Back in December, before she made the transition from governor-elect to governor, Maura Healey unequivocally told GBH News' Jim Braude that she'd break with past governors and not claim an exemption from Massachusetts' public records law.
But now, if you go online to request public records from Healey's office, you're greeted by a message in which she does exactly that: “By law, records held by the Office of the Governor are not subject to the Massachusetts public records law.” And while the governor's public records webpage promises that requests will be considered anyway on a case-by-case basis, just like under Healey's predecessor Charlie Baker, it also says that "any unique obligations of the Governor's Office" will be taken into account — a caveat that's a Healey innovation, and seems to give her an extra layer of insulation from public scrutiny.
So what are the practical consequences of Healey's shift on transparency? And given the direction she's moved in, what are the chances she'll eventually make good on her promise to be more transparent than past governors? In this segment of Talking Politcs, Adam Reilly is joined by Samantha Gross of the Boston Globe and Mass Dump author Andrew Quemere, both of whom recently submitted records requests that were rebuffed by the Healey administration.
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