More Openness in State Government Needed

A recent posting on the N&O's Under the Dome blog quoted a national public interest group as having given North Carolina a D grade in requirements for public access to the governor's financial interest. Frankly, the state deserves a D for its overall tendency to increasingly opt for lack of disclosure and public access to governmental actions. Whether it's the governor's income, or legislative ethics, or who put together the backroom tax deals for Google, there is an alarmingly dangerous trend to try and keep it all secret from the press and the public. A couple of months back, an Alamance County journalist was arrested for trying to get information about a governmental closed meeting dealing with a proposed economic development project. And the City of Roanoke Rapids has refused a reporter's request for financial information dealing with the publicly funded multimillion dollar boondoggle project put together by Randy Parton and the Moonlight Bandits. Attorneys for the N.C. Press Association argue that the records should be turned over, but local government officials continue to refuse.

Recent editorials in the Charlotte Observer and and Asheville Citizen have advocated for more openness in dealing with legislative ethics and in Asheville's case, a public airing about the ongoing controversy over the water system. If North Carolinians are serious - and they should be - about trying to restore our state's long standing reputation for good government, then we need to get serious about prying open the ever increasing closed door policy of government and let some fresh air and careful scrutiny into the system. Afterall the continuing parade of scandals tainting our state government were, in part, allowed to take place because of a lack of openness. The public deserves better.