Former reporter to head open records office
It’s good news for Pennsylvania that Gov. Ed Rendell has named a former newspaper and wire service reporter to head the newly created state Office of Open Records. The selection of Terry Mutchler, who also has a law degree and worked as a public access counselor in Illinois, sets the tone for how the new office will operate come January. “I can assure the citizens of Pennsylvania, that if and when I make an error, it’s going to be on the side of openness,” said Mutchler. That’s a refreshing point of view that meshes with the spirit of the new open records law, built on a presumption that records are open unless they fall under a list of specified exceptions.
Under the old law, it was usually up to the person seeking the information to prove it was publicly available. Local and state governments held the upper hand, and if government officials turned you down, you had to take them to court to prove your point.
Mutchler, 42, is a Penn State University graduate and native of East Stroudsburg. She worked for the Allentown Morning Call and for the Associated Press in Harrisburg, Illinois, New Jersey and Alaska. She later worked on a statewide political campaign in Illinois, as a media lawyer in Chicago and as an assistant state attorney general. In 2004, the Illinois attorney general created the position of public access counselor and picked Mutchler to fill it.
Mutchler once challenged the Illinois governor’s administration over its refusal to release names and qualifications of unsuccessful state job applicants, and for refusing to release federal subpoenas that reporters sought. That’s the kind of spirit needed to help promote what amounts to a sea change in how the flow of the public information is viewed in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association supports the selection of Mutchler, noting her passion for open government and open records. “This is great news for everyone who cares about open government,” says PNA board of directors chairman John Kirkpatrick.
Mutchler says the new Pennsylvania law is “very strong” and she intends to find middle ground between extremists on both ends of the open records spectrum: Those in the public who think any refusal to release records is a conspiracy, and those in government who view records requests as invasions of their personal privacy.
From our point of view, having an accomplished reporter in the $120,000-a-year position is a strong indicator that the office, housed in the state Department of Community and Economic Development, will be guided by a philosophy beneficial to the public’s right to know.
We look forward to meeting Mutchler – and, more importantly, to seeing if her office lives up to expectations.