Give it up for Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., who reportedly wants to let the sun shine on the judicial branch of state government. A Supreme Court decision exempted the judiciary from the state’s Open Records Act more than 30 years ago. But The Courier-Journal reported Wednesday that Minton plans to propose some open-records rules for the judicial branch later this year. It would be a welcome and long overdue change.
While court proceedings themselves may sometimes warrant confidentiality, the administration of our justice system should be subject to just as much public scrutiny and accountability as the executive and legislative branches are. But Herald-Leader reporters researching the “Law and Mortar” series about a 10-year, $880 million courthouse construction program encountered difficulty obtaining details about financing and contractor selection from the Administrative Office of the Courts even though the same details would be readily available for construction projects handled by other state agencies.
Such a lack of transparency is unacceptable when any amount of taxpayers’ money is being spent, much less $880 million. Minton’s proposed rules should assure total public access to this type of information in the future.
Larry Dale Keeling, a columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader, has spent most of his 35-plus years in journalism reporting on or writing editorials and columns about Kentucky’s politics and political issues. He now brings his experience and expertise on those topics to the KyKurmudgeon blog.
YEP.
Give it up for Justice John Minton indeed.
Justice Mintonh as lived up to his promise to release the details of the courthouse audit. Now let us see if the rest of the legislature follows suit.