"I would pledge to veto any bills that would weaken the Freedom of Information laws in this state. It is something that must be maintained with constant vigilance."
--Asa Hutchinson in 2006
"I think all of the bills that I've seen thus far are designed for a specific purpose that makes sense. But I appreciate the press pointing out if there is too broad of an exemption that needs to be narrowed."
--Gov. Hutchinson, last week
In that case, the governor will love this:
If one of these bills targeting the state's Freedom of Information Act is passed, specifically Senate Bill 373, then anybody in the government who wanted to hide public information could just run it by the ol' legal office. And bingo! Attorney-client privilege. And the public is kept from seeing public records.
And that's just one bill that the experts say will gut the state's shining example of an FOI law. Another bill over in the House (HB1622) is supposed to extend the time a government agency has to come up with the paperwork, from three days to . . . whenever the state's bureaucracy feels like it.
Back when he was Citizen Hutchinson looking for a certain state job, the governor said all the right things about the FOIA. Now that it's important, he seems to be hedging.
It reminds us of the time during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the Soviets sent the Kennedys an even-tempered communiqué about the whole disaster-in-the-making. As the Kennedys were thinking on the Soviets' reasonable missive, another cable came through that was much more upsetting, nervous and potentially dangerous. What to do?
They ignored the second cable and answered the first, and stayed cool.
Maybe the state of Arkansas, and all of its people who still believe in its motto--Regnat populus--should take the governor at his word. Specifically the words he used in 2006. And ignore the second cable. Surely We the People can still trust Asa Hutchinson to veto any effort by our betters in the Legislature to weaken the FOIA. Arkansas' freedom of information law has been an example to follow for other states since 1967 when Winthrop Rockefeller & Reform Co. were guiding the state. It's served the state well.
If these attacks on the FOIA get to his desk, well, Governor, that's why James Madison invented the veto.
Editorial on 03/07/2017