What's New In Open Government...

A continuing series linking to reports and stories about open government issues around Massachusetts. The following are stories about open government issues that appeared during the past three weeks:

Wilkerson fallout: What about the Open Meeting Law?
(Oct. 30, 2008, The Universal Hub blog, Adam Gaffin)
Posting on the Dianne Wilkerson bribery story and how it involves open meeting law issues. Contains links to other postings.

Lodge: Patrick locks out the public
(Oct. 31, 2008, The MetroWest Daily News, Richard K. Lodge)
Op Ed piece about the closed meetings Governor Patrick held with various town officials to discuss state finances.

Editorial: What we don't need now is secrecy
(Nov. 1, 2008, The MetroWest Daily News)
More on Governor Patrick’s closed meetings with various town officials.

Letter to District Attorney asking him to investigate the Boston Licensing Board
(Nov. 1, 2008, The BIG Campaign blog, Kevin McCrea)
Copy of Kevin McCrea’s letter to the DA’s Office seeking an investigation of a violation of the Open Meeting Law by the Boston Licensing Board related to the Dianne Wilkerson matter.

Massachusetts Public Records Act
(No date, Sunshinereview.org)
Discussion about the Massachusetts Public Records Act

WPD’s documents delay ‘outrageous’
(Nov. 9, 2008, Worcester Telegram and Gazette, Thomas Caywood)
Story about problems the newspaper is having getting public records from the Worcester Police Department. Apparently, the Worcester Police Department has decided it can decide to produce requested public records at a time convenient to it, contrary to what the Public Records Law states.

E-mail messages are public records
(Nov. 10, 2008, The Saugus Advertiser, WickedLocal.com/Saugus)
“Alan N. Cote, supervisor of records for state Secretary William Galvin’s Public Records Division, has advised the Saugus Library Board of Trustees that e-mail messages are public records by statue and cannot be deleted without permission from his office and in accordance with the applicable municipal retention schedule.”

D-Y superintendent denies public records requests
(Nov. 10, 2008, CapeCodToday, Jim Kinsella)
Story about denial of request for pubic records by the Dennis-Yarmouth School District Superintendent… raises privacy issues.

OPEN MEETING INVESTIGATION-Hopkinton
(Nov. 16, 2008, The Boston Globe, Globe West Community Briefing, Megan McKee)
Story about an ongoing investigation by the Middlesex DA’s office over Open Meeting Law violations by the Hopkinton Board of Selectmen.

Two New Open Meeting Investigations
(Nov. 17, 2008, Media Law blog, Robert Ambrogi)
Robert Ambrogi reports on two more DA investigations into Open Meeting Law violations: one by the Brookfield Board of Selectmen and the other by the Harvard School Committee. Here are the links from Attorney’s Ambrogi’s posting to the original newspaper stories: Brookfield and Harvard.

DA won't reconsider Medway Open Meeting Law violation
(Nov. 18, 2008, The Milford Daily News, Aaron Wasserman)
Norfolk DA’s Office declines to reconsider its determination that three Milford town officials violated the Open Meeting Law in how they appointed members of the town’s Finance Committee.