mgdpa

Minnesota and 37 other states got failing grades for their public-records laws from the Better Government Association (BGA), which scored states in five categories: response time, appeals, expedited review, fees and sanctions. Sluggish action on government-data requests sunk our state in the rankings (pdf), despite high marks for mercilessly punishing violators — an unusual combination.

Five Minnesota television stations are asking to see all the uncounted absentee ballots in the Norm Coleman-Al Franken contest for U.S. Senate. Four do news, while the fifth shows re-runs (with a new news show weeks off); all are owned by Coleman backer Stanley Hubbard. 

Flouting President Obama’s pledge of openness in government, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman wants the state Legislature to exempt budget memos by city staff from the state law that makes such documents public. The end-run around the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, dreamt up by Coleman, is decried by the Pioneer Press today.