Our state has long history of secrecy
November 17, 2008: "Secrets, secrets are no fun. Secrets, secrets hurt someone."
There's truth to the rhyme we learned as children when it comes to the secrets kept by government in Tennessee.
As a consequence of inadequate government transparency regulations, the Volunteer State has one of the most secretive state governments in the nation.
This lack of openness makes corruption, misuse of tax dollars and abuse of power by elected officials commonplace in Tennessee. Read the full column here.
Editorial: Complacence breeds secrecy
October 27, 2008: According to a poll released last week by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, a significant majority of Tennesseans think too much state and local government business is being done on the sly.
So, why then, do local government officials repeatedly break the open meetings law and deny access to records that should be open to the public?
Why do state legislators consider bills every year that would carve out exceptions to the open records law, weaken the open meetings law, or both?
It's real simple. Because we, as citizens, let them. Read the full article here.
Tennesseans distrust government on meetings, records
October 24, 2008: Tennessee residents think their government is keeping secrets, and they deserve to know more about what's happening in the houses of government, according to a recent poll.
Sixty-two percent of Volunteer State residents surveyed in a Chattanooga Times Free Press poll said they think government conducts too much of its business in secret.
The poll results are alarming because they show a steady increase in distrust in the way government operates, said Frank Gibson, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. Read the full article here.
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