Oct 14, 2006 2 min read

The Herald-Standard of Uniontown has been given until mid-October to submit papers to prove a defamation suit filed against the paper by House Minority Leader H. William DeWeese should be dismissed. The roots of the suit are newspaper accusations that DeWeese did not fulfill a promise to release records from his $12 million, taxpayer-funded leadership account. DeWeese says he promised only to lobby for changes in the law that would require the records to be released.

The judge in the case believes the paper may have deliberately confused DeWeese’s promise to produce personal records with a promise to produce the caucus records. He’s given the paper until mid-October to show it did not act with reckless disregard for the facts.

While the judge is busy holding the newspaper’s feet to the fire, maybe state lawmakers in a position of power – such as DeWeese – should consider the larger point in this matter.

Here you have the state House minority leader commandeering a $12 million account funded by taxpayers and the records are not available for public examination.

It’s not DeWeese’s money. It’s the public’s money. There should be no argument about whether these funds should be open to public examination – except that this is Pennsylvania, where the term “open records” is often an oxymoron.

If DeWeese wants put a shine on his public reputation, he can drop the suit against the newspaper and take the lead in completely overhauling Pennsylvania’s entire open records and public meetings legislation, which shuts the public out like few other states in the nation.

That we are having a court argument over this account merely demonstrates how closed to the public Pennsylvania government is under the current public right-to-know setup in the state.

This editorial originally appeared in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette on Oct. 5.