Rehire her
Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records easily could have been a disaster.
The office was created as part of the 2008 revamp of 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.
But the choice of leadership for that office was crucial.
Would the door to government information be manned by an usher or a bouncer?
In the wrong hands, the Office of Open Records could easily become an Orwellian parody of its name — like the Ministry of Truth that spread propaganda.
In the end, the office was put in the hands of attorney and former journalist Terry Mutchler.
Looking back on her six-year term, which expired last week, you can’t say she was a mouthpiece for some Pennsylvania politburo.
She ran the office independently. There was no apparent rubber-stamping of government denials of access to information (which, incidentally, was sought more often by businesses, lawyers and regular folks than by journalists).
That’s not to say every citizen seeking public information walked away happy. Many requests for information under the new open records law (which still could use some improvements) were denied.
And many requests that were approved by the Office of Open Records were later denied by state appellate courts that, in some cases, have behaved more like rubber stamps for government secrecy. (Cases denying citizens access to the work phone numbers and email addresses of government employees come readily to mind — with the Office of Open Records saying that’s public information but the courts, incredibly, saying no.)
There have been cases where Office of Open Records decisions were needlessly narrow, denying access to records that could or at least should be public.
But on the whole, Ms. Mutchler has been an evenhanded gatekeeper — more usher than bouncer.
Last week, her term expired. She’s still on the job on an interim basis.
She’d like another term, but Corbett administration officials have said they haven’t decided yet whether to reappoint her — even as they praised her performance.
She has also been praised by leaders of both parties — including the author of the open records revision, Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-Chester.
Granted, Ms. Mutchler might not be the Corbett administration’s favorite state official.
She has (rightly) complained about funding for her office — which is overworked as caseloads have grown year after year.
Mutchler, who is openly gay, also criticized the governor’s unfortunate comments last year comparing gay marriage to incest.
But that’s all the more reason to keep her in this position.
If the governor removes an independent voice who is not afraid to criticize him, he runs the risk of looking like he’s silencing dissent.
And whoever replaces Ms. Mutchler, no matter how fair or competent, would have a steeper hill to climb in earning citizens’ trust.
The smart thing to do here — politically and from an open-government perspective — is to reappoint Ms. Mutchler.
The (Pottstown) Mercury