Roberts says he reported spending
Retired lawmaker Larry Roberts of South Union Township said he has been in favor of open records for a long time, and even published his monthly expense reports online for two years. Roberts said Friday he is getting somewhat frustrated with all the “hullabaloo” about expense records being published online by other legislators because it is something he has already done.
Roberts said around the year 2002, he published his five-page monthly reports online that outlined every dollar he spent for two years. He said the reports included details on such amounts for rent and office supplies.
Roberts, who served in the House from 1993 to 2006, said while newspapers make a big deal now about open records and transparency in government, there was no interest when he was posting his expenses.
However, state Rep. Timothy S. Mahoney, D-South Union, who replaced Roberts as the representative for the 51st District when Roberts did not seek re-election, said he’s doing more than Roberts ever did for open records. Mahoney said he’s introducing a bill this month for the state open records law to apply to all taxpayer money and to create easy access to the records, neither of which is currently the case.
“The proof is in the pudding,” Mahoney said.
Mahoney, who is the only Democrat freshman legislator serving on the newly formed Speaker’s reform commission, said people need to realize that he is not Larry Roberts.
“That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing,” Mahoney said of his formalized reform efforts. He said it is one thing to talk about it, but until someone introduces a bill or gets a bill adopted, it is just talk. Mahoney has spoken about a desire to make all of his expense information available online.
Recently, House Democratic leaders have come under fire for delaying release of details on bonuses given to employees. Roberts admitted he didn’t list his employees’ salaries, but merely his expenses. Roberts said while the expense reports were online for two years, he stopped posting the information because he was told to stop doing it.
Roberts also said a few years ago open records legislation was approved setting a fine for any agency that denies the public a record that has been deemed public. Roberts said a $10 daily fine is assessed for any agency that does not provide the public record, unless they give a good reason for refusing to do so.
“I support open records; I always have,” Roberts said.
The Pennsylvania legislature still remains exempt from the state’s open records law. Information on its finances is available only through rules adopted by the state House and state Senate.
Regarding the new shift toward a more open government, Roberts said the legislature is “absolutely” moving in the right direction. “I think it is going to get better and better and better,” Roberts said. He said if the money is public, the information should be public.
“I supported every open records bill that came in the House,” Roberts said.
However, Roberts was involved in a much publicized open records case. The Herald-Standard filed a lawsuit against Roberts in 2000 after Roberts refused to release his taxpayer-subsidized telephone records to former government affairs reporter Paul Sunyak.
The newspaper claimed in its suit that Roberts was required to turn over his bills under a common-law right of access and that the former South Union Township representative violated equal rights protection by refusing to turn the bills over to Sunyak, but offering them to other media outlets.
The state’s Commonwealth Court rejected the newspaper’s claim. The newspaper appealed the decision but the court’s decision was upheld last year.