LETTER: Government accountability bills stalled in Carson City?
In his Tuesday commentary “Time running out for public records reform,” Richard Karpel of the Nevada Press Association laments that Senate Bill 287, a government records accountability bill, is hung up as we rush to the end of the legislative session. He doesn’t understand why. Perhaps an explanation might be that the two people Mr. Karpel urges readers to contact have deep ties to the very bureaucrats working — on taxpayer money — against the bill.
State Sen. Joyce Woodhouse is a retired government employee with a six-figure pension, and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro is a current government employee. Is it possible they have a natural belief — and, I add, an honest belief — that government is already giving the public enough and that “establishing penalties” for government workers who withhold records is nonsense?
This is what you get when you have government workers in the Legislature and government itself becomes the most powerful constituent in the legislative process.
You want open government? You want more responsive government? Stop electing government employees. And maybe the members of Mr. Karpel’s organization should stop endorsing public employees.