EDITORIAL: Governor's Office Has No Right To Secrets
The Daily Advertiser (excerpt)

The Legislature earlier this year approved a flock of new laws to make government more transparent but we still have a ways to go.

"Louisiana ranks as one of the worst states in the nation when it comes to the governor's office," (Rep. Wayne) Waddell told the committee. Laws dealing with open meetings and records are often referred to as "sunshine" but "Louisiana and Mississippi are nearly dark when the governor's office is concerned."

A ranking of states by the University of Florida's Citizen Access Project puts Louisiana and Mississippi at the bottom in a category labeled "Nearly dark - Mostly closed."

Unfortunately, that characterization will continue to stay with us, even if this law is finally approved - it faces serious opposition from the governor's office.

But we applaud this first step to bring into the sunshine so much of what our state government now does behind closed doors. We would love to see the governor, who is earning a reputation for secrecy, arbitrarily make public even more of what he and his advisers are doing.