AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine Senate on Wednesday voted unanimously to postpone indefinitely a measure that sought to exempt from Maine’s Freedom of Access Act any “working papers” created by the governor or members of his staff.
Sen. David Hastings, R-Fryeburg, who supported the bill when it passed the Judiciary Committee, made the motion to postpone indefinitely LD 1805. Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, then requested a roll call so that the vote would be recorded.
All 34 senators in the chamber on Wednesday voted to postpone, which effectively kills the measure.
The Maine House last week rejected the majority report from the Judiciary Committee in a 47-98 vote that included opposition from many Republicans.
LD 1805 was first drafted by the governor’s office last year in response to a flood of broad FOAA requests last year but also in part to afford the governor the same exemption lawmakers enjoy.
Despite objections, the proposal was approved by the Right-to-Know Advisory Committee last fall and then approved by a majority of the Judiciary Committee earlier this year.
Under Maine statute, official records of the Legislature itself are subject to the Freedom of Access Act. However, all legislative papers and reports, working papers, drafts, internal memoranda and similar works in progress are not public until signed and publicly distributed in accordance with rules of the Legislature.
LD 1805 would have applied that similar statute to the governor’s working papers, which include reports, drafts, internal memoranda and similar material that is used to draft legislation.
The working papers could be made public once the governor chose to distribute them or upon adjournment of the legislative session for which the proposed legislation, reports and papers were prepared.
“Maine’s public records law has always been based on the content of what is in the record, not based on who is in possession of the record,” said Mal Leary, a member of the Legislature’s Right-to-Know Advisory Committee and a frequent contributor to the Bangor Daily News. “The governor was seeking an exception based on who possesses a record, not on what it contains. He already has the ability to shield from public view those documents the Legislature has decided need to be confidential.”
Adrienne Bennett, spokeswoman for Gov. Paul LePage, said last week that the bill was meant to challenge the legislative branch to live by the same rules as the executive branch.
“If we are a government committed to transparency it should be equal all the way around,” she said.
Sen. Cynthia Dill, D-Cape Elizabeth, had proposed an amendment to LD 1805 that would have rejected the measure and also remove the Legislature’s exemption. That amendment never made it to the floor.
Members of the governor’s staff had lobbied lawmakers heavily but unsuccessfully over the last two weeks to support the bill.
During the bill’s public hearing, LePage’s deputy counsel Michael Cianchette said that without the exemption, the governor and his staff likely would stop creating records for fear that they might be made public.
Shenna Bellows, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, applauded the Legislature for rejecting the proposed exemption.
“Maine’s Freedom of Access laws have worked for decades and under governors of all parties,” said Bellows, who also is a member of the Right-to-Know Advisory Committee. “By rejecting this unwarranted new exemption Maine lawmakers have affirmed the right of Maine people to open and transparent government.”
Follow BDN reporter Eric Russell on Twitter @BDNPolitics.
“Sunshine is the best disinfectant.” Louis Brandeis, Supreme Court Justice
perfection..absolute perfection..a true gem Arrowhd..and so to the bull eye..
“Adrienne Bennett, spokeswoman for Gov. Paul LePage, said last week that the bill was meant to challenge the legislative branch to live by the same rules as the executive branch.”
If that’s what they wanted then that’s what they should have asked for. I think she’s trying to cover for LePage again and her statement is so much bull plucky.
No, the LePage admin. really believes there should not be any exception to the freedom of access law. It’s time our legislature be held accountable to the same set of standards. Also, the admin. believes the access is too broad and cumbersome. It seems to me there should be a “happy medium” where the public has access to information without unduly restricting government administration. There are instances where complete and unrestricted access laws do hamper administration, so claims the Obama Administration.
Well, then urge the Gov to put his money where his mouth is. If he really wanted things to be equal between these two branches he should have asked for their shield to be removed.
Urge him to re-introduce that as a bill.
Actually Cynthia Dill did offer exactly that ammendment and the Judiciary Committee didn’t allow it to the floor..this speaks volumes to the culture of the Judiciary Committee…and it speaks well to her integrity and consistency.
Indeed it does. But, if there are enough people asking for it, they may be forced to swallow the medicine, as they say. Public opinion can sway a lot of arguments.
You’re blind loyalty to LePage, no matter what the issue, is bewildering. How can you even begin to compare public access to National “working papers” to those of a State. Unless we’re planning to declare war on New Hampshire I’d say you’re comparing apples to oranges.
Nice spin Ms. Bennett. But we all understand the true intent of Penguin’s bill – this was about trying to prevent the public from having access to his decision making process.
Come on Bangorian, you really don’t believe that Paul has an actual decision making process do you? I’m betting the guy is running of “standby”…standby the phone waiting for the Koch Bros. or ALEC to call and tell him how to move his lips. That as we’ve become accustomed to seeing will be closely followed by Adrienne Bennett coming forth to put Paul’s words and thoughts into something that can be understood as a language. Sadly for her by the time it’s already passed Paul’s lips it’s always going to be difficult for her to try to “sell it” as something close to a coherent thought.
Poor poor Paulie apparently doesn’t like playing by the rules. But…but…but they (Legislature) doesn’t have to show their working papers, I don‘t wanna, I don‘t wanna! This man seems to operate on the level of a five year old and gathers support from a small minority of others working from the same level. Paul, stop your whining and start doing your job.
Adrienne Bennett is truly earning her pay with LePage. Just about every day she has to make him look not so bad…….I was going to say she has to make him look good. But I can’t go that far.
I used to like her, but she’s shown she’ll do just about anything for money. Too bad really, because she comes off as unethical right along with him now.
The bill should have never even got past the committee. For the most part, the Legislative papers are available. The notes, memos and other material they refer to are mainly what goes on in party caucuses. It’s not productive in a bicameral system of government when one side knows the other side’s strategies, opinions, arguments and thoughts on an issue. If this were the case, the would be continual debate on nearly every bill, more time would be spent on conjuring up counter strategies and nothing would get done. All of the materials are available after the legislative session, according to it’s rules.
The Governor, doesn’t have this problem, he is his own branch of government, he does not have someone looking over his shoulder until he presents his material to the legislature.
Chinchette indicates that “the governor and his staff would likely stop creating records for fear that they may become public” yet; Bennett says “If we are a government of transparency it should be equal all the way around”………. What??? How responsible is it not to generate records, how can you formulate anything without records of what has been discussed and ideas put forth? They clearly have not met their self proclaimed transparency status, nor do they intend to.
This is just bad management, and ineffective leadership. The Legislature does not release certain records, because they swim in the same pool with their opposition, the governor does not. It is being done fairly, and is being done the way it has been done since Maine became a state, there has never been any concern by any governor prior to this one.
The Governor’s theme song: “Call me irresponsible …”
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rujan,
well said.
He doesn’t do contracts, either. Maybe he can’t read and write.
This just goes to show, he has something to cover up! What he will do is destroy any working papers unbeknown to many so he will still do what he wants to do. SMELLS OF NIXON AND THE WATERGATE TAPES TO ME!
Bravo !
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But wait his spokesperson said last week that the bill was meant to challenge the legislative branch to live by the same rules as the executive branch. I can’t believe we have two different stories coming out of the same administration on this!
That doesn’t sound very transparent, that sounds an awful lot like covering something up. If everything is done by the book, why the need to keep things, “off the record”?
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Yeah I have no idea how they are going to go about working, without writing stuff down.
But what they are afraid of is that business people won’t talk “Truthfully” if they think their truthful words will at some point be public. LePage has stated he can’t get people to talk “truthfully” about what they’d like to see in upcoming bills.
My answer to that is, tough. You want the law passed, you should have no problem standing naked in front of the people of Maine, while you ask for these rule changes. A la Steve DiMillo during the “child labor law” changes that his company wanted, for longer hours and training pay.
I respect him for putting his money where his mouth is, even if I totally diagree with his wishes.
Maybe, but if they keep records private after this decision, they’ll be breaking the law.
Great. Off the books government. No way to run a railrod (and certainly not the way to govern).
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Unimaginable that a Deputy General Counsel to the Governor could say such a thing..
It’s not funny..it’s serious business..but hard not to imagine the “behind the scenes” antics involved in a Governor trying to avoid creating a public record.
That statement was quite telling.
“Paul it is your turn, spell transparent.”
“Can I get a definition?”
“…….nevermind, it isn’t like you are going to get it or it is going to matter anyways like it did when you asked for the definition of liar”
“that’s not a real word!”
You know Governor, even if you hadn’t promised the most transparent administration ever, this idea would still have no place in a democratic system. You work for us, we have a right to know what you’re up to–it’s time you understand that concept. We are the boss, you are the servant.
Adrienne will have to explain that to Big Paulie, The “Worst” Governor in the history of Maine.
Paul lepage doesn’t want us to see his working papers because he writes them in crayon.
When the GOP and Democrat’s start agreeing, and this vote is clear cut proof of that, on restraining the Governor’s authority and action’s then one had better start smelling the coffee real quick. Even LePage’s own Party now see’s that he’s trying to run some private ‘hustle’. That the GOP and the Democrat’s came together so quickly says a lot for the maturing of the Maine legislature’s perspective. It also puts the Governor and the Tea Party on notice that their collective ‘hustle’ is not gonna be tolerated and will be fought at every opportunity by the Maine voter’s. Who knows, at this rate a Re-call Amendment might just be added to the next ballot.
For the moment, I am very very grateful, that it is somehow being magically fought by our legislature..really restores confidence and hope
Lindsay, what’s also going to be interesting is when someone starts asking about the timing of this proposed ‘working paper’s’ exemption. Isin’t it interesting that right after both the Bald Mtn deal AND the E-W Road Project are inroduced that ‘suddenly’ Paulie decides he needs his ‘working paper’s’ removed from public scrutiny ? Now I admit to not being the sharpest knife in the rack at times but who benefits’ from the hiding from the public the very process that’s called for in a ‘transparent government’ ? And who is, also, the largest contributor to the State GOP Re-Election Committee ? Admttedly 1 + 2 does not equal 4, but it sure put’s you on the trail to finding that missing ‘1’ to get the answer, now don’t it ?
Yes, I agree, Mike, hard not to make these connections.
The important thing though is to stand for and insist bilaterally, beyond part and ideology on transparency and truth.
We may end up having different opinions on facts but our opinions don’t mean much if we don’t have access to the facts.
Also important to note that the “working papers” protection is very old and has a very clear but very narrow purpose. The Governor was using the term “working papers” to apply much beyond what” working papers” entails. He was essentially declaring all operations of his office covered under “working papers”
.
He still has, without this law, the protection of the traditional “working papers” exmeption which is to allow some privacy for the deliberative process so that a frank and full consideration is possible and decsion makers don’t have to fear being criticized for looking at something that was ultimately rejected. In my testimony on this bill I referred to h is protected as”the sausage factory”. We get to look at the sausage..we get to know what the sausage ultimately contains but once the sausage is made, we also get to see what was discarded. In my tetsiomy I emphasized that each memorandum or order or policy statement is a “work product”..a separate sausage.
Charlie Webster doesn’t see it.
That’s okay for the moment. Right now Charlie’s still trying to explain his rigging of the Caucus’s thru the use of The Weather Channel. With the election’s now just 8 months off, one would suspect that the Maine GOP is now seeing their ‘friendlyness’ with the Tea Party has just about run it’s course, if not run out of gas. That the most recent polls are showing the Tea Party candidate’s, or their endorsement going to a specific Candidate, going under at double digit rates’, on a weekly basis no less, should be all the reason needed for the State GOP Committee to seriously consider severing all ties with the Radical Right. What’s worse, and Charlie, you really need to start looking at the National’s, is that virtually every poll done by neutral pollsters show Obama ahead of Romney in Maine at a 68 / 25 % split. Even with the margin of error going Romney’s way at every turn, Charlie, this does not bode well. The time for discussion and debate is here, not more ‘screaming chicken’ theatrics. And the Party that realizes that first, and practices it, is gonna win. See, that wasn’t so hard, now was it ?
Paulie is not part of the Secret Service (unless it’s a secret), so he shouldn’t have anything to hide. I believe that he has gotten in so deeply that he can’t remember who he told which lie to and if it was not made public, he wouldn’t have that to worry about.
You can watch the legislature and contact them any time. The send out newsletters telling you what they are working on. They are more open. If you contact the Governor, don’t leave your name.
Michael Cianchette’s comments are shocking for a Deputy General Counsel to a Governor..has he no knowledge or respect at all for FOIA law???? Truly shocking if this is the caliber of Counsel our Governor has to rely on.
Have to say this also “shows up” the culture and caliber of our Judiciary Committee. Hooray for Cynthia Dill who spoke right up and spoke correctly and thanks to those who did not support the “ought to pass”.
None of the joint committees, who are the gateways to the floor of our legislature, should allow a bill of this caliber to leave Committee no matter who it comes from.
Just give LePage a little more time to white-out the Heritage Foundation letterhead and ALEC rubber stamp from all his papers, so he can pretend he came up with his nasty ideas all by himself… Then he’ll share.
He gets back from his taxpayer family trip to Jamaica and this is what he tries to pull on Mainers.
Adrienne Bennett, the Governor for the State of Maine, said last week that the bill was meant to challenge the legislative branch to live by the same rules as the executive branch. Less freedom = more freedom?
‘Cianchette stated that gov and staff may stop creating records for fear that they may be made public…’
I am sooo glad the sentate effectively killed the bill – who knows – pretty soon – we may see bennett and LiePage speaking in ‘Klingon’ or more likely – LiePage will say – why don’t we speak ‘Pig Latin’ – they will never figure that one out!!! Oh – LePage needs to go somewhere and fast – i sooo wish he could be impeached!
otevay imhay outway!!
“LePage’s deputy counsel Michael Cianchette said that without the exemption, the governor and his staff likely would stop creating records for fear that they might be made public.” Hey, what the heck is going on in that office. Get the guard off the door, the door off the hinges, and let’s have a look at how our transparent governor really works. “I’m gonna take my ball and go home.” More spoiled bully talk. I am so sick of him….
I would love to see someone ask for Paulies emails since
becoming Gov, I bet that would be a best seller on the fiction selves or the chidren’s section.
It would be interesting to get ahold of the so called working papers from all the extreme governors and compare them. I bet we would find that who they’re working for is not the individual states that they are supposed to represent. I bet their papers would reveal what many of us already suspect, this crew of extremists is colluding with their corporate pals at ALEC and other wingnut organizations, running their own government and running a ruse on us.
Is this how our state government was intended to be run? If not, it’s at least unethical and border lines on treason? I can’t believe the framers ever envisioned or intended state government to be centrally controlled by corporate interests?
HOPEFULLY, the honeymoon is heading for divorce!
I eagerly await the introduction of a law requiring our legisvermin to produce their working papers as well. In fact I would cahllange John Martin and Emily Cain to post all of their papers as a show of good faith. Don’t hold your breath.
Good for the Senate. Transparency my tail feathers! Another LePage lie!
Mr. Lepage is not going to be happy about this….
Agree with MEPac, the Governor should have been direct in his intentions as he was in his campaign website.
Strengthen Maine’s Freedom of Access Law. Any roadblocks Mainers face in the pursuit of public information from a governmental entity must be torn down. Paul will fight for a timelier, more inclusive Freedom of Access law, and require each governmental entity to designate an officer to oversee all requests for public information.
“Never write anything down.” That simple sentence has kept many a crook out of jail . . .
Open Access is the practice of providing unrestricted access via the Internet to peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles.
Open Access is also increasingly being provided to theses, scholarly monographs and book chapters.
Open Access comes in two degrees: Gratis Open Access is no-cost online access, while Libre Open Access is Gratis Open Access
plus some additional usage rights.
Open content is similar to Open Acces, but usually includes the right to modify the work, where as in scholarly publishing it is
usual to keep an article’s content intact and to associate it with a fixed author or fixed group of authors. Creative Commons
licenses can be used to specify usage rights. The Open Access idea can also be extended to the learning objects and resources
provided in e-learning.
OMICS Group Inc. is one of the Open aceess publisher which provides journals in the form of Open Access.
omicsonline.org/OpenAccess.php