CommonWealth magazine’s fall cover story on problems with the Massachusetts Public Records Law is evoking little surprise on the website of the New England First Amendment Center.
The CommonWealth story by Colman Herman described the Public Records Law as a paper tiger that is flouted by officials at all levels of government. The article is featured on the First Amendment Center’s website and the focus of a series of posts lawyers and journalists.
Meet the Author
Editor, CommonWealth
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
Karla de Steuben, a lawyer who serves on the board of
Common Cause Massachusetts, calls for
tougher enforcement of the law and urges government officials to post more records online.
Dan Kennedy, an assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern University and the author of the
Mass.Media column in
CommonWealth, crticizes Gov. Deval Patrick for claiming he is exempt from the public records law. "Rather than cling to a legal interpretation that allows him to keep some public records a secret, Gov. Patrick should embrace openness, through his own actions when possible, and by filing legislation when necessary," Kennedy
writes.
Cape Cod Times editor Paul Pronovost makes his case quite simply. "The state’s public records law is a joke," he says.
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