In April, the New Hampshire Supreme Court reversed a lower court decision in the case Green v. School Administrative Unit #55. (read here)
The court stated the following;
“Because the “purpose of the Right-to-Know Law is to ensure both the greatest possible public access to the actions, discussions and records of all public bodies, and their accountability to the people,” we “resolve questions regarding the Right-to-Know Law with a view to providing the utmost information in order to best effectuate these statutory and constitutional objectives.””
The court continued, [snip] “we agree with the plaintiff that the “[d]issemination of public, non-confidential information in commonly used [electronic] formats ensures the greatest degree of openness and the greatest amount of public access to the decisions made by the public officials.”
Lastly, the court stated the following, “Furthermore, producing electronic documents is often more efficient and cost-effective than producing them in paper form.”
The examination of public records is not only our right, it is our duty. No one should be unfamiliar with the actions of our government and the effects those actions have on our lives.
Most importantly, no one should be chastised for their efforts to gain knowledge about what our governmental bodies are doing.
Finally, no one employed by the government should ever try to intimidate or spread misinformation about the intentions of any individual who chooses to exam the public record in search of the truth.
I just bought a bigger magnifying glass…..