Government transparency job left vacant in Maryland

When a Towson University student journalist asked for emails about how school officials dealt with allegations that someone had videotaped the swim team getting undressed, university officials asked him to pay more than $2,000 for the records request.

The student, Cody Boteler, asked to have the fees waived. When the university did not promptly respond, the senior wrote a scathing editorial in the Towerlight student publication, saying it was "asinine" to ask a student journalist to pay so much.

It was just the sort of the dispute the state's new public information act ombudsman was supposed to resolve. But the Maryland attorney general's office hasn't hired one, and Gov. Larry Hogan's administration has yet to authorize funding for the position. Continue…

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