Palin e-mails still a secret; what are they trying to hide? (ADN)

[struggle4progress]

PAUL JENKINS
COMMENT
Published: November 14th, 2009 07:07 PM
Last Modified: November 14th, 2009 07:07 PM

Alaska state government is bruising, if not breaking, the law by failing to release in a timely fashion Palin administration e-mails and other information sought under the state public records law ...

The administration, for example, wanted to charge the Associated Press $45 million (that's million with an "m") for its requests, and it wanted $15 million apiece from other news agencies -- in many cases for essentially the same information ...

Open records are anathema to any government, including ours. Laws guaranteeing access were designed to protect us schmoes from tyrants and outright crooks who find it ever so much easier to work in the shadows.

Finding ways to circumvent those laws --and avoiding embarrassment and ugly headlines -- is just a grim reality of government, and Alaska, unfortunately, has settled upon what appears to be a successful and winning strategy. Government drags its feet, makes costs prohibitive, and then makes you wait, hoping you will go away ...

http://www.adn.com/opinion/comment/story/1013298.html

[Catshrink]

1. Maybe because if they had to release the paper version

it would cause massive deforestation and a frantic worldwide search for a comma, period, or paragraph break. Or maybe because Alaska neighbors Russia it's a national security issue. :rofl:

[Berry Cool]

2. I do not think "anathema" means what this writer thinks it means.

"Anathema" means something detested, hated. At least it did now--a long, long time ago, it meant something set aside for the gods.

Open records are anathema to any government, including ours. Laws guaranteeing access were designed to protect us schmoes from tyrants and outright crooks who find it ever so much easier to work in the shadows.

That doesn't make sense. Open records are ESSENTIAL to any government. That's what he's trying to say--not that they're "anathema."

I'm surprised, too, because this guy writes for a newspaper. He's not even a blogger.

Editing to add: Or, he meant to write "Closed records are anathema..." Maybe he got mixed up, like one writer I know of who, referring to an entertainer she liked, wrote that he "never fails to disappoint."

[struggle4progress]

3. I think the author means that those with power often prefer secrecy and hate openness

Even when there are good open government laws, the bozos and crooks will try to circumvent them