Oklahoma government corruption
From Sunshine Review
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Oklahomans for Responsible Government call for improved transparency website
When Oklahoma Open Books launched two years ago, it was one of the first websites devoted to state government transparency. The website tracks the overall spending of state agencies as well as their specific expenditures. In addition, the website lists the state payroll, state grants, and state contracts. [1]
Since Open Books launched, many other states have followed suit with their own government transparency websites. A critic from the OFRP, Peter Rudy, says that Oklahoma's website has fallen behind other states. Rudy notes that the website fails to disclose the travel expenses of individual employees, does not contain a check register, and does not track the reception of federal stimulus money.[2]
Oklahoma Supreme Court's Rule Prevents Bulk Release of Case Information
Tulsa, OK On October 8, 2009, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma modified their procedures for the release of the records of case information, in an attempt to bar the bulk release of case information.
The Court, which has historically maintained an online list of all criminal and civil court rulings through the Oklahoma Supreme Court Network and the On Demand Court Records websites, established a new internal rule which will prevent the disclosure of "all or a significant subset of electronic case information" [3]. The rule comes in response to a request from a business for all the Supreme Court records, which would have cost the business between $20,000 to $40,000 for the Courts to produce it. The court claims that the rule was made through consultation with the Oklahoma Open Records Act and the policies of supreme courts in other states. They also claimed that the rule was in compliance with current open records legislation and would not prevent future compliance.
Students seek transparency in UOSA
"The UOSA records policy might become more relaxed to accommodate the student body at large.
In response to The Daily’s story about the UOSA records, Nicholas Harrison, member of the Graduate Student Senate, sent Student Affairs Vice President Clarke Stroud an e-mail voicing his concerns over the “restrictive” UOSA records policy."
Tulsa County clerk removes online copy fee
"Tulsa County Clerk Earlene Wilson has removed a $1 printing fee for online records, effective April 1.
The change announced Tuesday for the county’s Web-based real estate records followed articles and an editorial published March 18 in The Journal Record, challenging that fee and others as violations of the Oklahoma Open Records Act."
Nine Oklahoma cities fail records law test
"Attorney General Drew Edmondson said there is "not an excuse” for cities that are violating a state law requiring meeting calendars and agendas to be posted online.
A survey conducted by Oklahoma news organizations and FOI Oklahoma as part of Sunshine Week found at least nine cities are not posting either calendars or agendas for city council meetings on their Web sites."
Attorneys' advice doesn't excuse Open Meetings Act violation
"‘Acting on the advice of an attorney’ isn’t going to be an easy excuse for willfully violating the Open Meeting Act in the future,” said Joey Senat, Ph.D., OSU School of Journalism & Broadcasting and past president of Freedom of Information Oklahoma.
Senat, himself an attorney and a strong advocate of Freedom of Information in all government areas provided the court’s ruling to FOI members this week."
New bill would ensure the public's right to know
"The Oklahoma public has gained a victory in openness with the state House recently passing a bill that would ensure police must provide incident reports to the public, even if someone is not arrested.
The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration, and we encourage its passage there."
Public records should remain public
"Oklahoma House of Representatives Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee Feb. 4 postponed consideration of a bill that would allow the chief medical examiner to withhold the public release of autopsy reports.
The bill was requested by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation following the release of autopsy reports on the unsolved murder of two girls near Weleetka in 2008.
On the surface the bill sounds like a good move, however the committee should throw the bill out and not even consider closing these records to the public. When the government starts closing records to the public it opens the door for corruption. One closed record will soon be followed by another until the public no longer has the right to know the truth."
Sheriff stonewalling public records request
"Grady County Sheriff Kieran McMullen is stonewalling a request for public records that could show he misused the county’s communications system to tell deputies that recent stories in The Express-Star were untrue.
The Express-Star made a verbal request Tuesday followed by a formal written request the next day for transcriptions of any reverse 911, mesaging, paging and dispatch communication that occurred on July 15."
Open record ruling protects Legislature
"Written or electronic exchanges between legislators are not subject to the Open Records Act, the attorney general said Thursday.
The communications aren't open because the Legislature and legislators don't come within the act's definition of a public body, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said."
Mayor's vote commitments may have violated Open Meetings Act
"Norman city councilmembers may have to take a revote of a controversial 5-4 defeat of an amendment regarding University North Park Tax Increment Financing District funds.
Retired state attorney Lawrence Edmison told councilmembers in the miscellaneous discussion portion of Tuesday's meeting that actions by Mayor Cindy Rosenthal asking for prior commitments on how councilmembers would vote violated the Oklahoma Open Meeting and Open Records Act."
Student records released under open records law
"OCCC has recently joined other Oklahoma colleges in releasing student grades to companies for posting on their websites.
The college released the grades under the guidance of the Oklahoma Open Records Act, said Vice President for Academic Affairs Felix Aquino.
Aquino said, in an all-employee e-mail, that only grade distribution is being released, not individual student grades."
TAC report coming into light
"The school board votes to release a summary of its findings.
The Tulsa school board decided Saturday to release a summary of an investigative report about apparent failings at the Tulsa Academic Center.
After discussing the report in a four-hour executive session at a special retreat, the board voted to have Board President Gary Percefull release the summary Monday, presumably at the board's regular 7 p.m. meeting."
Calculating the real cost of public education in Oklahoma
In 2005 researchers Brandon Dutcher and Steve Anderson set out to examine the true cost of public education for taxpayers in the state. Though the use of generally accepted accounting principles, they studied federal, state and local expenditures for K-12 schools that would be part of a regular financial statement. Their findings were released in a study called "Education in Oklahoma: The Real Costs."
Anderson writes, "If the CEO and finance division of any publicly held company attempted to influence public opinion with misstated financial data to the extent done by Oklahoma's education officials, they would be subject to criminal and civil prosecution."[4]
The report was hailed as "splendid" by Nobel-prize winning economist Milton Friedman, who went on to call it "a real public service." However, the president of the most powerful labor union in the state called it "highly suspect." The authors challenged the union to a debate, but have had no response.
Oklahoma elects 13 who signed open government pledge
Those elected include five metro-area members of the state house and Oklahoma County commissioner-elect Brian Maughan. A full listing of candidates who signed the pledge can be found at the FOI Oklahoma website.[5]
All 25 candidates pledged to "endorse the purpose of Oklahoma's Open Meeting and Open Records laws to ensure and facilitate the public's understanding of governmental processes and problems. Therefore, I pledge to support at every opportunity the public policy of the State of Oklahoma that the people are vested with the inherent right to know and be fully informed about their government so that they can efficiently and intelligently exercise their inherent political power."[6]
Specifically, candidates for the state legislature pledged to "support legislation to strengthen the letter and the spirit of Oklahoma's Open Meeting and Open Records laws," while candidates for local office pledged that they and the public bodies they are elected to govern "will comply with not only the letter but also the spirit of Oklahoma's Open Meeting and Open Records laws."[6]
Tulsa Public Schools denies open records request
Tulsa World made a second request for the evaluation on November 12, and were told that the report would not be made public until the next school board meeting on November 17. New Superintendent Keith Ballard said they received the final copy of the report last week, but that it had to be reviewed by board members and the district's attorneys before he would make it public.
The Superintendent stated, "I want to consult with the attorneys to find out if there is anything in there that can't be released. I want it released — I want people to see everything in it," Ballard said, but "I'm not going to release it today — I really can't."[7]
New signs in Tulsa cost $5,000 each
The city's new sign program, dubbed the "Way Finding System," set up 148 new signs around downtown. They range from showing where parking is to leading the way to the BOK Center. The cost? Nearly $740,000. That comes out to $5,000 for each sign.[8]
Over 2,300 court records sealed since 2003
The 2,300 records sealed include financial records from companies and hospitals, wrongful death suit settlements, divorce proceedings, protective orders, and name changes.
Previous president of Freedom of Information Oklahoma, Joey Senat, was fairly shocked by the number of sealed records. He stated, ""This is a real indication there are two systems — one for the rich and powerful and one for the rest of us. The public has been left out of this process. One thing we need to remember is that the judges who are signing those orders are elected and the court clerks are elected. If we want our records to stay open and stay available, we need to be aware of who we are electing as court clerks and judges. Open government needs to be the issue."[9]
The World requested information from the state's 77 court clerks, only to discover that just seven of those keep track of sealed records, while 3 were able to provide lists of case numbers. The three providing information included Tulsa County (204 cases with at least 1 record sealed), Oklahoma County (292 cases), and Wagoner County (2 cases).
Oklahoma Corruption Trial 2008
It was revealed that Mr. McMahan makes $109,000 a year and, though that he has not been to his office since January, he was still collecting his pay check. This is considered by many to be a great waste of money, as well as hypocrisy as his website states that Mr. McMahan is "Protecting your tax dollars".
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