What is it that we can’t find out lately in the land of the free, in this cradle of democracy we call Connecticut? Too much stays secret. Our collective memory of Ella Grasso is fading. You may remember she was the first woman in America elected governor of her state in her own right. She convinced a unanimous legislature – unanimous – of the value to democracy in having state Freedom of Information laws and of setting up the nation’s first FOI Commission. Now it’s not going so well.
James H. Smith
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Law barring access to CT history should be fixed by [name redacted]
Five years ago it wasn’t against the law in Connecticut to get historical records. Now, after the mental health community’s end run around proper legislative practice, it is time to once again enable our historians and researchers and poets and biographers access to the information they need to explain who we are to each other.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
CT FOI ruling should challenge Norwalk school board that ‘does not exist’
The state Freedom of Information Commission will decide next month whether allegations of discrimination and racism among Norwalk school board members should be made public. Those who want to keep it all secret point to Norwalk Board of Education bylaw Section 9010: “The board of education does not exist between meetings. Board members have no authority except at a board meeting or when discharging an assignment made by the board.”
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Secret trials for CT 20-somethings would be unconstitutional
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the General Assembly are to be commended for their 2015 “Second Chance Society” legislation, reversing racist laws that filled our jails with nonviolent drug users, most of them African-American and Latino. But it is ill-advised to pursue announced policies emanating from that corrective action; especially plans for secret trials of defendants in their early 20s.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut should demand more disclosure by the police
Some key Connecticut legislators are telling us to compromise on how much the people can know about crime and punishment, how much we can know about how the police are protecting the public from alleged criminals. I am not sure how to compromise on the right of the people to know what their government is doing in their name.
Posted inNews
Op-Ed: Too few CT lawmakers have signed FOI pledge
Interested in preserving the public’s access to government information seems to have waned significantly among Connecticut lawmakers since former Gov. Ella Grasso first signed ground-breaking FOI legislation into law. More incumbent legislators should be signing the pledge to protect the public’s right to know.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Too few CT lawmakers have signed FOI pledge
Interested in preserving the public’s access to government information seems to have waned significantly among Connecticut lawmakers since former Gov. Ella Grasso first signed ground-breaking FOI legislation into law. More incumbent legislators should be signing the pledge to protect the public’s right to know.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: Beware! (of Gov. Malloy’s new Victims’ Rights panel)
Freedom of information laws in Connecticut and elsewhere are continually being watered down so that it is harder and harder for citizens to know what the government is doing.
Posted inNews
Appeals court skirts opportunity to address student speech rights
The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed its decision that high school students can be punished for what they write at home. It also has ignored an important opportunity to clarify student free speech rights in the digital age. It was a sad day for democracy in our schools. In 2007, Avery Doninger, […]
Posted inNews
Merging state watchdog agencies will subvert transparency
(James H. Smith is a retired Connecticut journalist, an officer of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information, and the author of “A Passion for Journalism, A Newspaper Editor Writes to His Readers.”) Where has wisdom fled to in American politics? With all the rancor and clamor across the land over how literally broke government […]