Senator Greenleaf's Remarks on Government Reform (excerpted from a recent televised interview)

Democracy is based on transparency, and the most important thing we can do is to ensure that the public has access to information on their government.

An informed electorate is the basis for democracy, and if we in government don't provide for access to government information, either through neglect—or with intent—that is wrong and it is bad for our system of government. An informed public can give their elected officials intelligent feedback and input. If we are not getting that feedback, then we won't have a representative democracy.

In the mid-1990s, I proposed television coverage of the legislative process. As a result, PCN was spawned to cover legislative sessions. Now they cover everything—Turnpike Commission meetings, the PUC—just about every facet of government. This is helpful even to us (legislators) because we can't be everywhere, yet through this coverage we have the ability to know more.

At about the same time that I proposed television coverage of legislative sessions, I was also pushing for internet access to government. This sounds normal now, but 10 to 15 years ago, this was a new concept. I thought it would be great if the public could go to government sites and find information and download forms, go to the Department of State website, for instance, and see election results, check on professional licenses, and see what functions the department serves. Now this is in place and it seems it was always there, but I initiated this idea with the thought that it would provide direct access to government information, and it has.

I was also the sponsor of open records reform. Pennsylvania was known to have a very weak open records law, but the records of government are the people's records, not an agency's records. I wanted our state law to reflect that, and, after some time, a better open records law was passed in Pennsylvania and now government documents are easier to obtain.

The next step is reform of the legislative process. This process must be deliberative, informative and transparent. We must change rules and change laws so that legislators have as much information as possible to do their job and so that the public gets as much information as possible to participate in the system and judge how the process is working.