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The Westfield News Serving Westfield, Southwick, and the surrounding Hilltowns
Mostly clear. Low of 14.
www.thewestfieldnews.com THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2015
VOL. 84 NO. 070
Bills target barriers to public records
Window work
By DAN CROWLEY Staff Writer Daily Hampshire Gazette NORTHAMPTON — The wheels of justice turn slowly, the saying goes. In Massachusetts, the wheels of public records access can be just as slow. Ask retiree Jim Palermo of Southampton who for 10 months has been trying to review education records naming the state’s public schools that participated in a 2012 international student assessment study. The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which declared Massachusetts students among the world’s highest scorers in reading, math and science based on testing results from that study, has refused to release the information to Palermo, citing an exemption in the state’s Public Records Law. What’s more, the department continues to withhold the information even after the state’s public records supervisor ordered its release on two occasions last year. “For Massachusetts, for all its bragging about being progressive and all that stuff, I find it discouraging,” Palermo, 74, said of his first experience seeking public records held by state government. “It’s a complete distortion of the basic law.” The administrative gridlock is an example of the kinds of barriers that state Rep. Peter V. Kocot, D-Northampton, and other open records advocates are trying to knock down in new legislation aimed at reforming the state’s Public Records Law. Kocot, the chief sponsor of the proposed legislation, seeks to put teeth in the state’s Public Records Law with new enforcement measures and fines. It also would reduce fees for records, provide more electronic access and designate point persons in each state agency to handle records requests, among other requirements. “It was clear there was a problem with the system, not least of which is that these statutes haven’t been looked at or touched since the 1970s,” Kocot said this week. “It was clear the law needed to be changed.” He said the ultimate intent of the bill is to improve public confidence in state government with more transparency and accountability. Kocot said the proposed reforms are a logical extension of the reforms of ethics, campaign finance and lobbying laws the Legislature passed in 2009. “I think it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “The public’s confidence in state government is not what it should be.” Kocot is chairman of the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight, which has jurisdiction over the Public Records Law. He said the legislation was two years in the making and drafted with input from groups including Common Cause, the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. It draws on a review of public records laws in 35 states and seeks to designate a point person in See Public Records, Page 8
Westfield Vocational-Techinical High School students continuing work on the gazebo earlier this week. See additional photos on Page 3. (Photo submitted)
Westfield State to hold annual Relay for Life WESTFIELD – Following up last year’s successful event, Westfield State University will hold its second annual Relay for Life on Friday, April 17 in Woodward Center’s indoor track. The event begins at 6 p.m. on the 17th and concludes at 7 a.m. on Saturday, April 18. The campus held its inaugural Relay for Life last year and raised more than $40,000. “Even thinking about it now, I am blown away by last year’s success,” said event organizer Beth Teague ’15, president of the Relay for Life club. “With the short amount of time we had to plan and with how small our school is, nobody expected us to raise anywhere close to the amount we
reached. The generosity of our community here as well as our home communities astounds me.” Relay for Life is the main volunteer-driven cancer fundraising event of the American Cancer Society. Created in the United States, the Relay for Life event has spread to 21 countries. Relay events are held in local parks, campus universities, and military bases, and all proceeds of the events go to cancer research and to improving the lives of those living with cancer. Relay for Life events have raised nearly $5 billion to date. Teague has volunteered for numerous Relay for Life events during the See Relay for Life, Page 3
State receives ‘A’ in annual report on transparency BOSTON – Massachusetts received an ‘A’ when it comes to government spending transparency, according to “Following the Money 2015: How the 50 States Rate in Providing Online Access to Government Spending Data,” the sixth annual report of its kind by the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group Education Fund. This year’s report recognized more states as leaders than ever before, with all but two states allowing users to search the online checkbook by agency, keyword or vendor, or some combination of the three. Likewise, 44 states now provide checkbook-level data for one or more economic development subsidy programs. Some states have even innovated entirely new features. “Massachusetts’ commitment to spending transparency is a success story,” said MASSPIRG Legislative Director Deirdre Cummings. “Back in 2010 when we released our first report, so little spending data was available online that the Commonwealth was graded an ‘F.’ After steady improvement, Massachusetts this year has reached near the top with an ‘A.’” “This year, most states have made their budgets more open to the public, allowing users to better scrutinize how the government uses their tax dollars,” said Cummings. “Massachusetts continues to
be one of the leaders of the pack and we hope Governor Baker will continue to prioritize transparency.” Officials from Massachusetts and 46 other states provided the researchers with feedback on their initial evaluation of state transparency websites. Based on an inventory of the content and ease-of-use of states’ transparency websites, the “Following the Money 2015” report assigns each state a grade of “A” to “F.” The leading states with the most comprehensive transparency websites are Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oregon, Louisiana, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Montana, New York, Texas, and South Dakota. Massachusetts is again a leader in state budget transparency, and has continued to improve even this year to keep pace with rising standards. The state has expanded the number of quasi-public agencies included in the checkbook, ensuring that even that traditionally undisclosed spending is open to the public. To continue to improve, more detailed economic development subsidy data and the rest of the quasipublic agencies should be available on the transparency portal. States that have created or improved their online transparency have typically
done so with little upfront cost. In fact, topflight transparency websites can save money for taxpayers, while also restoring public confidence in government and preventing misspending and pay-to-play contracts. “Open and accessible state budgets are important so that the public can see where its tax dollars are being spent, and hold their state government accountable for its decisions,” said Sunlight Foundation National Policy Manager Emily Shaw. “It’s encouraging to see more states prioritizing open data policies and taking the steps necessary to make their data truly accessible.” State spending transparency appears to be a non-partisan issue. The report compared transparency scores with a variety of measures of state legislative, gubernatorial or public opinion partisanship and found that neither Republican nor Democratic states tended to have higher levels of spending disclosure. Massachusetts’s transparency website is operated by the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance. To read the full report: http://www. masspirg.org/reports/map/following-money-2015-how-50-states-rate-providingonline-access-government-spending-data
“As a woman I have no country.
As a woman my country is the whole world.” — VIRGINIA WOOLF
75 cents
Pro-pot legalization group warns against excessive taxation By STEVE LeBLANC Associated Press BOSTON (AP) — A group pushing for a 2016 ballot question on legalizing the recreational use of marijuana is warning against imposing excessive taxation or fees on the sale of pot. Bay State Repeal yesterday released a statement saying it welcomes a bill filed by more than a dozen Massachusetts lawmakers that would allow marijuana to be taxed and regulated like alcohol. The bill also would let adults 21 years or older possess and grow limited amounts of marijuana. The pro-marijuana group says if taxes and fees are too high that will force up the cost of pot and help maintain a black market in the state. It says that could have the unintended consequence of giving minors the ability to continue obtaining marijuana illegally. “A major aim of legalization is to limit access to minors by driving out the black market,” the group said in its statement. “But inevitably, unlicensed producers will continue to supply consumers at the black market if legal marijuana is more expensive.” The bill sets out a strict tax structure for growing and selling pot. It would require pot processors to pay an excise tax of $10 per ounce during the first year the law took effect and up to $50 per ounce during the law’s fourth and subsequent years. The bill also would impose a separate tax based on the level of the psychoactive ingredient THC found in the marijuana. The bill would create a regulated system of licensed marijuana retail stores, cultivation facilities, processing facilities and testing facilities. That includes a cannabis commission that would issue a range of licenses, including: cannabis cultivation licenses, marijuana processing licenses, hemp processing licenses, marijuana wholesale licenses and testing and research licenses. The bill is sponsored by two Democrats: Rep. David Rogers, of Belmont, and Sen. Pat Jehlen, of See Warning, Page 3
Victim’s family confronts officer over Hernandez court kiss By MICHELLE R. SMITH Associated Press FALL RIVER (AP) — The family of a man former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez is accused of killing confronted a security officer yesterday after Hernandez’s mother kissed her son’s hand in the courtroom. The kiss happened on Tuesday when the judge and the jury were out of the courtroom. Hernandez has pleaded not guilty in the June 2013 killing of Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. During a morning break, Hernandez’s mother, Terri Hernandez, leaned toward him while he was sitting at the defense table and asked permission from the court officer to touch him. The officer said yes, and she grabbed his hand and kissed it. Hernandez gave a broad smile and then rubbed his eyes as his aunt and uncle wiped away tears. He then thanked the officer. Such contact between prisoners and the public is usually prohibited. Outside the courtroom during a lunch break yesterday, Lloyd’s relatives quietly and calmly spoke to the officer and told him they no longer have a son to kiss. The officer listened and then left to a back hallway while Lloyd’s family departed in an elevator. Also yesterday, Hernandez’s lawyers filed papers asking the judge to keep out of the case snippets of several pretrial jailhouse conversations he had with people including Miami Dolphins player Mike Pouncey, who went to college with him. The filing included partial transcripts of several conversations. In one from October 2014, Hernandez and Pouncey discuss how they miss Ernest Wallace, one See Court Kiss, Page 3