Roy Barnes Quotes

Access to presidential materials should be as wide as possible.

It’s hard to sometimes get information out of the government. It’s really hard. You can’t do it without asking tough questions.

The overarching purpose of access to information legislation … is to facilitate democracy. It does so in two related ways. It helps to ensure first, that citizens have the information required to participate meaningfully in the democratic process, and secondly, that politicians and bureaucrats remain accountable to the citizenry.

I am pleased to report that Texas is known for having one of the strongest set of open government laws in our Nation. And ever since that experience, I have long believed that our federal government could use 'a little Texas sunshine.'

Can the public business be thus transacted and in secret?

… a guarantee of public access to government information is indispensable in the long run for any democratic society.... if officials make public only what they want citizens to know, then publicity becomes a sham and accountability meaningless.

There is no country on earth with a stronger tradition of protecting the public's right to know.

I introduced the Transparency in Government Act, a multi-faceted transparency bill that would bring unprecedented access and accountability to the federal government.

It is not to benefit CBS, not to benefit its reporters. On this one, the entire basis of it is this is a way to get more information, more important information to the public. And that's why so many states recognize this.

I don't think that any government has a right to subvert the truth or to cover up the truth, and all I see WikiLeaks doing is exposing the truth.

Why does the White House sometimes seem so determined to close the door on the people's right to know what their government is doing?

The people have the right to know what their Agents are doing or have done, and it should not be in the option of the Legislature to conceal their proceedings.

No person shall be deprived of the right to examine documents or to observe the deliberations or all public bodies or agencies of state government and its subdivisions ...

Most leaks from large bureaucracies are “good” leaks: no danger to national security, no harm to innocent people, information the public ought to know.

I believe that the American People have a right to know what was done in their name..

The more government transparency, the better.

Press releases tell us when federal agencies do something right, but the Freedom of Information Act lets us know when they do not.

Ever since I arrived in Washington in April 2009, I have been fighting for more transparency and accountability in government.

In my first year as governor, we solved some of the problems that had begun to undermine the Open Records Act. We gave the act teeth by providing criminal penalties for knowing violations.

State courts usually rule that correspondence between government officials, about government business, are public records, whether they use their government e-mail accounts or private ones.

Many state parole boards claim exemptions from state sunshine laws that would be unthinkable for other government officials.

In order to encourage the free interchange of opinion and the enlightenment of the public, every Swedish subject shall have free access to official documents.

When the Vice President of the United States shoots somebody, the public has the right to know.

Access to government-held information allows citizens to hold their government accountable for policy decisions and public expenditures…. Access to information bridges the gap between state and society ….

The government being the people’s business, it necessarily follows that its operations should be at all times open to public view.