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Our appointed Attorney General is no fan of transparency. Late yesterday, our Attorney General and Governor appealed the landmark ruling in Elad Gross v. Michael Parson, et al., a case I brought and litigated to defend the public’s access to public records. So now we’ll wait to see if the court wants to hear the appeal. I’ll be ready either way.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I beat the Attorney General in court. The government is no longer allowed to charge huge attorney’s fees for folks to access public records. The Attorney General wants to change that. He wants to make our public records and our government accessible only to those who can afford it, like his biggest donor, Rex Sinquefield, and the many corporations that have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaign.
What does this have to do with policing?
The Sunshine Law is a tool members of the public can use to watch over our government. That includes keeping our police departments transparent and accountable.
We have held a series of town halls on policing. We had Roger Goldman come talk about police licensing. Thomas Abt discussed violence reduction strategies. And just this week, Sgt. Heather Taylor, the President of the Ethical Society of Police and a homicide detective with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, shared her experiences and ideas. She has been an outspoken advocate for increased transparency and accountability in policing. One of the best weapons to do that? Our Sunshine Law.
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