• In Georgia, Cumming Mayor Ford Gravitt removed citizen journalist Nydia Tisdale  from a recent public meeting. Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens is investigating whether Gravitt violated the state's sunshine laws. In an interview, Gravitt claimed that he was confused about the state’s Open Records Act. He thought it “only permitted people to take still pictures or video, and not both.” Check out the video of Tisdale being removed from the meeting  (around the 2:20 mark) by clicking on the image below. As she is being removed, she maintains, "This is an open and public meeting; I have a right by Georgia law to record this meeting." Ironically, this all took place on the same day that Governor Nathan Deal signed a rewrite of the state's Open Records Act into law. For more information, see Thomas Wheatly’s post on Fresh Loaf.
• After a six-year battle between open government advocates and those who opposed a new open government  bill, Iowa is getting a new state agency dedicated to enforcement of open government. The agency is meant to help solve disputes between governments and record seekers and will work as an enforcer to the state’s current open meetings laws. “The biggest benefit of having this is making sure that public records and meetings are open and available to Iowans,” said Chris Mudge, director of the Iowa Newspaper Association. For the whole story, check out Jason Clayworth’s post on the DesMoines Register.
• In 2011, more than 115 items, including  guns, drugs and money, came up  missing from the Asheville Police Department’s evidence room. Asheville City Council spent $175,000 in taxpayer money to fund an audit of the evidence room. According the the audit contract, a copy of the completed audit should have been made public to the city. The results of the audit were delivered to District Attorney Ron Moore in January. However, Moore  has ignored several open records requests and has not made the results of public. In doing so, Moore has failed to comply with state law requiring a response to open records requests “as promptly as possible.” Members of the local news media and the North Carolina Press Association are currently signing a petition to have the information made public. For the whole story, see David Forbes’ post on Mountain Xpress.
• Last week, we took a look at the aftermath of a contested mayoral election in New Mexico. The election is in the news again this week. The Doña Ana County district attorney’s office is investigating the possibility that the Sunland Park City Council violated the state's Open Meetings Act when it selected a new mayor following the election scandal. The meeting's venue was too packed to house the entire crowd. Many people – including at least two who wanted to ask for the appointment to the mayor’s job – were kept by police from entering. Though the state’s Open Meeting Act has rarely been enforced with criminal charges, it requires that anyone who tries to attend a public meeting of a government body be allowed in. For more information, see Heath Haussamen’s post on NMPoltics.
• On Tuesday, there was a public meeting in Dixon, Illinois to discuss allegation that the city comptroller embezzled $30 million dollars from the city. The meeting featured Dixon business owner and former candidate for state representative Li Arellano. Arellano focused the meeting on making city government more transparent.  A major point in the meeting was the city’s low transparency score from the Illinois Policy Institute and how the cities website failed to contain easily accessible financial information as required. According to the Illinois Policy Institute "A public posting of Dixon’s check register (expenditures) might have stopped the public corruption from happening in the first place." For Ulysses S. Arn’s take, see his post on USOFarn.

• In DC, Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) must provide the DC Auditor with quarterly financial reports. The DC Auditor audits financial information, maintains a database of the information, and ensures that the reports are in compliance. Sunlight’s own Matt Rumsey thinks they should disclose this information to the public, maintaining, “It would be a small step to also make this information readily available to the public.” Rumsey provides a clear plan for how this could be done: “The press and interested members of the public could then monitor the ANC financial reports and identify mistakes, omissions, and inconsistencies that may have been missed.” Because of their lack of financial report disclosure, it “takes extremely diligent individuals significant effort and time to uncover improper or missing information.” For his entire take, see his post on Greater Greater Washington. 
• Sunland Park, New Mexico recently had a tumultuous mayoral election that ended with a criminal investigation for voting fraud, bribery, and abuse of taxpayer dollars. After the contested election,  the Sun-News filed a public records act request to obtain a list of donors who contributed to the campaign. However, Sunland Park doesn't require campaign finance reports to be filed by candidates. Phil Banks of Common Cause of Southern New Mexico worries that the lack of disclosure will cause elected officials to “take action to advance their contributors' interests.” He maintains, “the obvious thing is just simply the fact that individuals who contribute — especially large amounts of money — to campaigns generally expect some reciprocity as a result. It doesn't necessarily mean there will be favoritism. It leads to the appearance of it being inappropriate, but it's not always." Banks confirmed that Common Cause is forming a Las Cruces-appointed panel to revise its campaign fundraising rules. The city is currently seeking two community members to serve on the panel. For more information, see Diana Alba Soular’s post on Las Cruces Sun News. 

• In January, Torrance County commissioners flirted with an Open Meetings Law violation by trying to pass a resolution banning public recording of their hearings. While this resolution was curbed, they recently introduced a proposal that will make it harder for citizens record hearings. The resolution calls for 24 hours written notice for any recording of meetings, requires cameras to be pointed only at commissioners, and requires citizens who srecord meetings to stay in a  designated area. According to commissioner Lonnie Freyburger, “We were getting interrupted and different things and there was editing being done on the YouTube and we wanted to get a true and accurate recording of what was going on.” The commissioners are discussing making a county record of all hearings available on their website. However,  Gwyneth Doland of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government  maintains, “... that does not — and should not — preclude the right of members of the public and the media from recording Torrance County commission meetings that are held in a public facility paid for with county taxpayer dollars.” For the whole story, check out Rob Nikolewski’s post on New Mexico Watchdog.
• Gainesville Citizens CARE filed a lawsuit to annul a $3 billion Power Purchase Agreement contract negotiated by Gainesville Regional Utilities  and approved by the Gainesville City Council for a 100 megawatt biomass incinerator proposed by American Renewables. The lawsuit alleges  that “the contract negotiated behind closed doors in violation of the Sunshine Law be declared void and without legal effect.” According to Josh Schlossberg, “changes allegedly made in secret, without public disclosure, include an extension of the contract from 20 to 30 years, a cost increase of 25%, and the removal of a ‘back door out clause’ that would’ve allowed ‘the contract to be cancelled after its last regulatory approval and before the commencement of construction.’” For the whole story, check out his post on No Biomass Burning.

• The Salt Lake Tribune covered a  University of Utah honors class project: developing a set of five guiding principles to help local governments throughout the state increase transparency. The project’s goal is to persuade all 270-plus county and city governments in Utah to adopt their  principles to make their government more open. The projects focused on transparency in the age of the Internet. Moreover, the class itself operated in a transparent manner: “Every lecture was videotaped; every class presentation, too. Students had to comment daily on Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and blogs. Anyone who wanted could see what the Think Tank and its individual members were up to — and some students developed notable followings.” Theresa Krause, one of the participating students, maintained  "Information is the currency of democracy. It is the key to citizen engagement.  "The Internet has made data available and changed the way we think about transparency and access to government." For the whole story, check out Mike Gorell’s post on the Salt Lake Tribune.
• The week, the Maine House rejected a bill that would have exempted the governor’s working papers from the state’s Freedom of Access laws.  The bill would have also exempted some members of the governor's staff from Freedom of Access Act, at least until the end of the legislative session. They include the governor's chief of staff, legal counsel, director of policy and employees under their direct supervision. Representative Kim Monaghan-Derrig told her colleagues that she worried the bill would  hurt the state’s transparency. For more information, see Susan Sharon’s post on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network. 
• In order to avoid a violation of the Massachusetts Open Meetings Law, Scituate selectmen met for a special meeting to reaffirm a vote they took to approve contracts with non-union employees. In an executive session last November, the board voted to approve the contracts, including the contract for the Town Administrator, which is a violation of the open meeting law. They reaffirmed the vote in an open session this week. Selectmen Chair Tony Vegnani addressed the issue and said, “We met this evening to address a ruling from the Town of Carver, in regards to the Open Meeting Law. In November, we accepted three non-union contracts; the Town Accountant, Town Treasurer and Town Administrator and we did it in executive session. A month later in December, a ruling of the Open Meeting Law said that contracts needed to be accepted in open session. We read it in Beacon and talked to town counsel about it and they thought it would prudent, if we actually accepted the contracts in open meeting, as opposed to executive session.” For the whole story, see John Penny’s post on 959 WATD. 
• The McPherson School building is an old Illinois building  with an incredibly rich history. The building will be on the receiving end of a million dollar infrastructure improvement project. The funds will be dispersed by the Illinois Local School Council (LSC).  According to Patrick Boylan, “Our biggest complaint about McPherson is there is a corporate culture apparent that wants secrecy.” He maintains, “The price for those public dollars should be greater transparency at McPherson. Alone, of the LSCs examined by The Bulldog, McPherson has no records available to the public. It puts hurdles up to public access and it may be responsible, in part, for the decision by CPS to restrict public access to LSC election information. That culture of mistrust must change.” He calls on the Local School Council to make their process more transparent by disclosing meeting minutes and agendas online and making meetings more inclusive to the public. For his take, check out his post on the Wells Park Bulldog. 

• In Rhode Island, a public records law might get a much-needed revamp if a bill heard by the House Judiciary Committee this week becomes law. The proposal was introduced by Representative Michael Marcello and would be the first amendment to the state’s Public Records Act in 15 years. According to RI Future, the legislation would, “decrease the amount of time a public agency has to make public records available from ten to 7 days; require municipalities and government agencies to designate and train a public records officer; require police departments to make initial arrest reports available within 24 hours; and would make correspondences between elected officials regarding policy public documents.” Citizens in Rhode Island have had a difficult time of accessing public information in the past. Civil liberties and open government activists applauded the effort, hoping it would improve the state’s access to public records. “This may impose some additional burdens on government employees but it should be accepted as an important part of their work,” said Steve Brown, the executive director of the RI ACLU. For more information, see Bob Plain’s post.
• Members of the meet up group Open Government Chicago demoed some of the newest web-based applications created by local programmers. These apps utilize public data and could be helpful to Austin citizens. Some of the most interesting aps included Chicago Potholes, an app that “displays the open pothole requests on a city map” and MetroChicagoData.org, a  federated data site that makes it easy to “obtain datasets on one website instead of going to each level of government for the various sets of information.” For more of these exciting open government apps, see Ellyn Fortino’s post on Austin Talks.
• In a March 27, 2012 letter, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini, Jr. criticized the Trenton City Council  for failing to  make "available to the public written minutes of [Council] meetings for a substantial period of time." He maintained that meeting minutes should be made “promptly available'” to the public and  pointed out that a 1986 court decision defined "promptly available" as meaning within two weeks after the meeting. He asked that the council provide him  "with a timetable when minutes from past meetings will be complete and available to the public." John Paff of NJ Open Government Notes maintains, “ It's not often that a county prosecutor enforces the Open Public Meetings Act.  Bocchini's letter is refreshing and may help convince other prosecutors around New Jersey to take action on complaints about tardy disclosure of meeting minutes. “ For more on his take, see his post.
• New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's aides are “clearly unhappy” with a poll that included what they say is a leading question on transparency. The question read, “Governor Andrew Cuomo and the leaders of the Senate Republican and Assembly Democratic majorities are being criticized for secrecy in negotiating major policy deals, then quickly voting at night on the measures. Do you think these closed-door negotiations were necessary to achieve major policy deals or not?” Subsequently, the governor had to  answer questions clarifying  his own definition of transparency,  which is mostly focused on traveling the state to explain his budget and agenda directly to voters. For the whole story see Nick Reisman’s post on Capital Tonight.

• This week, a comprehensive overhaul of the Georgia’s open government laws unanimously passed the Senate. House Bill 397 will now go back to the House so members can agree on changes made by the Senate. Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens, one of the bill's backers, maintains that it “makes great strides towards increasing transparency in Georgia.” Hollie G. Manheimer, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation, points out, “We are optimistic that HB 397 will pass in its current form, and that the attorney general will begin as soon as possible to address an increased number of open government violations. Stronger open government laws mean greater transparency for Georgia citizens.” For the whole story, see Kathleen Baydala Joyner’s post on ATLAW.
• California recently received a D-minus for government transparency. According to John Diaz, this low grade is mostly due to the state lacking a “checkbook” website that displays financial information online. Diaz maintains, “California, home of so much brilliance and innovation, should be ashamed that Texas and Kentucky lead the nation in using the tools of technology to make their government spending more transparent to their citizens. Even worse is that 35 other states scored higher than California in a recent analysis by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Perhaps most humiliating of all is that the technology that could have put California in the top tier in 2012 is not expected to be up and running until … 2017.” For his entire take, see his post on SF Gate.
• In Kentucky, a bill increasing secrecy at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services died in a Senate committee only to be revived minutes later in the House of Representatives. Critics of the measure worry the bill will “sharply curtail public access to details of child-abuse deaths and serious injuries, were outraged, saying the bill gives the cabinet more power to withhold information.” David Thompson, executive director of the Kentucky Press Association opposes the bill. Calling it a “secrecy bill.” Media attorney Jon Fleischaker testified the Senate committee about concerns over the lack of transparency the bill has for cabinet oversight, even though supporters were pushing it as a transparency bill. For the entire story, see Mike Farell’s post on the Kentucky Open Government Blog.
• According to a report by the State Integrity Investigation, Virginia has been ranked the fourth worst state regarding open government and anti-corruption laws and practices. The state earned a failing score of 55 and performed better than only Wyoming, South Dakota and Georgia. In his blog, Virginia  Senator Chap Petersen called the report “an example of the lamest, most superficial analysis.” For more information, see Nicole Trifone’s post on Fairfax City Patch.

• The Arizona Public Interest Research Group  awarded Arizona an A-minus on how it helps taxpayers find information online pertaining to  government spending. The high grade was mostly because of OpenBooks.az.gov, a state website that offers a searchable database of state expenditures. The launch of site raised Arizona’s grade from an F in 2010 to A-minus in 2011. Representative Kimberly Yee, the sponsor of legislation aimed at increasing government transparency, maintains,“People need to see where money is being spent so they can hold elected officials accountable. “ For more information, see Devin McIntyre ‘s post on the Tucson Sentinel. 
• In honor of Sunshine Week, Kentucky’s Adair County Community Voice utilized citizens to perform a local records audit. According to the Kentucky Open Government Blog, “The weekly newspaper engaged eight ‘average citizens’ to seek specific records from eight public agencies and published the generally good findings in last week's paper, with an explanation of the audit and the issues, and an editorial by Editor-Publisher Sharon Burton giving her motives.” For the most part, the audit revealed that  most institutions readily complied with the information requests. However, they found the least cooperation when they asked law-enforcement agencies for salary information. For the entire story, check out Al Cross’ post.
• This week, Tennessee lawmakers quietly sealed public records pertaining to education.  The Senate State and Local Government Committee and the House State and Local Government Subcommittee passed bills to make the results of teacher evaluations confidential. According to KnoxNews, lawmakers used a questionable exception to exempt the teacher evaluations from the Public Records Act. "So much for transparency in government," laments Kent Flanagan, director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. For the whole story, check out Jack McElory’s post on KnoxNews.
• In slightly related news, even though Tennessee’s state government ranks among the ten most transparent in the country, it earned a grade of C+ for its laws promoting transparency and punishing corruption. According to a report by the Center for Public Integrity, Public Radio International and Global Integrity, Tennessee sends a “mixed ethics message.” Elizabeth Bewley points out, “The report’s authors said Tennessee’s 2006 ethics reform bill has helped, but the Tennessee Ethics Commission created by the bill hasn’t lived up to expectations.” For her entire take, check out her post on the Tennesseean.

• California Councilwoman Teresa Barth recently wrote an open letter publicizing her support for increased government transparency. In the letter, Barth maintains that Encinitas, California needs stronger transparency laws. She writes, “At the June 10, 2009 City Council meeting, I proposed a citizen’s task force to work with staff to craft a Sunshine Ordinance for Encinitas. My colleagues said the city was already in compliance with existing laws and a Sunshine Ordinance was not necessary. I believe we should set a higher goal. We should strive to do the 'Best Not the Least.'" She urges all citizens to tell the city council to support a Sunshine Ordinance. She argues, “The right of the people to know what their government is doing is fundamental to democracy.” For the whole story, check out her post on Coastal News.
• In a blog post, Gwyneth Doland, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government,  reassess the state of New Mexico transparency after Sunshine Week. Some of  the guidelines Doland wants New Mexico to adopt are having public meeting agendas available 72 hours in advance (instead of the current 24 hours) and improved access to information about about schools, roads, taxes and other public works. Doland maintains, “Being open and transparent isn’t always easy for government to do, but it’s always the right thing do.” For more information, see her post on NM Politics.
• The Kentucky attorney general has decided that the Kentucky State University Board of Regents violated the state’s Open Meetings Act earlier this year. According to the blog, “The Finance and Administration Committee and the Audit Committee jointly held a closed session meeting on Jan. 27 to discuss an external audit. Before entering the closed session, the committee failed to pass a formal motion to go into closed session and cite the reason for the session, as required by the Open Meetings Act.” Board of Regents Chairwoman Laura Douglas maintained that the meeting was not illegal and that the committee went into a closed session under an exception to requirement of public session that focuses on threats to public safety. The attorney general maintains that the exception was "clearly inapplicable and the meeting was illegal." For the entire story, see Christine de Briffault's post on the Kentucky Open Government Blog.
• The Sunshine Review recently  evaluated state websites in Kansas. The Wichita and Derby school districts and Sedgwick County were among nine Kansas governments recognized for having transparent websites. Sunshine Review uses information such as budgets, meetings, lobbying, financial audits, contracts, academic performance, public records and taxes to determine the website’s level of transparency. For the whole story, read Phillip Brownlee's post on WE Blog. 

With Super Tuesday quickly approaching, we decided to take a look at what local bloggers in Super Tuesday states are saying about how super PACs have been shaping their respective political landscapes.

• Valerie Joyner of the Blue Ridge Review blog took a look into campaign contributions of Virginia candidate for Blue Ridge Supervisor, Janet Clarke. Joyner alleges that Clarke has gotten many contributions from special interests. According to official reports, Janet Clarke has raised over $91,000.  Joyner maintains, “These numbers are in some cases double or triple the dollars raised by other candidates for Loudoun County Supervisor positions.” Joyner argues that Clarke should clear up questions about the origins of the donations. For instance, Clarke received donations from companies that have projects and business coming before the Board.  Furthermore, Joyner has concerns about contributions from PACs  and others with developer interests coming before the Board, such as donations from a company that has connections to “big box” stores. Joyner points out, “The question here is, because of these donations to her campaign, will Janet Clarke recluse herself if and when a contributor’s issue comes before the Board?”
• The blog Real Loudon raises questions about the campaign contributions of Loudon County supervisor Geary Higgins. The blog points out that Higgins was one of several  recipients of a “remarkable flood of developer cash that flowed into Loudoun GOP coffers during this election cycle.” Using information compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project , the blog determined that Higgins’s largest source of cash out of the $126,276 he raked in was the $10,200 donated to his campaign by a PAC called “Citizens for Virginia’s Future.” The blog post maintains, “Perhaps needless to say, by the strangest of coincidences all of the 22 of the “citizens” who make up this group seem to be from the real estate and development industry.”
• The Alaska Federation of Natives formed the super PAC “Alaskans Standing Together” to  use money from Native corporations to support Senator Lisa Murkowski’s write-in campaign. According to Shripathi Kamath,  “Murkowski was a known commodity, supporting federal entitlements for Native Alaskans as well as big-oil interests.” While Kamath is happy to see Alaska Natives have power in national politics, she worries about the influence special interests might have on the political process.  She writes, “The elephant in the room was the super PAC money being spent on advertising that overwhelmed anything seen before.”  For her take, she Kamath's post on Director's Cut. 
• Melaleuca Inc, a company founded by Idaho Falls billionaire Frank VanderSloot , donated $1 million to Mitt Romney’s super PAC “Restore Our Future.” According to Dan Popkey, VanderSloot has been a longtime support of Romney’s: "VanderSloot is a national finance co-chairman for Romney and has been a backer of mostly Republican causes and candidates. He was a key supporter of the 2011 'Students Come First' laws authored by Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna." For the entire story, see Popkey's post on the Idaho Statesmen.

• According to open government advocates, Maryland does not do a good enough job of making government information easy for citizens to find online on the state’s website. Despite Governor Martin O’Malley’s stated commitment to increasing Maryland’s digital transparency, these open government advocates claim O’Malley’s administration has lagged behind in making “raw data held by state agencies available to citizens who want to evaluate the performance of state government — and O’Malley’s administration — on their own.” David Moore, executive director of the open government advocacy group the Participatory Politics Foundation, maintains, “What’s happening in the government should be public. Transparency in the process increases trust among the wider percentage of citizens and when civic trust is built up, then there’s more engagement.” For the whole story, check out Brooke Auxier’s post on Maryland Reporter.

• Michigan House democrats just proposed a series of bills to increase transparency and take on money in politics. The bills will increase the amount of time lawmakers are required to wait before becoming lobbyists. Furthermore, they also introduced an amendment to Michigan’s constitution “requiring corporations to increase disclosure of lobbying and political activities and banning the state government from awarding contracts worth more than $100,000 to contractors and vendors who make political donations.” Governor Rick Snyder has expressed a commitment to increased transparency, maintaining, “We should have more frequent and better disclosure of campaign contributions, and we should have stronger rules governing employment of people who negotiate state contracts while in government service.” In an email about the crippling influence of money in politics, Central Michigan University professor Andrew Blom argues, “The biggest ethical problem in contemporary American politics, as I see it, is that we have effectively made corruption institutional by allowing monied interests to have so much influence in campaigning and, as a result, access in lobbying.” For the whole story, read John Irwin’s post on Central Michigan Life.
• In Kentucky, circuit court judge Tyler Gill has taken issue with Govenor Steve Beshear recent editorial defending his administration's appeal of a court decision that ordered some child abuse records be open to the public. Gill takes issue with some of the governor's contentions in a column published in the Courier-Journal. He maintains that “openness and accountability are the better policies.” Gil believes that state-imposed  secrecy is often used  to “hide state incompetence or misconduct than to protect the citizens of Kentucky.” He maintains, “While we can always find some downside to open government, the consequences of government secrecy are far worse. We need only look to the courts and governments of totalitarian regimes such as China, North Korea, Iran or Cuba for this lesson." For more information, check out Mike Farrell's post on the Kentucky Open Government Blog.

• Maryland congressman Sandy Rosenberg has proposed a bill in the General Assembly that would extend broader protection from public information requests to professors at the state's public universities. According to David Krajicek from One Minute Lawyer, Rosenberg was inspired to draft the bill after “ attempts to draw academic researchers into political battles. He cited the Virginia attorney general, a global warming warming skeptic, who tried to use his subpoena powers to build a fraud case against a climatology professor, and an attempt by a Wisconsin Republican official who sought the emails of a history professor, trying to demonstrate that he had misused his public account to stir political unrest during the state's battles over organized labor.” While several academics and professors supportive of the proposed  legislation, open-government advocates have raised transparency concerns regarding the bill.
• The New York City comptroller has revamped NYC Checkbook, the city’s checkbook website. The site already allows citizens to see every check the city issues. Now, the site will offer "software developers direct, programmatic access to a comprehensive trove of information about New York's fiscal health.” The revamped site will boast detailed information about the city’s budget, contracts, payments, and vendors. Comptroller Ari Hoffnung  maintained, "Our goal is to make New York City the most financially transparent government in the United States.” For the whole story, check out Nick Judd’s post on Tech President.