Iowa shouldn’t settle for C-plus

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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A C-plus isn't much of a grade to brag about. But that's what Iowa earned in a national study of government openness and susceptibility to corruption.

Researchers found that although there certainly were some bright spots, there's lots to do in order to ensure Iowa's governmental bodies are accessible and accountable to the citizens for whom they work.

That's especially true when it comes to access to public records - something for legislators to think about as they continue to consider the formation of a public information board with power to enforce Iowa's Sunshine Laws.

The Gazette and Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism recently teamed up to evaluate government transparency in Iowa as part of a national State Integrity Investigation, a collaborative project of the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International.

Using detailed criteria to guide their scoring of hundreds of indicators, more than a dozen project reporters evaluated the state's openness and vulnerability to corruption in 14 areas of governmental operations.

In the national survey, Iowa ranked seventh among states, scoring 78 percent.

The state received high ratings for our impartial redistricting process, which has long been respected nationally. It also earned “A” grades for the state procurement process, internal auditing and state pension fund management.

But when it came to public records, researchers flunked the state. They note that our strong public records law has weakened over time by exemption after exemption - 65 exemptions to date - and slipshod enforcement.

Currently, no state or local agency is responsible for making sure public bodies and agencies comply with state open records law. The Attorney General's office has the power to prosecute records violations, but rarely does.

Iowans who feel they've been unfairly denied access to public records have only one recourse: the courts. That's time consuming and prohibitively expensive for many. Take the example of a recently settled lawsuit brought by two parents against the Iowa City school district, which improperly ignored their requests for public documents for more than two years.

There are other troubling findings, as well: Iowa has no law prohibiting civil servants convicted of corruption from holding public-sector jobs. There is no centralized office for a state whistle-blower to report corruption.

But Iowa's toothless open records law is the most troubling result of this recent analysis.

That's no surprise - it's something we've known about for years. It's time for legislators to step up and fix the problem.

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