Rehire her
When he was first running for governor, Tom Corbett made some big promises about transparency, pledging to make state government more accessible to its citizens.
It’s been somewhat of a mixed record so far. Corbett has argued repeatedly that the state’s public universities should be more fully covered under the state’s Right to Know Law. The Governor’s Office is using social media — Facebook and Twitter — to tell citizens what Corbett is doing.
However, there were some instances where Corbett followed neither the letter nor the spirit of the state’s Right to Know Law. The Governor’s Office denied requests for the direct state-issued phone numbers and email addresses of state employees. Even more distressing was that after losing its case before the state’s Office of Open Records, the Corbett administration appealed the ruling to Commonwealth Court.
In addition, some state agencies were seeking to charge for staff time in the retrieval of records, which is a violation of the Right to Know Law.
The biggest problem so far, though, has been Corbett’s refusal to rehire Terry Mutchler as the director of the state’s Office of Open Records. Her six-year term expired last April, and she remains on the job despite no word from Corbett on whether or not she’ll be reappointed.
During a stop in Delaware County last month, Corbett told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “She’s still serving and she’s still working. A decision will be made at some point in the future.”
Corbett’s response comes even though two of the most powerful legislative leaders, Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware) and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati (R., Jefferson), have strongly urged him to reappoint Mutchler.
Pileggi, author of the state’s open-records law, said that under Mutchler’s direction, the office has become one of the most respected in the nation.
Mutchler also told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the ongoing uncertainty has made it difficult to hire staff and has left her 15 staff members — most of them lawyers — unclear about the future.
Mutchler says she doesn’t view her $140,000-a-year post as partisan, having clashed over open records requests with former Gov. Ed Rendell and Corbett, along with many other state and municipal officials.
“It shouldn’t matter if you are a D or an R,” Mutchler told the Inquirer. “You have to be an O, for open records.”
Mutchler, an attorney and former journalist, was hired in 2008 when the office was created as part of an effort to revamp the state’s then pitifully inadequate open records law.
The Office of Open Records acts as a referee of the Right to Know process. When government agencies — state, local, school — deny citizens access to documents paid for by their tax dollars, citizens can appeal the decision to the Office of Open Records rather than mount a costly and time-consuming court action.
By all accounts, Mutchler has done a good job, running the job independently and fairly without any favoritism.
So, it makes Corbett’s delay all the more frustrating.
There had been speculation that the governor was miffed at Mutchler’s criticism of him last year for comparing gay marriage to incest. Mutchler is gay and was understandably upset by Corbett’s comments.
She’s also complained about funding for her office — which has remained the same despite a huge increase in cases.
It’s also possible that Corbett is upset with her for ruling against his administration. Heaven forbid if that’s the case.
At any rate, to fulfill his promise of bringing transparency to state government, Corbett needs to reappoint the leading advocate for that position in Mutchler.