Democratic candidate for House District 20 signs Open Government Pledge

Investment adviser Matt Branstetter has promised he would "support legislation to strengthen the letter and the spirit of Oklahoma’s Open Meeting and Open Records laws" if elected to the House District 20 seat.
 
By signing FOI Oklahoma's Open Government Pledge, Branstetter 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."
 
Under redistricting lines approved by the Legislature last year, House District 20 was moved from Atoka, Coal and Johnston counties in south-central Oklahoma to Cleveland, Garvin and McClain counties just south of the Oklahoma City metro.
 
The current representative, Paul Roan, is term-limited.
 
The Democratic primary is June 26.
 
Freedom of Information Oklahoma Inc. invites all candidates for legislative seats as well as local and statewide offices to sign the pledge. Instructions and lists of signers can be found on FOI Oklahoma’s website.
 
In signing the pledge, candidates "endorse the purpose of Oklahoma’s Open Meeting and Open Records laws to ensure and facilitate the public's understanding of governmental processes and problems."
 
Candidates for local and statewide offices also pledge that they and the public bodies they are "elected to govern will comply with not only the letter but also the spirit of Oklahoma's Open Meeting and Open Records laws."
 
FOI Oklahoma began the Open Government Pledge in spring 2008 as part of a national 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 Media & Strategic Communications