Not Too Clear: State Misses The Mark On Govt. Transparency
A Grade of ‘F’: Details on Why State Ranks Low in Government Transparency
By Cary Aspinwall, for the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity
Oklahoma often pays lip service to the principle of accountability for its public officials and that’s one important reason the state gets a failing grade and ranks 40th in the State Integrity Investigation, a study of transparency and accountability by the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity.
One case that serves to prove the point: In Pottawatomie County, five couples filed for divorce on July 6, 2015, but only one was allowed to keep all the details — even their names — from being included in public records.
Country music superstars Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert, who own homes and businesses a couple of counties to the south, were allowed to file their July divorce proceedings under seal, with only their initials appearing on an online court records filing system.
Days before he retired from the bench, Pottawatomie County Associate District Judge John Gardner sealed the couple’s divorce filing at the request of their attorney, despite the fact that divorce filings are public records under Oklahoma law. A separate law mandates any protective order sealing records “shall be public,” but the judge didn’t file one until after media outlets complained.