Audio of candidates panel at Sunshine Conference available online

Thanks to The Oklahoman, audio of the candidates session at the recent Sunshine Week conference is available online.

Reporter John Estus' recording of the panel discussion is available in two parts at

• http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.newsok.com/audio/conf1.WMA
• http://s3.amazonaws.com/content.newsok.com/audio/conf2.WMA

All six announced gubernatorial candidates and the announced Democratic candidate for attorney general participated in the panel at Oklahoma Sunshine ’10: Privacy, Politicians & the Public’s Need to Know, which was held at The Oklahoman on March 13.

The conference's afternoon session featured a question-and-answer session with the candidates. Each candidate was afforded three minutes to initially state his or her position on open government and any proposals regarding government transparency and the state’s open meeting and records laws.

Questions included whether to veto pending legislation exempting birth dates of public employees from government personnel files and whether the state Legislature should be exempted from the state's Open Records and Open Meeting laws.

Joey Senat, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

OSU School of Journalism

Broken Arrow school board reveals names of two superintendent finalists

Two finalists for the Broken Arrow school superintendent job agreed Tuesday to allow their names to be disclosed to the public, The Broken Arrow Ledger reported today.

They released the school board from a confidentiality agreement that had prohibited public disclosure of their names, the newspaper said.

Kudos to these candidates for getting off to a good start by recognizing the public's need to know whom the board is considering for the job of superintendent. By knowing the qualifications of at least the finalists, the public is more likely to have confidence in the board's final choice.

The candidates are Jarod Mendenhall, the assistant superintendent of Union Public Schools, and Diane Gross, the assistant superintendent of Haysville Unified School District, in Haysville, Kan. They will visit Broken Arrow on Jan. 12 and Jan. 14, according to the newspaper.

A consultant overseeing the search said the finalists will meet with school district staff and Broken Arrow residents. The selection is expected in February.

The newspaper's story provides background on the two candidates.

Joey Senat, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

OSU School of Journalism