Common Cause President to be on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Tonight

An interview with Ed Helms and Chellie Pingree, the President of Common Cause, is scheduled to air tonight on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It should be fun to watch and it is great exposure for the issues that Common Cause takes on. The Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government is a project of Common Cause Massachusetts. If you cannot watch the program tonight, Comedy Central rebroadcasts the program the following day. You also may be able to view the segment at a later date on The Daily Show website.

The Town of Saugus Has New Website.

I just noticed that the town of Saugus has a new website. It looks like it is still being worked on, but there are links set up for the Board of Selectmen's agenda and minutes, the Saugus By-laws, and the Town Meeting. The information for Saugus on the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government website will be updated as soon as possible. Congratulations to the town for recognizing that the town's website is a great way to help its citizens become better informed about their local government.

If we learn that a municipality has a new website or has added an essential public record to its website, we will update the information for that municipality on the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government website as soon as possible. So, if your municipality has started a website or has begun to post any of the essential public records on its already active website since the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government last reviewed community websites in March, please let us know.

Lexington Citizen's Open Government Efforts

I received an email from Alan Seferian of Lexington who has started a website specifically dedicated to open government issues and other issues in Lexington. It's called the Lexington Open Government Page. Lexington is one of the 24 communities that at least posts all the essential public records highlighted by the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government. This is one example of how people in their own communities may work towards opening up access to information about their local government.

Update on Local Government Websites

The information on local government websites posted on the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government website has been updated since a major review of all websites was completed in March. A few communities have contacted us with updated information or correct information about their websites.

The Town of Sudbury contacted us to tell us that they included the results of their last town meeting in the town's 2005 Annual Report which they posted online after our review had been completed. We added the new information, and Sudbury joined the list of municipalities that post all essential public records online. There are now 24 municipalities on the list of communities that post all essential public records online. I also note that Sudbury just posted its town meeting results for 2006.

We also heard from Newburyport, which posts public records on the Newburyport library website. Although there was a link for the library archives site on the Newburyport website, when we did our review, we somehow missed it. So, the information for Newburyport on the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government website has been changed as well.

Finally, someone from Richmond notified us that the town's by-laws are posted on the Building and Zoning Department's page, so we updated that information. I still do not know how we missed that one. It was reviewed at least two times.

Thank you to all to the people in those communities who contacted the Massachusetts Campaign for Open Government with questions, concerns, and encouragement.

Posting Public Records On-line Provides Free Access to Public Records

One way to discourage people from seeking public records is to charge them a fee for copies of the requested records. People have told me that they did not follow through with a public records request after they were told what it would cost to obtain copies of the record they requested. In fact, a few years back I asked for a copy of the schedule for a public skating arena and I was told I could have the copies if I paid over $200. I then asked to review the records instead. Miraculously, I was provided with the copies at no charge.

Although the Massachusetts Public Records Law allows a custodian of public records to charge a fee, the law does not allow local governments to treat responses to public record requests as revenue-producing activities. The custodian may charge a fee equal to the expense of searching for the record, if any, and may charge a reasonable fee for copying the documents. The Secretary of State’s regulations set out very specific amounts that may be charged for copying.

When public records are posted online, however, anyone can obtain copies of the public records without being discouraged from doing so by any fees. The cost of someone downloading a particular public record is so miniscule to the municipality, it would cost more to recoup it. In fact, there are cost savings to the municipality. At the very least, employees do not have to spend time responding to requests.

The Power Of the Internet

The ability of the internet to affect how people engage with their government was further evidenced by two stories this past week in the New York Times. One article, Internet Injects Sweeping Changes Into U.S. Politics, by Adam Nagourney, is about how political campaigns and the political parties are using the internet to get their message out. The other article, Digital Divide is Closing As Blacks Turn to Internet, by Michel Marriott, is more interesting for our purposes. It reports on a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project which found that nationally 74% of whites, 61% of African Americans, and 80% of English speaking Hispanic-Americans, 18 years old and older, use the internet. As the article states, "Another powerful influence in attracting blacks and other minorities to the Internet has been the explosive evolution of the Internet itself, once mostly a tool used by researchers, which has become a cultural crossroads of work, play, and social interaction." All the more reason why state and local governments need to make better use of their websites by posting public records online.