3 more gubernatorial candidates sign Open Government Pledge

Three gubernatorial candidates on Saturday promised that if elected, each would ensure that the governor's office and state agencies would "comply with not only the letter but also the spirit of Oklahoma's Open Meeting and Open Records laws.”

Each also promised “to support at every opportunity the public policy of the State of Oklahoma that the people are vested with the inherent right to know and be fully informed about their government so that they can efficiently and intelligently exercise their inherent political power.”

Signing FOI Oklahoma Inc.'s Open Government Pledge were Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, a Democrat, and Republican candidates Congresswoman Mary Fallin and Roger L. Jackson, a retired Oklahoma City businessman.

State Attorney General Drew Edmondson had signed the pledge in January as a Democratic candidate for governor.

Askins, Fallin and Jackson signed the pledge at Oklahoma Sunshine '10: Privacy, Politicians and the Public's Need to Know, a conference to kick off national Sunshine Week in the state.

Freedom of Information Oklahoma Inc. invites other candidates for statewide offices and those running for legislative seats, municipal offices and school board seats to sign the pledge.

Instructions and a list of signers for the 2010 elections can be found on FOI Oklahoma’s Web site.

FOI Oklahoma began the Open Government Pledge in spring 2008 as part of the national Sunshine Week effort to spur public commitments to government transparency from candidates for president down to city council contests.


Joey Senat, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
OSU School of Journalism