Warning:
(image courtesy of Robb Allen)
Legislators’ vital work veiled from public’s eye
Yeah, see, there's that transparency that Ă˜bama likes to talk about. And it gets even better:The $30.6 billion budget approved by the Legislature last week was negotiated almost entirely in secret, with six lawmakers meeting for 24 days of talks that were off limits to taxpayers. Debates, agendas, and even the times and locations of the meetings were held in strict confidence. No minutes were kept.
Information blackouts are treated with an almost religious reverence by the power brokers on Beacon Hill, who frequently decline to detail what is being discussed out of what they term “a respect for the process.’’
This state is one of about 10 in which the public does not have even limited rights to view legislators’ records.Yep. Massachusetts, the birthplace (and graveyard) of liberty has no provisions to expose its legislative process. Lawmakers have no reason to fear that their votes will come back to haunt them - because no one will ever know how they voted. It is interesting to note that New Hampshire, Florida, and Colorado, states less traditionally liberal than MA, all have significantly more open legislative processes.
MA: You're more likely to be actively prevented from knowing how local government works here.
That is all.
4 comments:
Sunshine Law! Just sayin...
http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/State_sunshine_laws
How can you stand it without leaving or holding another Tea Party??
Maybe tossing all your politicians into said harbor after you have chummed it for a few days....
Wow.....
Sunshine laws tend to have no teeth. Around here, even with a sunshine law, public meetings are regularly closed to the public, with an "oh gosh, we shouldn't have done that" comment after the fact when one of the prols complains.
Lawmakers have no reason to fear that their votes will come back to haunt them - because no one will ever know how they voted.
Sounds like a perfect excuse to vote the lot of them out into the street every election cycle. "You want my vote? Let me see yours."
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