Issue Position: Openness and Transparency

Issue Position

I have a proven record of support for open meetings and open records, based on my work as an Assistant Attorney General. But any aware Kentuckian knows that we have a long way to go if we want to develop a culture of transparency in state government. The ongoing struggle to open records of cases in which children have died, or almost died, while ostensibly enjoying state oversight, is outrageous. The Franklin Circuit Court has made it clear that the law demands openness in such cases, yet the Beshear Administration continues to resist. That's unacceptable, as is any legislative attempt to place more restrictions on the release of those records. We must not forget 9-year-old Amy Dye from Elkton, in Todd County, who was brutally murdered. As Judge Philip Shepherd wrote, that case "presents a tragic example of the potentially deadly consequences of a child welfare system that has completely insulated itself from meaningful public scrutiny." Indeed, official secrecy has obscured the fact that so many Kentucky children die every year (more than 270 between 2000-2009).

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