Far too often, public boards and committees treat the public like a nuisance, or worse. We would put at the head of that list the New Hampshire General Court – the House and Senate – which again let another legislative session lapse without making any significant progress in making public records and proceedings more open to the public.

That includes access to records of House committees, which are still not available online.

But if lawmakers didn’t significantly undermine the public’s Right-to-Know Law in the most recent biennium, that’s not the same as making the system better, either. Significantly, representatives rejected a bill that would have created a commission to study better ways to resolve Right-to-Know disputes.

It’s clear that when it comes to the public’s access to records and proceedings, New Hampshire’s elected officials still take their marching orders from lobbyists for cities, towns, counties, school boards and other groups who would rather not have the public peeking over their shoulder.

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