The Los Angeles Times posted an astonishing article today about the Assembly’s refusal to disclose the salary figures for staff members. Well, to be more accurate, the manner in which such information is disclosed.
Apparently the Assembly’s chief administration officer, Jon Waldie, will only hand out printed copies of the data; he refuses to send electronic versions. So, essentially, only those who can get a hold of Mr. Waldie in person can obtain data that is required by law to be publicly disclosed.
As the LA Times article points out, Waldie believes he’s found a loophole in the legislative open-records statute because it doesn’t specify how records must be publicized. When asked for an electronic version of the data, the luddite bureaucrat responded by referring the reporter to his taxpayer-financed lawyers: "Send me your little e-mail and I’ll pass it along to our legislative counsel."
Even more infuriating, Waldie claimed the
public (his employer) has no right to the electronic file and then justified his obstruction by claiming that sending electronic versions of the data "would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”Excuse me?! When California taxpayers pay your salary, public disclosure is not an "invasion of privacy." Hard-working taxpayers absolutely have the right to know where the part of their salary they send to Sacramento is being spent on government salaries. Taxpayers deserve to know when the Speaker of the Assembly raises his chief of staff’s salary by $70,000 to $190,000.
For all their talk about transparency and openness in government, Democrats are the ones who are stonewalling the 21st Century technology that aids such public accountability.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Meredith: The information is already available over at the Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/statepay/
March 28th, 2010 at 12:00 am
The average Californian reads Daffy Duck over breakfast coffee…
There are no communications in trailer parks, the barrio or the hood….
Of course, Rinos would not know these facts….eggs benedict and the Wall Street Journal for them.
Of course, democrats already know and take advantage of every perk, pension spike and benefit invented by the beloved leaders….