Make Pa. records more open

By Bob Martin

Though he may be best remembered for persecuting Huguenots, Cardinal Armand du Plessis de Richelieu (1585-1642) was, I prefer to think, a cynical genius whose axioms on government and human relations transcend the ages.

Anyone, for example, who wonders why Pennsylvania needs a tougher open-records law need only note these gems from King Louis XIII's prime minister:

"Secrecy is the first essential in the affairs of state."

"Never write a letter and never destroy one."

Indeed, the secretive atmosphere of modern Harrisburg would probably do the French cleric-statesman proud. Consider the General Assembly's exempting itself from the state's Right to Know Law. And the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency's stonewalling on how it spent more than $862,000 on retreats at luxury resorts before ultimately being ordered by the courts to produce the records. And the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's refusal to release a report detailing dangerous intersections in Western Pennsylvania - a position the courts upheld.

Such a culture is made possible in part by an open-records law that is among the weakest in the nation. Thankfully, legislators of both parties and the governor have or will file bills seeking to change that.

That's good. There's so much that needs changing.

Now, the burden rests on the person making the request to show that a document being sought is a public record. Let's turn that around. Make the government show that it isn't.

Now, public records are defined as accounts, vouchers, contracts, minutes, orders and decisions. Let's broaden that to include taxpayer-funded studies that are clearly of public interest, such as PennDot's report on dangerous intersections.

Now, local agencies (municipalities and school boards, for example) have five days and state agencies have 10 to respond to records requests. Let's reduce that to 24 to 48 hours, with exceptions for multi-document requests, offices hamstrung by staff shortages, and records stored in remote locations.

The law must also be reworded to redefine two huge excuses for denying records. One exempts those records that would "operate to the prejudice or impairment of a person's reputation." The other bans release of information, not including criminal convictions, that would result in the loss of federal funds. Though the courts have defined these exemptions narrowly, that doesn't much help the citizen who is denied documents because the government agency feels they might reveal improper behavior or misuse of federal grants.

The new law must also set a standard statewide fee schedule for copying costs. No more $25 charges for a one-page fire report, as I experienced a decade ago as The Inquirer's Delaware County editor. And let's end the requirement that you must be a Pennsylvania resident to obtain a record. A citizen should not be denied a public record because he lives in New Jersey or Delaware.

Even if all these changes are made, though, they will be meaningless until the stench of secrecy in government abates and the rank-and-file employee understands the obligation to fulfill records requests, not avoid them.

For the uninitiated, such requests can be frustrating if not downright intimidating. There is no more public a record, for example, than the Statement of Financial Interests, which every elected official and political candidate and many public employees must file annually. But ask the clerk-receptionist at your school district or municipal office for the form and see what happens. You may get it right away, but it's more likely you'll get a blank stare or a response that "the only person who can release that isn't here now."

Never mind that the law provides that "public records shall be available for access during the regular business hours of an agency." If the custodian of records is out, you may be out of luck. And if the custodian is in, you still may have to fill out a request form and wait five days to see the document. In Pennsylvania, you can often get a handgun faster than a public record.

So don't just change the law. Change the culture. It won't be easy. One might say that weaning government employees off secrecy is like weaning motorists off gasoline. But even that doesn't do justice to the history of government secrecy. It was in full-bloom adulthood before the internal combustion engine had reached infancy.