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Lakly defends votes to make records secret

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

State Rep. Dan Lakly of Peachtree City, who voted for three bills that would restrict access to public records, is defending his decisions.

Lakly said he supported HB 218 primarily because of the competition the state was facing in the port of Savannah from the state of South Carolina. Lakly said the bill was important to protect economic development in that area because of the state’s multi-million dollar investment in the port and in other places of rural Georgia that need jobs.

“Every time we try to get something, South Carolina tries to undercut us,” Lakly said.

The bill would have exempted any documents regarding incentives used for luring a particular business or industry from the state’s open records act temporarily. The documents could be made public only after an announcement was made by economic development officials or the business/industry involved in the negotiations, according to the bill.

HB 218 was ultimately killed “by the news media,” Lakly said, noting that wasn’t such a bad thing. Newspapers got the word out about the bill in a successful campaign to stop it, he noted. The media “did a good job of exposing it,” Lakly added.

“I stand by my vote on 218,” Lakly said. “I can understand why other people might disagree.”

HB 218 was tabled by the Senate, effectively killing it for this legislative session.

Lakly also voted for HB 340, which would make secret any documents “that contain personal information concerning donors or potential donors” to any university, college or technical school.

Currently, any such donor’s tax records are available for public view, Lakly said, and he voted for the bill to protect those donors’ personal information.

Opponents of the bill say it would protect business interests by keeping the public from cross-checking to see if any donors benefit by getting certain business deals with the university system, perhaps in exchange for their “donation.”

Lakly dismissed any notion that such unwritten, handshake “deals” are taking place in the state’s university system. He said he wants to promote community responsibility and philanthropy for the university system.

Lakly said he didn’t pay much attention to House Bill 437, which would have hidden the phone numbers and social security numbers of public employees. Critics said this legislation would make it difficult to contact potential whistle-blowers on possible corruption and graft in government.

Lakly said he thought there were a few “crazies out there” who, armed with his phone number for example, could use the Internet to get a map to his home. He argued that public employees shouldn’t be left open to harassment from people willing to go to such lengths.

In the e-mails he receives as a legislator, there have been a few that reach the “crazy” level, Lakly said, noting that he responds to all e-mails that come from voters in his district. Lakly added that he will continue to keep his phone number and address public, as they are listed in the local telephone book.

“I am a citizen legislator,” Lakly said. “I respond to people and I am proud of that.”