Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Right-to-Know Law violations by Reading reveal law's weakness
Elected officials clearly don't want any sunlight or public disclosures of their activities...
In the Alleentown, PA,Morning Call newspaper, Paul Muschick wrote about circumstances in nearby Reading, PA. Writing about Pennsylvania:
"This case highlights one of the biggest problems with the Right-to-Know Law. If an agency refuses to cooperate, even after being ordered to by the Office of Open Records, a records requester must sue to get the documents. Lawsuits are costly and time-consuming. A lot of people don’t have the resources to keep up the fight, so the bully wins.
The Right-to-Know Law allows agencies to be fined up to $1,500 for denying access to a public record in bad faith. But the Office of Open Records can’t levy the fine. Only a judge can. That must change."
