Letter to the Editor: For open government
BY Jeff Lee, Tulsa
Monday, January 07, 2013
1/07/13 at 7:12 AM
I hope the Tulsa World keeps up the excellent work it has been doing to make our government officials accountable to government transparency. As local columnist Ginnie Graham pointed out, the activities and records of our government belong to all of us and not just to officials hiding behind self-appointed executive privilege or other contrived excuses ("Openness laws being skirted by officials," Dec. 22)
Reporters should have free access to public documents and recordings, and they should present them to the public in the correct context for all to see. Likewise, ordinary citizens should have reasonable (preferably electronic) access to these same documents and recordings for their own research. The government should never demand a reason for a record from either the media or citizens. If a record exposes a state trooper or state school superintendent or governor behaving like a knucklehead, that is neither the fault of the record nor of the one who requested it.
Keep up the pressure, Tulsa World. We need clean, open, and efficient government.
Letters to the editor are encouraged. Send letters to letters@tulsaworld.com.
