Open records project

The Open Records project for Professor McCoy's journalism 220 class was a good practice at the hardships in obtaining public information. One cannot expect to haphazardly wander into a Pennsylvania government worker's office and receive any information at will.

There are many regulations that government offices abide by, concerning the Pa. open records laws. Furthermore, not many government officials are happy, willing or courteous about handing out public information (though our tax dollars put food on their tables and champagne in their nice crystal glasses). In fact, "my" senator, Donald C. White, had not even signed a petition showing support (like many representatives throughout Pa. did) for better Open Records laws. The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association created the petition and upon reviewing their website, I noticed that many representatives throughout Pa. have signed on. I wrote an email to senator White, but I received no reply.
The next step I took was to research how about going at acquiring public information. I wanted to know how much my tax dollars were being frivolously wasted on inane, half-assed Pendot projects around Indiana in 2007 (feeling much like Michael Douglas in Falling Down, I felt compelled to ask Pendot to tell me that they were wasting my money to gain a larger budget; unfortunately this isn't real public information). I browsed the Pendot website and found a page that listed who I could contact, where, and how to formulate the letter (the page stated that the only way to obtain this information was by U.S. mail). I wrote a letter following the standards of Pendot's public information request, but unfortunately never received the information I requested.
Whether letters were lost in the mail, or employees of Pendot refused my request, its easy for me to say that in our time, gaining public information that is to be openly and freely available to everyone is not as easy as the bureaucrats in congress make it seem. Eventually there will be too many skeletons in the closet and the doors will burst, exposing unspoken, harsh truths that will bring these plutocrats to justice.