Elected officials are still employees.
A mayor may not be answerable to a council member. The governor might not have to get the attorney general to approve his vacation. The president doesn’t have to get Congress to approve a sick day.
But all of them were elected to do a job, and they have a boss. A lot of them, actually. The superior they answer to is the public.
That is why the state Office of Open Records told Westmoreland County officials that, yes, they did have to turn over electronic swipe card records for Register of Wills Sherry Magretti Hamilton.
It does not matter that the request for those records was made by Matthew Pecarchik, whose wife, Katie, is a Register of Wills employee and a former candidate for the office.
Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law doesn’t make a provision for why someone wants to have access to public information. It just states that public information should be made available to the public when they ask for it.
It doesn’t say who can have it and who can’t. It doesn’t draw lines around some people and cross out others. The who doesn’t matter. Just the what.
Westmoreland County officials shouldn’t fight that. But they are. On Wednesday, they asked a county judge to overturn the state agency’s decision.
It’s a bad move.
The county should support the idea of accountability in its employees, whether elected or hired. It should stand behind the idea that the people are paying a salary and deserve the work that goes with it.
And Magretti Hamilton absolutely deserves to have her reputation free from tarnish. Not giving the information requested doesn’t do that. It makes the questions linger rather than providing answers.
Elected officials are employees. They have a responsibility to their employers, and the law gives those employers — the people — a right to know.
