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Pennsylvania Office of Open Records
HARRISBURG
,
Pa.
(AP) _ A journalist-turned-lawyer who has helped
Illinois
citizens gain access to government records will oversee
Pennsylvania
's new open-records law.
Gov. Ed Rendell appointed Terry Mutchler
to be the executive director of
Pennsylvania
's new Office of Open Records on Thursday.
Establishing the office was mandated
by a law passed in February that overhauls
Pennsylvania
's public access law, which had been one of the nation's weakest. The office is
designed to set policies for state and local government agencies and handle disputes
between citizens and government officials over what should be released.
"The Office of Open Records will
serve an essential role in helping the public better understand how their government
operates," the governor said in announcing the appointment. "Terry brings the ideal
combination of knowledge and experience to her new role."
Mutchler, 42, is a native of East
Stroudsburg and a
Penn
State
University
graduate who worked for The Morning Call in
Allentown
and The Associated Press in
Harrisburg
,
New Jersey
,
Illinois
and
Alaska
.
She left journalism to get a law
degree, worked on a statewide political campaign in Illinois and was a media lawyer
at a Chicago law firm before becoming an assistant state attorney general there
in 2003. A year later, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, created
the position of public access counselor and appointed Mutchler to fill it.
The
Pennsylvania
law, which will take effect in January, is "very strong" and revolves around the
provision that says all government records beyond list of exceptions are presumed
open to the public, she told the AP in a telephone interview Thursday. The current
law limits public access to a narrow list of public records that are available.
Mutchler said she wants to reassure
Pennsylvanians who need help getting records that she will be on their side.
"If I make an error, it's going to
be on the side of openness," she said Thursday in a telephone interview.
She said she hopes to find middle
ground between citizens who believe any refusal to release government records is
evidence of a conspiracy and government officials who treat records requests as
invasions of their personal privacy.
"I believe there are extremes on
both ends of (the) open-government equation," she said.
Mutchler is expected to start the
$120,000 a year job in June. The office will be located in the state Department
of Community and Economic Development. The appointment does not require Senate confirmation.
In
Illinois
, Mutchler answers questions and helped resolve disputes about public records and
open-meetings issues, and conducted training sessions around the state.
She has clashed most often with schools
boards over questions of public records access, she has said. She also challenged
the administration of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich over its refusal to release
the names and qualifications of unsuccessful state job applicants and federal subpoenas
that reporters had sought.
In
Pennsylvania
, Mutchler said she wants to meet with local government officials to listen to their
concerns about the law and help them understand the spirit of the law and how to
comply.
The door to her office will always
be open, Mutchler said, and "my greater hope is that the doors of local government
will be open to me."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.