Legislators fail us on open records

I can't blame Kirby Smart. I can't fault Greg McGarity. I can't be too upset at the Georgia Board of Regents.

Yes, it's annoying that people who work in athletics used their influence to possibly put in a new law that limits government transparency, thanks to the House amendment to Senate Bill 323 that will allow up to 90 days for the return of open records requests other than salary information for coaches and personnel. As the law stands, athletic departments, like any other state agency, have three days to return an open records request or explain when it will be available if unable to do so.

But these folks did what any lobby in this country does. Someone in the athletics department — Smart, McGarity or anyone — talked to someone who spoke with someone who eventually helped get an amendment to a bill passed by the House of Representatives and agreed upon in the Senate.

In this instance, a handful of Georgia's elected leaders showed their shady character once again with the kind of above-the-fray attitude that’s long led to distrust in the political system.

Exercising additional secrecy in government is a scary thought. Sure, this involves UGA athletics and the average fan, who probably doesn’t care a whole lot about the subject, might even think this is a great idea because now reporters have a much longer time to possibly discover NCAA violations or any other dirt that could sully the reputation of the program.

But if it can happen in athletics, it can happen with any government sector. Now that athletic departments are possibly exempt from the three-day guideline, what’s next? This isn’t a football story, really. It’s more so dealing with the right of the public to know how its tax dollars are being used.

State Rep. Earl Ehrhart, R-Powder Springs, was either duped or knowingly lied on the House floor late Tuesday night.

"At that recruiting time of year they get absolutely inundated with people wanting to have that recruiting information and it’s not a level playing field because Georgia, our athletic associations, are private in and of themselves and they don’t have that capacity, so this just allows that type of level playing field," Ehrhart said.

Wrong.

It’s the kind of embarrassing sports take that would get you laughed out of a backyard barbecue because it has no basis in fact. No recruiting reporter uses an abundance of open records requests to find out who Georgia is recruiting. They find that information out by talking to players themselves, high school coaches and the college programs recruiting the players. Fans can track where recruits are visiting by following them on Twitter. It’s that simple.

And while claiming this as a need for secrecy, the SB 323 amendment allows all intercollegiate documents — not just recruiting ones — to be delayed for 90 days.

So if you’re among those who admit Ehrhart’s excuse is hogwash but supports this amendment, you support a lie. Think about that for a moment. This amendment’s design is to delay and limit information to not only the media but to any taxpaying citizen of Georgia afforded the right of filing an open records request. This isn’t a specific privilege the media has. We all have it. And in this case, Ehrhart and state Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, both lied about the amendment’s intention on the House and Senate floors.

And if they weren’t intending to lie, they need to take a refresher course in sports because what they were sold on in the most minor of backroom deals makes no sense. Cowsert presented the amendment to his fellow state senators, with the majority agreeing on it. In doing so, he pitched the recruiting angle, and 30 of his not-so-bright colleagues agreed that this bill, in a heated legislative session featuring many way-more-important bills, was necessary without review.

Neighboring states also don’t have a 90-day waiting period that was alluded to by Ehrhart, Cowsert and even state Sen. Fran Millar, R-Atlanta, who made a joke about the Georgia football program gaining equal footing with everyone else.

Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and Missouri all have laws that require open records requests to be fulfilled in 10 days or less. South Carolina is 15 days. Alabama’s language is vague and apparently it fills open records requests at its own pace.

So in an effort to be more like Alabama, your state elected leaders spoke mistruths and quickly pushed the amendment through. Sadly, I’m not surprised. But again, no piece of legislation should ever become law this way, yet it happens every legislative session.

Ehrhart, Coswert and the others in support of this amendment disgraced not only themselves but the public positions they hold. It wouldn’t be the first time state legislators acted in disgrace. It won’t be the last.

This story was originally published March 27, 2016 at 10:11 PM with the headline "Legislators fail us on open records."