Progressives in Delaware have had three main goals over the last couple of years. One was to get our state to pursue alternative renewable energy. Another was OOGA – or Open Our General Assembly, which would provide for more open state government by removing the exemption of the General Assembly and its deliberations from the Freedom of Information Act. And our third main goal is to completely overhaul our party establishment. Who knew that getting the Bluewater Wind deal done was to be the easiest of the three goals.
But if we elect Jack Markell, we may go a long way towards getting the second goal accomplished.
From the News Journal:
Markell on Friday released his plan to expand public access to government records and increase residents’ confidence in public officials, using the Old New Castle Courthouse as the backdrop for his announcement. He was joined by Sen. Karen E. Peterson, D-Stanton, whose own attempts to pass open-government legislation have been thwarted repeatedly, and Rep. Melanie George Marshall, D-Bear.
His four-part plan focuses on increasing government transparency and expanding the state’s Freedom of Information Act to cover the Legislature — an effort that has been stymied in all previous attempts — prohibiting legislators from accepting lobbyists’ gifts or holding government contracts and de-politicizing redistricting by putting it in the hands of a nonpartisan public commission.
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The open-government component of Markell’s plan also would expand the definition of a public record and create a presumption of disclosure, meaning agencies would have to treat all their records and meetings as public unless they had a specific exemption from the law.
Of course, the catch-22 of all of getting this legislation passed is a man by the name of Sen. Thurman Adams, Jr., our illustrious President Pro Tem, who has as one of his powers the infamous “desk drawer veto,” a procedure that allows Adams to “table” any bill he doesn’t like for the duration of the session. The Catch-22 part is that eliminating the desk drawer veto is also a goal of Open Government, yet to do that, we have to get past the desk drawer veto.
Surely we are not going to wait for Mr. Adams to retire, when a more amenable President Pro Tem is in office. But perhaps Mr. Adams can be persuaded by election results. Which is why I am glad Jack Markell is making Open Government a part of his platform. For if he is elected, he can claim a mandate for Open Government and public and political pressure can be brought on Adams to open his desk drawer.
The other candidates, except for Mike Protack, are less than appealing on OOGA. John Carney, in responding to Markell’s announcement, said he would look into the proposals when drafting his own position on open government, which of course means he does not currently have a position on Open Government. While Carney says he continues to encourage expansion of the public’s access to public records, he of course leaves out any mention of the General Assembly.
And Bill Lee was still on his tenth vacation this summer and unavailable for comment.