The Sept. 21 editorial maintains that "..the [county] commissioners skated too close to the [Sunshine Act] and possibly over it, in the way they handled a decision not to pay for a mailing from the Lancaster County Government Study Commission."
WATCHDOG: As we have opined before, the Sunshine Act is vague beyond prosecution and, if rewritten with teeth, would probably grind government to a halt. But its worthy philosophical message is clear: Concealment of information to which the public is entitled should be prevented!
In their role of legislators, the commissioners authorized the $50,000 payment for an educational mailing. In their role as administrators, they discovered that the proposed letter was more an advocacy (propaganda?) piece, so they notified the government Study Commission that the mailing as written did not meet the requirements for reimbursement. As Chairman Dennis Stuckey observed at last Tuesday's Work Shop meeting, to have said nothing and then refused to pay the bill would risk leaving the printer and others unpaid.
Where was concealment? The Government Study Commission and the Lancaster Newspapers were promptly notified of the decision and conspicuous articles appeared in both newspapers the next day. Finally, the matter was open to the public for discussion at the following Tuesday and Wednesday commissioners' meetings.
Our current form of county government is similar to Parliamentary government in that the legislative branch also is in charge of administration. It effectively serves Great Britain and many other democracies. It's not perfect, but neither is our state and federal form of government.
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Watchdog, the media criticism and analysis column at Newslanc.com.
