Today should be a very special day for good
government in Rhode Island, but it’s not. With the announcement that
the General Assembly will immediately start live streaming floor
sessions and (some) committee hearings we as a state are making a giant
leap forward. We will vault from last place among the 50 states to a
leader. A lot of people that no one ever hears about made this
possible, including Tom Falcone who runs
the Joint Committee on Legislative Services, Philip Carlucci who runs
Legislative Data Systems, Derek Hayes who runs Capitol TV, as well as
their employees who made this happen. It’s a good day for them, and
they should be proud of the work they do.
Why isn’t it a
great day? Because while we have added a layer of accessibility to our
General Assembly, there is still a lack of transparency. Allowing people
to see what happens inside cramped committee rooms late into the
evening is good. But if what is occurring in those rooms is being
orchestrated elsewhere, behind the scenes, so that committee actions are
only a facade, then all the accessibility in the world still won’t
bring us closer to transparency. We believe that for democracy to
really flourish in Rhode Island the actions of a democratic body need to
be honored, even if it didn’t fit a certain script. That’s why we
continue to ask the House leadership to reverse their decision to
nullify the vote last week on H 5498 and bring the resolution to a vote
on the House floor. If the resolution needs more time, recommit it to
committee, but do so with a vote of the elected representatives of the
people.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
On accessibility and transparency
Labels:
Ethics,
General Assembly,
Live-streaming,
Rules,
Transparency
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