with a powerful political consultant and close adviser, Mr. Schneiderman is shielding them from public view—under legal reasoning some leading experts say is clearly wrong.
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Public employees asked to provide common records during a statewide test of Ohio's open records laws in April followed the law in nine of every 10 requests, according to audit results that found much higher compliance than a similar survey a decade ago.
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Read More… from Statewide public records audit conducted in Ohio
The Cherokee Nation Tribal Council voted Monday to strengthen its Freedom of Information and Government Records acts and passed a resolution to initiate a dental crown program at all tribal health centers.
To ensure citizens have better access to important information about their government, the council voted to hire an independent information officer and extend response time. To better manage requests, FOIA response time has been increased from 15 to 20 days, and response time for GRA requests has been increased from six to 10 days.
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Read More… from Cherokee Nation improves citizen access to government information
The good news for Ohioans is that public officials seem to be following the state's open records law much better than was the case several years ago.
But the bad news is that sometimes, Buckeye State residents still are refused access to documents. That is unacceptable.
Journalists fanned out throughout Ohio this spring, in an open records "audit" conducted through the state Coalition for Open Government. Public officials were asked in all 88 counties to provide documents and information covered under the state open records law.
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The Open Government movement has captured the imagination of many around the world as a way of increasing transparency, participation, and accountability. In the US, many of the federal, state, and local Open Government initiatives have been demonstrated to achieve positive results for citizens here and abroad. In fact, the White House’s science advisors released a refreshed Open Government plan in early June.
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As an attorney, you have a duty to do an adequate investigation before asserting any claim, but your investigation can’t intrude on others’ privacy rights. Getting public record information is one way to get what you need without a privacy problem. But what if the information isn’t available online or through a visit to a federal agency? Make a Freedom of Information Act request.
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Imagine that the governor is holding a series of secret closed-door negotiations with a company that could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer expenses. Now imagine that the same company secretly meeting with the governor is also a campaign contributor. Also imagine that the Legislature is barred from changing the details of an agreement negotiated in secret with the governor and can only vote up or down on funding the final proposal.
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Read More… from Lift shroud of secrecy from employment contract talks
When it comes to open and transparent government aimed at serving the people, East Earl Township supervisors must not have gotten the memo.
Supervisors Earl Kreider, Joe Shriver and David Zimmerman have been running the government based on the idea that the less the citizens know about what is going on, the better. They have been good, in fact far too good, at operating behind closed doors.
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A federal judge today ordered the Department of Justice to hand over key opinions by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (also known as the “FISA court”) so the judge can directly review whether information about mass surveillance was improperly withheld from the public.
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