Voting for secrecy
Editorials are written by Tim Anderson, editor and publisher of The Herald-Leader

House Bill 218 was a hot potato in the Georgia General Assembly in 2005. HB 218 is designed to hide economic development from the public eye. It would allow tax dollars to be pledged and used without public scrutiny. State economic developers claim they want the law to protect the state’s “playbook” when wooing industrial prospects. If asked to describe one, and only one, instance in which our state’s excellent Open Meetings and Open Records Act has hampered economic development, none can be found. The state’s bureaucrats want to use a sledge hammer approach on a problem that doesn’t even exist.
Readers are intelligent enough to know the inherent dangers in making backroom deals using public funds. Few elected officials would hesitate to “give away the store” if they could tout “jobs” no matter the cost. It matters to most people whether their neighborhoods are gaining jobs for a hog processing plant or a high-tech software developer. Jobs are not in fact all equal.

Our Rep. Jay Roberts told us two years ago that he honestly didn’t fully understand the implications of HB 218 when it was passed, and that if he had he wouldn’t have voted for it. We’ve always found Roberts to be a man of his word and we’re frankly going to expect him to honor his own word should the law be re-introduced in January. His position as one of the governor’s floor leaders puts him in a unique position to exercise his influence by convincing his fellow Representatives to do the right thing. House Speaker Glenn Richardson wields enormous power under the Gold Dome. He likes HB 218. Governor Sonny Perdue likes the bill also. He has said we need it. He’s given no concrete evidence why we need the secrecy, but Perdue hasn’t been on the people’s side very often when it comes to open and transparent government.

Voters who get the opportunity should ask Perdue where he’s coming from on HB 218. Richardson does not, we assure you, care one bit what the people of Ben Hill County think about government secrecy. But we’re willing to bet Jay Roberts cares what the voters in this county think. He’s fortunate to be running unopposed this year. But we’re sure he will remember that he said he does not favor this attempt to close government to his constituents. We trust him to keep his word. —TCA