Seems like there are more and more perks to working for the state.
The News and Observer ran an article Monday describing the secrecy laws concerning state personnel. The policy in question shields from public view all but the most trivial information, regarding an employee’s hiring date, current position, the most recent pay changes, and whether or not their job has changed.
In short, we are allowed to see a Facebook page.
Filed under News
Changing the return address on your sweepstakes form doesn’t make you any more (or less) likely to become an instant millionaire. Likewise, a government official writing about work can’t duck open records laws by sending messages from a personal e-mail account while on the clock.
Tony Tharp, the bold and prolific editor of independent online newspaper Pamlico Ink, is trying to make Oriental Town Manager Randy Cahoon understand this important truth. After Pamlico Ink exposed Cahoon’s tempestuous relationship with employees he supervised as manager of Gates County, Tharp requested e-mails the Oriental executive sent to his former colleagues relating to complaints about his management style.
Cahoon refused, maintaining that the e-mails were sent from a personal account and are not public records. Tharp’s reading — and mine — of the North Carolina open records law suggests he’s dead wrong.
Filed under Politics
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