Essay Example on The government of Ohio is out of control

The government of Ohio is out of control The state is hindering the public's access to public document The state is enforcing laws that are out of date out of tune and that are keeping the government from being transparent The United States of America is a government based on freedoms and with current Ohio laws and regulations public record requests are not free from restrictions As a result of the Ohio government ignoring public record requests in many different ways the ability to have a transparent government is unachievable and is going against the beliefs of the founders of the United States of America The Facts The Ohio Revised Code defines a public record as any records kept by any public office including but not limited to state county city village township and school district units Ohio Revised Code 149 43 The Ohio Revised Code permits public record requests to be processed in a prompt period of time and the law has even been interrupted by the Ohio Supreme Court as being without delay and with reasonable speed Ohio Sunshine Law There are many public agencies that do not comply with standards that were put into place by the Ohio Supreme Court and as a result people are being denied their rights as Ohio citizens 

According to the filing he requested more than ten documents in an attempt to review employees sick time and vacation leave data by name as well all document pertaining to an investigation of council's office operation Mlady 2017 In an article published on Cleveland com Astorino said the information I asked for is needed for me to perform my duties and responsibilities as an elected official and I cannot understand why the mayor and law director ignore the Ohio law on providing the public records Mlady 2017 Conclusion In conclusion the government of Ohio is out of control The state is hindering the public's access to public document The state is enforcing laws that are out of date out of tune and that are keeping the government from being transparent The United States of America is a government based on freedoms so current Ohio laws and regulations should support the same ideas The law regarding government being transparent is being ignored by government agencies and government officials

The Importance Maintaining public records keep agencies and elected official from personally from taxpayers This system of keeping record reinforces the idea that these agencies and elected officials work for the people If these agencies and elected officials decide to discard the law they can face legal actions that will hold them accountable For example the Service Director of Ravenna Ohio Don Kainrad was put on unpaid leave while police considered whether he inappropriately used city workers to dig a drainage ditch on his property in addition to another property near his O brien 2017 This alleged misuse of public funds and disregard of informing the public of the unapproved work was instituted by a public records request of the second property owner It is not known if Kainrad used public funds for this unauthorized project but without public records this issue could have went unnoticed However Kainrad did resign from his position as Service Director O brien 2017 If Kainrad is guilty he used taxpayer dollars to fund a project to that he would benefit which is illegal and unethical The importance of public records availability and how it is essential in keeping government open and transparent can even been seen in other states A county employee in North Carolina was found by a federal court to have made several purchases with taxpayer dollars