Free Republic

GOV. Arnold Schwarzenegger finally answered the question of what he has been doing with his time. Sort of. Schwarzenegger this week made good on a promise to make public his official calendars, releasing his schedule for his first 379 days in office. It is believed to be the first time in California history that a governor has unveiled his appointment logs. Still, there are limits to this governor's candor. There were considerable gaps of time in those schedules as well as an abundance of "private meetings." Not surprisingly, the governor -- who campaigned on a pledge to improve the state's...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - As a candidate, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised to illuminate the inner workings of Sacramento the way klieg lights bring sunshine to a movie set. No more back-room handshakes and whispers, no more money-for-favors legislating. "I will work to reform government by bringing openness and full disclosure to public business," the governor said on his inauguration day. As the former Hollywood actor marks his first 12 months in office Wednesday, his plan to usher in a new era of transparency at the statehouse remains a work in progress, even by the account of his staff. While Schwarzenegger...

SACRAMENTO - A private nonprofit corporation organized by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help support his political interests has spent close to $500,000 so far this year without disclosing who donated the money or exactly how it was spent. Records filed with the state show the California Recovery Team received nearly $250,000 in support between July and October from one of Schwarzenegger's own political action committees to pay for public rallies and phone banks aimed at urging voters to contact lawmakers on budget issues. But although Schwarzenegger has said one of his main goals is more open government, the report doesn't...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Only days after California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 59 to increase the public's ability to inspect government records, a media-backed group is asking Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to release all his appointment calendars, schedules and meeting logs since taking office last Nov. 17. The California First Amendment Coalition, a group of journalists and civic activists formed in 1988, mailed the request to Schwarzenegger on Wednesday, the day Proposition 59 took effect in the state's constitution. The move represents an opening salvo among Proposition 59 supporters, who are urging aggressive requests statewide for government records from the state, schools,...

The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments that they have created. The public records subdivision of this chapter shall be liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly construed to promote this public policy." - RCW 42.17.251 Despite the straightforward purpose of Washington's public records law,...

SACRAMENTO - Five months into his term, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is struggling to fulfill his campaign pledge to bring a new era of openness to California's Capitol. Instead of eradicating closed-door deals, Schwarzenegger has brought the smoke-filled room back into style by pitching a deal-making smoking tent outside his office. That is where he helped broker his workers' compensation reform plan, which, contrary to his campaign promise, was rushed through a legislative committee last week in the dead of night with no public comment. Tuesday, the Schwarzenegger administration abruptly pulled the first plank of its political-reform package from a key...

<p>If you've been eagerly awaiting the day that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger changes the way business is conducted in the Capitol, you'll apparently have to wait a little longer.</p> <p>When Schwarzenegger was running for governor, he promised to do things differently, to stand up to special interests, to let some light into the back rooms where deals are cut. But now that he is actually governor, he's the one behind closed doors with the power brokers, working out the details of a deal to change workers' compensation law.</p>

<p>Three weeks before last October's recall election, standing in front of a vintage locomotive inside the California Railroad Museum, Arnold Schwarzenegger promised to make California's government as transparent as any in the nation.</p> <p>"The people of this state do not trust their government," Schwarzenegger said. "They feel it is corrupted by dirty money, closed doors and backroom dealings."</p>

<p>California voters will decide the fate of a measure that would give residents a constitutional right to information used by state and local government to conduct public business. SCA 1 cleared its final legislative hurdle Monday by passing the Assembly 78-0. The proposal will appear on the November ballot.</p>

A long-stalled constitutional amendment to bolster public access to government meetings and records was placed on California's November ballot Monday by lawmakers after twice bogging down in the state Assembly. The Senate approved similar versions of the amendment in 2002 and 2003, but both times the legislation ran into Republican roadblocks in the other house. There was no sign of the measure's past problems on Monday, however, as it passed the Assembly 76-0. "When it comes to public information there are too many unnecessary roadblocks and too many easy refusals," the amendment's author, Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San...

<p>SACRAMENTO – Arnold Schwarzenegger rode into the governor's office on a wave of popular support - based partly on his pledge to shake up "politics as usual."</p> <p>The centerpiece of his reform agenda called for giving Californians increased access to government actions, banning fund-raising during the budget process and requiring the immediate reporting of all campaign contributions.</p>

CHECK THIS OUT: http://www.statehouse.blogspot.com/ MONTPELIER, Vermont - Howard Dean may face a legal challenge to his decision to seal 140 boxes of official papers from his years as governor. Today the sealed documents sit in a state storage facility in Middlesex, VT. On September 25, Judicial Watch, a public interest group based in Washington DC, issued a formal demand for Dean to make his “full and complete record as Vermont’s governor available to the American public.” In a letter addressed to the candidate Judicial Watch’s president Thomas Fitton charged that failure to make full disclosure would raise “disturbing questions concerning...