The third episode of Lights Out Mass is all about Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and her approach to public records requests.
Although the governor is exempt from the public records law, Healey said shortly before taking office that she would comply with it anyway. However, that promise didn’t last long. Laugh along with us as we listen to Healey try to explain her, uh... evolution on this issue. We also discuss proposed legislation that would fix this flaw in the law.
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Links
Andrew has written many articles about Healey’s approach to public records; see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and, most recently, here
Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin’s bill (filed on his behalf by Senator Michael Brady) that would apply the public records law to the governor is S.1967
Senator Jamie Eldridge’s bill that would apply the public records law to the governor and make other transparency reforms to the Legislature is S.1963
Senator Becca Rausch’s bill that would apply the public records law to the governor and the Legislature is S.2064
If you want to reach out to your state legislators about these bills, you can look up their contact information here; you can also contact the governor’s office using the email address listed here
You can submit a public records request to the governor’s office here
The hosts of this podcast are Andrew Quemere and Jeff Raymond.
Andrew writes this newsletter and is also on Facebook, Twitter, Bluesky, and Mastodon
Jeff is the founder of Mass Transparency and is also on Twitter and Bluesky
Our theme music is “Sun Bleach” by Lifeformed. More music available at Bandcamp.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant!
“It’s Gaslighting”: Governor Healey and Public Records (with Maura Healey)