I’ve been accused of being a liberal on more than one occasion. I like to think of myself as a moderate that exercises a little common sense, but if calling me a liberal works for you, then go for it.
Here is my liberal idea for the day:
Public servants and government agencies should operate in a transparent environment.
What do I mean by transparent environment?
Simple, if you are elected, appointed or just hired of the street to work in government then I, as a taxpayer, have the right to know about the decisions you make and how you spend my tax dollars.
Ernie Fletcher and the Kentucky State Police don’t agree. But thankfully Franklin Circuit Judge Roger Crittenden does agree.
From today’s Herald Leader:
“FRANKFORT - Gov. Ernie Fletcher and state police improperly withheld expense records for services provided when Vice President Dick Cheney was briefly in the state en route to an Indiana fund-raiser, a judge ruled yesterday.
The administration had invoked a new exception to the Kentucky Open Records Law that allows governments to keep records secret if they can show their disclosure would pose a "reasonable likelihood" of being useful to terrorists.”
Bull, if you are using my tax dollars to herd a politician to a partisan political event I have every right to know how much you spent.
“Crittenden said the basic premise of the exception had not been met.
"There is little 'reasonable likelihood' that the numbers of Kentucky State Police assigned in this situation or the amount of tax dollars expended will expose a vulnerability in the security measures taken when the vice president of the United States travels from Louisville International Airport to southern Indiana," Crittenden wrote.”
I guess my liberal side is showing. I just don’t like the idea of guys with police powers not being accountable for how they spend the money we give them.
