EDITORIAL: Secrecy in government

Jan. 28—Arizona lawmakers exempting themselves from open records after being embarrassed by emails from Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, seems to many to be scandalous, deceitful and self-serving.

Oklahoma has had this rule for almost 40 years.

Ginni Thomas, as it turned out, was a big player in efforts to overturn 2020 election results. This was found out because investigators were able to review those emails. They exposed a lot of potential conflicts of interest and just how much outside pressure was being put on Arizona. Now, Arizona lawmakers would very much prefer to operate with more secrecy.

We can believe it.

Former minority leader Emily Virgin attempted last year to reverse Oklahoma's exemption with House Bill 3225, but it never made it out of the House committee.

It's a shame, because politicians campaign a lot on transparency in government, having financial clarity and auditing this bunch and that bunch. Apparently, just not themselves. It's very much against the spirit of the law.

When governments and individuals in government record their work by writing, transmitting, emailing, texting, making video or audio files, etc. — they are making records. Those records are public unless specifically exempted by law.

Kudos to Rep. Tom Gann (R-Inola), who has filed HB1378, which according to his press release would "require businesses of any kind seeking state or local incentives to fully disclose who they are and what they do and also would prevent government officials from entering into non-disclosure agreements."

NDAs and other secrets don't belong in the same stew as public funds.

We have an example. When the News Press first asked for the former Stillwater Public Schools superintendent's release agreement we were initially told it couldn't be provided because the parties entered NDAs. Didn't matter. That NDA can't apply to records that are not exempt by law. We got the contract.

We would love to see another effort — and a lot more people behind it — to remove open records exemptions for Oklahoma lawmakers.