Frank Burns gets it! Not the bumbling doctor from MASH, but the Democratic state representative from Cambria County.
Just like anyone else who has sought public records, Burns has been stonewalled. He was stymied in his effort to acquire records, in a timely manner, from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
Burns soon discovered what every journalist, or any citizen seeking documents, already knows — that government agencies treat disclosure as a burden rather than a core aspect of their duty to the public.
State law requires agencies to respond to public records requests within five days. But it also allows them to invoke a 30-day extension. That’s supposed to be for difficult cases but governments invoke the delay as a matter of routine.
That’s what the PLCB did to Burns, who appealed to the state Office of Open Records, only to learn that the OOC also has 30 days to render a decision.
At the agency level, the delays are not accidental or coincidental. They aid politicians rather than the public by precluding access to public information until any underlying controversy subsides, or until after an underlying action or policy takes effect.
Burns responded to the PLCB’s stonewalling by introducing a bill that would require government agencies to provide requested information within five days with no extension. And the OOR also would have only five days to render a decision if the agency denies the request — but only when an elected official files the records request. Journalists and taxpayers still would have to wait for their government to get around to it.
Legislators should, of course, have ready access to the information that they need. So should journalists and everyone else. But Burns apparently is so committed to his and his colleagues’ priority for record access that his bill also would fund a position in the Office of Open Records dedicated solely to handling lawmakers’ cases.
It’s good to know that a lawmaker recognizes obfuscation as a major problem regarding records access. It’s dismaying to know that Burns views that records access as yet another aspect of legislators’ entitlement.
He should amend the bill to apply to everyone.
— The Citizens’ Voice, Wilkes-Barre via TNS
