A position on the state’s Right to Know Advisory Committee meant to represent advocates for Mainers’ freedom of access to public records and proceedings has been left vacant since last summer due to the lack of an appointment by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland).
Maine’s Right to Know Advisory Committee was established by the Legislature in 2005 with the purpose of upholding the integrity of the state’s Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) through general oversight, training and education, and ensuring best practices are in place for compliance by government officials with providing access to public records and proceedings.
The state’s FOAA provides the public with a broad right of access to the public records and public proceedings of state and local government entities, with certain exceptions meant to protect the privacy of individuals or legitimate government interests.
Requesting public records, an essential part of government transparency and routine journalistic inquiries, can often be a slow, cumbersome, and even highly expensive process –based largely on the discretion of the public official in charge of fulfilling the request.
The Advisory Committee is supposed to be made up of 18 members representing various interests, including members of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee, a representative of the public, newspapers, broadcasters, municipalities, publishers, and schools.
The position on the Committee meant to represent “a statewide coalition of advocates of freedom of access,” to be appointed by the Speaker of the House, has been left vacant since June 2023.
The position was previously held by James Campbell, president of the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition (MFOIC), who passed away on June 20, 2023, of a heart attack.
Since that time, and for all of the Right to Know Advisory Committee’s 2023 meetings, the vacancy was left unfilled by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross — resulting in the Committee’s 2024 Annual Report, which weighed in on several FOAA-related court decisions and made recommendations to several state agencies, being absent of a voice representing a statewide FOAA advocate.
Whereas advocates for the public’s “right to know” generally support policies that make it easier for the public to access public records, the Advisory Committee in its current composition has instead focused on narrowing FOAA and putting additional roadblocks in place for those seeking public records.
MFOIC did not respond to a request for comment on whether House Speaker Talbot Ross reached out to them at any point during the last year in an attempt to fill the vacancy.
A spokesperson for the House Speaker did not respond to an email from the Maine Wire asking whether Talbot Ross had attempted to fill the vacancy, and why the seat has been left empty for a full year of the Committee’s work.
Maine’s FOAA is among the weakest of all public access laws in the country, with no statutory duty for government officials to produce records according to any set time frame.
Under Maine’s FOAA, a government agency need only respond to a request with a perfunctory “acknowledgement” within five days. After that, the government agency or official is under no obligation to fulfill the request within a certain time period.
In many cases, such as when the Maine Wire has requested records from the Mills Administration, government employees can delay a year or more before turning over any records without providing any reason for the delay.
Other states have much more transparent and pro-citizen laws regarding voters and journalists ability to acquire public records.
In Illinois, for example, the state’s Freedom of Information Act requires a government agency to respond to a request with records within five business days except in some cases.
If government agencies in Illinois fail to abide by statutory deadlines, a court can impose civil penalties of between $2,500 to $5,000.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27206 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27206">4 Comments
“Other states have much more transparent and pro-citizen laws regarding voters and journalists ability to acquire public records,” thanks to Maine’s version of the Squad pictured above.
Anyone notice that all the Maine democrats in power are obese and miserable women?
Damn girls, slowdown the forks.
Anything Rachael Ross is involved with is a mess, people in Maine knew she is not fair or honest but they voted for her anyhow.