CommonWealth magazine’s fall cover story on problems with the Massachusetts Public Records Law is evoking little surprise on the website of the New England First Amendment Center.
The CommonWealth story by Colman Herman described the Public Records Law as a paper tiger that is flouted by officials at all levels of government. The article is featured on the First Amendment Center’s website and the focus of a series of posts lawyers and journalists.
Karla de Steuben, a lawyer who serves on the board of Common Cause Massachusetts, calls for tougher enforcement of the law and urges government officials to post more records online.
Dan Kennedy, an assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern University and the author of the Mass.Media column in CommonWealth, crticizes Gov. Deval Patrick for claiming he is exempt from the public records law. “Rather than cling to a legal interpretation that allows him to keep some public records a secret, Gov. Patrick should embrace openness, through his own actions when possible, and by filing legislation when necessary,” Kennedy writes.
Cape Cod Times editor Paul Pronovost makes his case quite simply. “The state’s public records law is a joke,” he says.
