OP-ED | Progress On The FOI Front: Sunshine Is The Best Disinfectant – CTNewsJunkie.com

By Terry Cowgill

While the freedom-of-information outlook has often been rather grim during the transparency-challenged Malloy administration, the General Assembly’s regular session finished up with some encouraging news.

And gosh knows, we could use some. Remember the “Task Force on Victim Privacy and the Public’s Right to Know,” the ill-advised government secrecy panel formed in the emotional aftermath of the Newtown school massacre? And there was the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, which lobbied (apparently unsuccessfully) to get a slew of new FOI exemptions passed for towns and cities.

And don’t forget the disastrous Office of Government Accountability, a Malloy-inspired effort to consolidate several agencies, including three of the largest autonomous watchdog units, and essentially put them under his control. The act, which (shockingly) included the Freedom of Information Commission, was met with cries of well-earned protest from open-government advocates that grew even louder after a pair of arrogant performances on the part of the OGA’s first two executive administrators. [Read More]

OP-ED | Put The Screws To Politicians Who Don’t Care About FOI – CT News Junkie

By Terry Cowgill

Aside from the fact that the state woke up and decided not to put in the governor’s mansion an erratic financier who wouldn’t tell us what he’d do if elected, voters who rose Wednesday morning had something else to be grateful for: Comptroller Kevin Lembo was re-elected.

In addition to exhibiting refreshing candor and independence on fiscal matters, Lembo is a strong advocate of open government. And as of Oct. 29, he was the only one of the state’s six constitutional officers to sign a pledge to support Connecticut’s landmark Freedom of Information lawsClick here to continue reading