Lawmakers Kill Open Government Measure, Hit the Road

The Iowa Legislature has adjourned.

But just before leaving, the Iowa House made sure to send a little parting gift to  local government officials who like to play secret agent on your dime.

House leaders insisted on yanking language creating the Iowa Public Information Board from the last big budget bill. The Senate, which put the board in the bill, agreed to give it up. They jointly tossed the idea onto the scrap heap and headed for the exits.

The board would have had the power to investigate citizens' open meetings/open records claims against local officials and hand out penalties. Average Joe or Jane could have taken their case to the board for free, instead of to court, which is not free.

This time, we're told some lawmakers thought it was "too broad."

I see their lips moving, but I hear the Iowa League of Cities talking. The League lobbied against the bill, along with the Iowa Association of School Boards, which is under investigation for financial improprieties.

Both groups, in the words of the great fiscal expert Steve Miller, make their livin' off the people's taxes. But they don't like those taxpayers having too much power to hold local officials accountable. Once again, they got their wish from a lawmakers, who are such fans of openness that the state's open meetings laws don't apply to the General Assembly.

It's no wonder the information board proposal has been sitting on the unfinished business stack for three years. I have doubts it will ever get this close to passage again.

Remember when the Democrats, a.k.a. the party of the little guy, came to power promising to be different and more transparent than the bad old shady Republicans and their closed-door working groups, etc.

Good one. In the words of those great political science experts, The Who, meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.