Extension of Remarks: Open government updated

The New York Legislature in its recent session passed a handful of bills that recognize the migration of many, if not most, government records from paper to computer storage and transmission. The lead editorial in today's Buffalo News urges Gov. David A. Paterson to sign those bills, which go a long way to push the spirit of the Freedom of Information Law into cyberspace along with the rest of state and local government.
The bad news is that a bill to allow photo and video coverage of courtroom proceedings, and another to require all public bodies to allow audio-visual coverage of open meetings, failed. In an era when such coverage can be easy and unobtrusive, that’s a stunning shortcoming. But the sunshine bills that did pass allow hope that those barriers to open government may soon fall, as well.

Other moves to make New York government open and available on the Internet include State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's Open Book New York, searchable databases of state agency spending and state contracts, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's Project Sunlight: A Public Integrity Initiative, another data base of lawmakers, lobbyists, contributions and how all of the above interact.

Of course the governor, Senate, Assembly, courts each have their own Web sites, with lots of searchable information, all accessible through, of course, NY.gov.

Shucks. It's getting harder and harder for ordinary citizens to say they never realized what their government was up to.

--George Pyle/Editorial Writer