On Transparency and Public Records

By Maria Ortiz Perez
September 25th, 2009

Yesterday’s article in the Globe about the difficulty citizens are facing in accessing public records made me smile.

Isn’t it interesting that in this day and age, with all the research tools we have at the tip of our keyboards, it is still so hard to get the information that we need from government? This article just reminded me of the importance of having committed individuals holding their government accountable.

However, we have to give public officials a break too. I think too often public record related issues becomes an “us vs. them” conversation between government and citizens.  I absolutely agree that people SHOULD know. And I also get – as a former goverment employee myself- that resources are tight and that people are more often than not trying to do the best with the resources they have.

You’ll be pleased to know that Pioneer Institute just put together an online resource that gives the public access to intersting public records. You can call it a happy middle if you wish.

It’s called MassOpenBooks.

On this webiste you have access to salaries, pension and disbursements data made by the state. This will hopefully help you- citizen- since you’ll have the information speedy quick, at the tip of your fingers (and for free!). And I am sure it’ll also spare the headache to the person dealing with public records requests on top of the hill…