Openness and Transparency in State Government
legislative changes to increase public access. His research indicates that Florida, Washington, Texas, and California have the strongest open records laws and they include a provision whereby payment of attorneys fees are required, which acts as a deterrent to government holding back records.
4. Working with the new administration to issue a Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government (perhaps as an Executive Order), instructing heads of departments and agencies to take specific actions to establish an open government based on the principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration.
5. Working with state government to develop information technology that will enable people to access information online in a user-friendly way.
6. Meeting with town clerks and city and town boards to discuss the importance of open meetings and open records and encourage the same local polices
7. Updating and making readily available the Secretary of State handout, Matter of Public Record: A Guide to Vermont’s Public Records Law.
8. Working with the Legislature and the Administration to ensure that all state contracts include a provision whereby all contractors must abide by Vermont public records laws.
On the issue of open government, Condos points out examples as to where he believes his Republican opponent, who was a senior aide with the Douglas administration, falls short. The Douglas team:
- Supported and expanded the principle of deliberative process, especially for the executive branch, keeping meetings and documents secret and behind closed doors.
- Denied media access to documents relating to violations of state and federal law that resulted in serious pollution of the Missisquoi River by a private developer.
- Denied a citizen group access to agency documents that could help explain why the Department of Environmental Conservation has failed to implement an important pollution prevention program.
- Denied state employees access to workplace policy documents involving a situation where state employees became seriously ill because of adverse working conditions
- Supported serious restrictions on the ability of state workers to testify at legislative hearings; deliberately restricting the legislature’s ability to deal with issues throughout government.
- Supported privatizing government jobs, resulting in those private companies ability to hide records from the public – contracting out the public’s right to know about the quality of services that are being contracted out
- An example of this is the Prison Legal News case, where access to public records was denied in an investigation of the death of an inmate.
- In 2006, the Administration held back an affordable housing audit until Condos, as Chair of Government Operations, requested a public hearing and brought the author in for the hearing to testify that the administration did not like the report and wanted significant changes which the author refused to do.
In 2008 Condos was the lead sponsor a bipartisan Resolution (JRS 57) as a Senator to urge the Agency of Administration, in an effort to achieve the greatest ;possible transparency in the state’s fiscal transactions, to post the full text of its contracts and grants, in all fields of endeavor, in a searchable format on the Internet.
Jim has a unique and relevant background for the Secretary of State position. He has 20 years of elected public service including 18 years on South Burlington City Council, 8 years as a Vermont State Senator, and over 30 years of private sector business experience.
# # #
