Oregon Press Blast Dem Gov Kate Brown For Lack Of Transparency

Failed Democrat Governor Kate Brown’s false promises on transparency are earning her well-deserved criticism from the Oregon press corps. Days after The Oregonian reported that Brown attempted to carve out another public records exemption to add to the hundreds already in place in Oregon, major publications across the state have ripped Brown for failing to keep her promises on accountability.

The Oregonian noted that Brown’s actions prevented the public from attaining information they should be allowed to find easily:

“For all her talk of transparency, here’s Brown endorsing the idea that you have no right to know when your vet screws up.

Not only should that list be public, it should be part of an online searchable database. In Washington State you can easily look up your vet’s license and whether they’ve had any “enforcement action.”

A Bend Bulletin editorial ripped Brown’s failure to keep her promises on accountability issues she has spoken out on:

“…apparently what persuaded Brown not to add to the ever-growing list of Oregon governmental records that are hidden from the public had nothing to do with sunshine. Rather, it had quite a bit to do with the fact that The Oregonian newspaper was working on an article about the bill.

This from the governor who took office just over two years ago touting her own record on government transparency and promising to strengthen laws on the timely release of public records.

The latter has been a promise she’s found difficult to keep. Among other things, she defended the state’s Department of Human Services as it stonewalled a request for records until after the Legislature had time to exempt from disclosure the records being sought…”

And a Corvallis Gazette-Times editorial called Brown’s actions proof that she had lost enthusiasm for pursuing transparency:

“… as we continue with this week’s observance of Sunshine Week — the annual celebration of the idea that government works best when it works in the sunshine — it seems to us that the governor has lost some of her enthusiasm for this cause in the two years since she moved into the governor’s chair.”

Despite coming to office after her predecessor Democrat John Kitzhaber was forced to resign due to a public corruption scandal, Kate Brown refuses to live up to her rhetoric on transparency. While she may talk a big game about accountability in government, her actions fail to meet her words.