Blackbox BLOG-O-LECTION Clips

(NH): BILL IN PLAY TO BLOCK RIGHT TO KNOW PROCESSES -

Right to know (Freedom of Information) is THE crucial core concept for democratic election systems. New Hampshire legislators are now working on their second attempt to erect barriers to the public right to know.

HB 349 is trying to exempt legislator's e-mails from both right to know and court subpeonas; an earlier bill, HB 53, seeks to remove the secretary of state's office (and other executive agencies) from right to know by redefining what a "public body" is. How the main office controlling public elections can conceivably be deemed "not public" is a question that causes some of us to shudder.

REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THESE BILLS PASS, THEY DON'T REMOVE THE RIGHT, because you can't really "remove" the inalienable rights to self-govern. What these bills seek to do is to put in place a policy to REFUSE TO HONOR the right to know.

Right to know is a necessary part of our inalienable right to self-government, which is key to our right to liberty. Almost all states, and the federal government, have right to know laws, often contextualized with preambles like the following: "Government is the servant of the people, and not the master of them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. We insist on remaining informed so that we may retain control over the instruments of government we have created."

The news link:
Foster's Daily Democrat - April 29, 2009, by Robert M. Cook
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090429/GJNEWS_01/704299884/- 1/FOSNEWS
E-mail exempt bill goes before Senate

 

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