Other sources note that the governor does support transparency, at least for the rest of government.
MHCP head Lance Dutson says his group hasn't FOAA-ed LePage's office, but has regularly targeted state agencies. "Everyone seems to try, but they struggle with manpower," he says, arguing that technical fixes exist. "The principle of FOAA is that we pay for the paper, the salaries, the computers, and the buildings — we own it, so we should get a look at it. But when you get to the intellectual exchange over a policy, I start having a divergent perspective."
"If an administration decides to conduct business by winking and nodding instead of emails, its worth reflecting on," he adds.
Leary, who says he does two to three FOAA requests a week, says the administration has gone out of their way to be helpful in keeping him abreast of drafts of legislation and budgetary items. "I think transparency is fundamental to what this guy wants to do," he says of LePage, "but he sometimes gets upset by what it means."
Colin Woodard can be reached at colin@colinwoodard.com.
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