Monday June 25, 2007
Over the past several weeks,
the issue of government transparency and the public’s access to government
records has come under fire. I, along with 50 other freshman legislators,
was voted into office during a public outcry for government reform. One of
my top priorities since taking office has been to bring more trust and
integrity back to state government.
Voters sent a loud and
strong message to the legislators in
Among the topics discussed
by the commission was public access to government documents. I strongly
supported the need for easier access to public records. The commission
unanimously recommended to the House that public access to government documents
should be increased. We also recommended that unless otherwise specified
in the law, there should be a presumption that all records are subject to
public access.
We as legislators need to
remember that our number one job is to represent the needs of our
constituents. We live in a democracy, where the people have the
power. They can vote us into office and they can vote us out. The
public has a right to know what their government officials are doing with their
hard-earned tax dollars. They should be able to trust their officials to
represent their interests in a fair and honest manner. The only way to
instill trust back into government is to give constituents access to public
documents and to act transparently.
It is only through
government transparency and full access to public documents that a true,
democracy for the people by the people, will occur, and I will continue to
fight for such access. Please join me in making sure that the requests of
the residents of
Rep.
150th District
(610) 409-2615
(717) 705-7164
Contact: Tricia Graham
(717) 260-6296
Member Site: RepVereb.com
Caucus Site: PAHouseGOP.com