Lancaster New Era, Oct. 19

Gov.’s 2nd-term pledge: He’ll back open records

By Tom Murse
Of the Lancaster New Era

Gov. Ed Rendell promised to work on a sweeping new open-records law if re-elected and said he would order his administration to make public financial documents related to the state’s new gaming board.

In an interview with the New Era Oct. 18, the governor said he would support an open-records law that presumes all records held by agencies — including the Legislature — are available to the public.

"I agree with that," Rendell said.

Asked whether he would sit down with his administration and work on such a proposal, he said: "After the election, if I win the election, I’d be happy to sit down with all the publishers and hash through that. I agree with that.

"I think the only thing is the cost and time factor," Rendell added.

Newspaper publishers and open-records advocates have long argued that the state’s current law is too restrictive and wrongly places the burden on the public to prove a particular document is a matter of public record.

They believe the presumption should be that records held by public agencies are accessible to the public, and the state should have the burden of proving certain records are "non-public."

Advocates for broadening the scope of the law often cite the Legislature’s exemption from it, specifically the lack of access to so-called special leadership accounts that are flush with more than $135 million.

Asked whether he would expand the law to include the Legislature and those special accounts, Rendell said: "Sure. I think it’s an absolute disgrace that nobody knows what’s spent in those legislative accounts.

"To show you the amazing amount of money that’s socked away in there, when (House) Speaker (John) Perzel made his proposal to add 10,000 police to the streets of Pennsylvania — including places that don’t have police, like Forest and Crawford counties, which are 100-percent patrolled by state police — he said they would pay for them the first year out of those special accounts.

"I believe all that stuff is wrong. I believe that if you are living in public life, you ought to understand that to a great extent your life is an open book," Rendell said.

The New Era also asked Rendell about the controversial transfer of $36.1 million to the state’s fledgling Gaming Control Board, which was created to regulate slot machines, from Revenue Department and Pennsylvania State Police coffers.

Some lawmakers have criticized the transfer, saying it may have violated the Sunshine Act. A citizens group is now seeking access to the transfer agreements.

"The budget office has said the interagency agreements aren’t public record. What would be wrong with making those public?" the New Era asked Rendell.

"Nothing," the governor responded. "I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing it."

Asked whether he would instruct his budget office to release the agreements to the public, the governor said: "Sure."

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