When Gov. Nathan Deal's supporters decided to hide the identities of donors who gave $1.4 million to his inaugural committee, critics say he was following a growing shift at the statehouse toward less transparency in politics and government.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday that Deal's inaugural committee broke with recent tradition and declined to name the big companies, lobbying firms and special interest associations who funded his inaugural shindig. The AJC was able to track down a little more than 10 percent of the donors through campaign finance records.
The story fit a pattern, transparency advocates said. The recently completed 2016 session was a near Secrecypalooza for the General Assembly.
The AJC received copies of the committee's tax forms on the same day the governor signed into law Senate Bill 323, which gives public college athletic associations far more time to respond to open records requests and lets any state agency keep records involving ongoing economic development projects secret until the deal is made public.
Senators this year tried to bar the public and press from attending disciplinary hearings for judges accused of misconduct. Lawmakers passed legislation allowing defendants who enter a first offender plea in a criminal case to ask the judge to immediately and permanently get their files sealed. In the waning minutes of the session, they approved a measure to make it more difficult for the public to find out if a lawmaker has a potential conflict of interest on legislation.
And legislators have continued to pass special-interest tax breaks that are hard, if not impossible, for the public to track.
“Any time the Georgia General Assembly passes another exception to the Open Records Act it is a step backwards for Georgia,” said Hollie Manheimer of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.
Read more about this on myajc.com
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