Governors evade sunshine laws to keep records from public
Source: Associated Press
STEPHEN GROVES,
Associated Press
March 14, 2021
Updated: March 14, 2021 3:22 a.m.
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem's outspoken business-as-usual approach throughout the coronavirus pandemic has made her a darling of national conservatives and allowed her to hopscotch across the country as a fundraising force.
But the public cannot see emails on how she made her decisions or how much state taxpayers are spending for her traveling security detail.
Despite Noem’s 2018 promise “to throw open the doors” of government, the South Dakota governor's office has denied requests for both records, citing broad exemptions to the state's sunshine law. Her state is among half a dozen where governors' offices routinely block access to executive records, keeping the public in the dark about decision making and possible influence peddling by special interests.
“Things that are in the public’s interests are still being hidden from the public," said Jack Marsh, a former executive editor of The Argus Leader newspaper and co-founder of the nonprofit South Dakota News Watch.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/Governors-evade-sunshine-laws-to-keep-records-16012261.php
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