Police at the scene threatened to arrest the journalist if he didn’t leave. Of course, the journalist was the last person that needed to be threatened by police. Perhaps the police should have threatened the assemblyman and compelled him to acknowledge .

Several things I’ve learned through , our weekly Twitter conference on Freedom of Information issues, come to mind. First, video cameras will bring out the worst in public officials and their staff as far as secrecy goes. But few will object to, or notice, a voice recorder. For many reasons, video is far superior to just voice recording, but it is better than nothing. Second, the fact that Mike Gatto is acting like a diva is a story in itself. If this were a special on VH1, it would be understandable why he wouldn’t want unexpected cameras. But as an elected official, paid by taxpayer money, he has no right to exclude journalists (and thereby exclude his constituents) from public meetings. This is a story on it’s own right, and had he let the journalist in the meeting, the journalist probably wouldn’t have found anything as worthy of reporting as Gatto’s power trip.

Lastly, people are becoming a part of government accountability, and officials should embrace this and learn to work with citizens instead of trying to push us out. We’ve talked about the benefits to governments and citizens alike to . Officials can benefit by having justifications for their decisions available and they can also see a decrease in . The benefits to citizens are obvious.

It won’t work to keep us out, we’re already in. Officials need to get with the times and include us in the conversation, or suffer the wrath of informed citizens.

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The most recent reports by state the average state debt per private sector worker is $17,000, with the aggregate state debt exceeding $1.8 canadian pharmacy prescription. That is $1,800,000,000,000.

The biggest problem-states include , , , , , and .

SBS offers and continues to develop to overcome the record state budget deficits. Go to SBS’s you’ll find more information on solutions for your state’s budget.

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constitution requires that the state government operate with a balanced budget.

But returned from a two week break without a plan on how to address the state’s more than for the current year. Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) is seemingly waiting for Congress to revive a measure that would give Michigan $560 million in additional federal money to help provide health care for the poor. Republicans are not counting on the money, instead planning more .

The already has voted to erase a of $1.3 billion in the state’s general fund through spending cuts and savings in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, but Democrats who control the House oppose many of those measures.

It’s a tough job, but legislators are compensated for their troubles, and compensated well. earn the second highest salary of state legislators, $79,650, next only to California.

However, despite all of the cost-cutting benefits of going online, . Unlike other transparency projects, posting Michigan’s check register online would apparently come at no cost because of the way that the state deals with accounting.

Involving citizens in the process by taking steps to become more won’t solve all of Michigan’s problems, but it would be a great first step in budget discipline. For example, the information that Michigan legislators are the second-highest paid in the nation is invaluable. People have a right to that information. There’s nothing that increases prudence like public scrutiny.

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When drafted its and , it exempted itself from the laws. The only thing the Legislature has to disclose is what monies are being spent, but any other correspondence in the legislature remains confidential.

“It’s kind of interesting to me that we promulgate rules on every other agency to be open and transparent, except for the House and the Senate,” said Tulsa Democratic Representative in an.

Lamons added amendments to several bills in the last session that would have forced the legislature follow the Open Records and Open Meetings Acts, but all of them were killed.

Those in the legislature are defending the exemption, saying they need to protect constituents privacy. But the confidentiality clause isn’t much of a defense, according to Representative . Murphy will be drafting an Open Records and Meetings Act especially for the legislature next fall.

It’ll be interesting to see which of those who’ve signed will support the bill.

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Alexandria, VA— earned an overall “C” for information available on their websites according to an analysis conducted by Sunshine Review, a pro-transparency group. found that earned a perfect score; and received the only other “A” grades. Five school districts received failing grades, including and .

Sunshine Review employs a “” to assess state and local government websites on proactive disclosure of government information. The checklist measures content available on government websites against what should be provided. Checklist items include information about budgets, meetings, elected and administrative officials, background checks, audits, contracts, academic performance, public records, and taxes.

, a Senior Fellow at the , noted the importance of providing key information. “As Sunshine Review’s analysis of Maryland’s school districts shows, most fail to provide information online about fees funding schools and other key documents. In good times and especially during this recession, parents and residents should have easy access to whether their dollars are being spent wisely.”

President of Sunshine Review Michael Barnhart agreed, saying “It is crucial for parents and taxpayers to have access to complete information about how school districts operate.”

Sunshine Review is a non-profit organization dedicated to state and local government transparency. Sunshine Review collaborates with individuals and organizations throughout America in the cause of an informed citizenry and a transparent government. Since its inception in 2008, Sunshine Review has analyzed the websites of all 50 states, more than 3,140 counties, 805 cities, and 1,560 school districts.

For more information, visit .

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One exemption to the is the deliberative process exemption. Matter relating to the “” of government can be exempt from public records disclosure.

opinions or recommendations in the course of making decisions that apply to official government functions (like policy or legislation). To qualify for the privilege, records must be both predecisional (they must precede a final decision) and deliberative (they must be opinions or recommendations). Things like processing forms and paying accounts, purely procedural, administrative processes of an agency, are not part of its deliberative processes.

The privilege is meant to protect the “candid and frank discussions” of government employees and prevents them from being second-guessed constantly by interested outside parties. The privilege is also sometimes claimed to avoid confusing the public about the way a decision was reached.

While the justifications for having the exemption seem justified, it is considered on of the most often abused FOIA exemptions. , a magazine on government best practices, saw the exemption in 1996 as “self-serving, [protecting] most of the records which really reveal the process of government, and [...] invoked often as a knee-jerk reaction to a request.”

But that article has more than a problem with the application of the exemption. The justifications for it are on shaky ground:

It is hard to fathom that a competent government employee would be so embarrassed or upset that his or her analytical work was disclosed to the public that it would cause that employee to be less candid in the future. It is difficult to believe that most staff members are so unsure of what they have to say, or so timid about expressing themselves, that public disclosure would force the process of government to grind to a halt.

The author of that article requested a Justice Department report on proposed changes to FOIA, and after several legal battles, he was granted the file. With half of the pages redacted. The reason? Deliberative process exemption. He tried requesting again under the Clinton administration, a more FOIA-friendly organization, and was granted the full report. After reading through it, the author was confused:

When I leafed through the report I wondered why in the world we had wasted so much time litigating over it. The information originally deleted was cut-and-dry legal analysis. This is certainly no criticism of the attorney who prepared it, but it was not a scintillating novel approach to the law. The attorney was not expressing any “candor” or “frank discussion.” It was as routine as one could possibly imagine. No secrets, no nothing.

This anecdotal experience certainly justifies the belief that using deliberative process as ground for an exemption is a knee-jerk reaction when governments get an information request.

When is this exemption justified? I’d love to hear from you about cases you’ve been involved with or have followed where there was a need to keep deliberative, decisional information private. Let me know or join and on Twitter this Friday from 2-3 EST at , our weekly chat on public records and open meetings issues. On Friday, we’ll be talking about the deliberative process exemption specifically, so come share your thoughts or join us to learn more about it.

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Yesterday, we discussed that California has the in the US, topping at . Solutions are still being discussed after the Governor’s proposal to cut public employee wages was overruled by a judge.

Well, it turns out there are a few salaries for California public employees which being drastically overpaid.

In the , home to 38,000 residents and one of the poorest municipalities of , it was revealed that the City Manager earns a salary of $787,637 with annual 12 percent raises, the highest in the nation. The police chief makes $457,000, more than the LAPD’s chief, who oversees 3.8 million residents. Part time work for city earned council members $100,000 a year and an average monthly check of $8,083.

“It seems obscene to me,” State Assemblyman Hector De La Torre said. “People making $30,000 a year are paying taxes so that their council members can make $80,000.”

The report sparked outrage amongst the residents who protested outside of city hall, calling for an independent audit of the city council member’s salaries and contracts. They want fiscal transparency in the county, and they want it yesterday.

Not surprisingly, the city earned an “F” transparency grade from Sunshine Review, but hopefully the corruption in the city council will push for a more open, honest and realistic government. The City Council can start by proactively disclosing salaries and other budget information online.