Fumo Bravely Stands Up For Closed Records

Monday night, the State Senate Rules Committee approved a bill that would presume government records are open, forcing government officials to prove records aren’t public when denying records request. Currently, the state only releases white sheets of paper with “Pennsylvania is Awesome!” written on it.

But guess who voted against it?

The rules committee voted 14-1 to approve this version overhauling the records bill. Sen. Vincent Fumo, a Philadelphia Democrat, was the lone dissenting vote.

It’s okay, Vince. You could simply keep everything private by saying it’s all trade secrets related to alpaca farming or maybe the Seaport Museum, the city’s most important cultural landmark. You may remember a similar lone dissenting vote was cast by everyone’s favorite state rep last year.

Proposal would presume most records open [BCCT]