From the Charlotte Observer (8/1/12): If you're looking for consistency in politicians, be they liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, young or old, you can find it in their attitudes toward public records.
While out of power, they scream for more openness. Once in office, they give their old speeches to the outgoing party, stonewall public-records requests and reject efforts to strengthen our public-records laws and ordinances.
That might sound like a sweeping generalization, but in North Carolina there is plenty of evidence, gathered by citizens every day, to back it up. There is also a new study that shows we have one of the weakest records for granting public-records access.