Iowans in poll favor more effort into providing access to public meetings and open records

From The Gazette:

Two in three Iowans polled favor the creation of a board in state government to handle citizen complaints about violations of open meetings and access to government documents.

The findings come as Gov. Terry Branstad has joined open government advocates in pushing the Legislature to create such a board, staffed by a full-time attorney, to handle complaints.

The September poll, commissioned by the Iowa Freedom of Information Council, found Iowans want greater accountability and openness in government than is currently practiced, even though few Iowans know the specifics of the state’s open meetings and records laws (PDFs).

Iowa Freedom of Information Council is a member of NFOIC. — eds.

For more, see:

• Newspaper project focuses on Iowans’ attitudes about open government
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