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« Huh? | Main | Naifeh Ends Ethics Seminar Fast » January 19, 2007Newsflash: Naifeh Opens Up
Floor vote records aren't enough, of course. Committee vote records ought to be online as well, and legislation currently posted for the public as PDF files needs to be posted as HTML text for easier searching. I'll guessing I'll have more thoughts as details of Naifeh's proposal are released. Blogging state Rep. Stacey Campfield broke the news. For background, see this previous post and follow the links. Update: 6:15 p.m. An insider source close to Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey tells me Ramsey and Sen. Rosalind Kurita were preparing to announce next week that Senate floor and committee votes and other related legislative information would be made accessible to the public online, and "Naifeh got wind of it and made his announcement today." As I said in a couple previous posts, Ramsey was the key to making this happen. My insider source tells me the steps Ramsey will be taking to put the legislative info online were steps presented in previous years to then-Speaker John Wilder, who declined to implement them. Sen. Kurita, a Democrat who is much stronger on open-government, ethics and accountability issues than fellow Democrat Naifeh, also deserves praise. Update: 7:05 p.m. The Tennessean posted a story on their website a few minutes ago, Legislature to improve public access to bills via Web site. The Senate's proposals are better than Naifeh's plans, and likely will be implemented sooner. Update: 7:30 p.m. The AP story by Travis Loller is out, and VolunteerVoters.com's A.C. Kleinheider has the backstory I alluded to above, and wonders why Loller left that part out of the AP story. He also gives me a bit too much credit for today's developments - the real credit belongs to Ramsey and Kurita, and to Russell Humphrey, the Senate clerk. See also my comment below ACK's post. Posted in Tennessee Government News
Comments
This is good news. I still want committee votes and every committee meeting recorded. Legislation lives and dies in these committees. The people ought to be able to see/hear/know exactly what happened and hold these legislators accountable. I agree, those .pdf files allow information to be hidden, not just difficult to find. Metro Schools does the same thing. The idea is nothing is hidden. It's all easy to find--if not why not? And don't tell me it costs money--I'll gladly give up a golf course or two for this. I'd also like a subscription service so if there is any movement or change in a bill I'm tracking--I'll get notification right away. And a subscription to the agendas would be good. Metro Council and Planning do this now. Posted by: Kay Brooks at January 19, 2007 5:50 PMGo, Senate! And thanks to the bloggers, who perform a continuing public service. Posted by: Donna Locke at January 19, 2007 10:34 PMGet used to the slanted reporting. Republicans must learn how to get around the MSM and directly to their constituents. If conservatives learn how to get their side of the story out there and get it out there the fastest, they will dominate the debate. God bless the Internet. Let us never forget the invaluable contribution of the Tennessee politician who invented the Internet! Though some think it was invented, actually, by Leonard Kleinrock. Post a comment
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5 p.m.: I received an email minutes ago from an AP reporter that House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh announced today the House will make floor vote records available online. I don't have details - and neither did the AP reporter when we spoke - but ... good. Floor vote records are a good step forward and Naifeh is to be applauded for doing the right thing especially as he had opposed taking this step for a long time. The AP reporter asked my thoughts about why Naifeh made the announcement and my answer was it doesn't matter, he finally did the right thing.