..this is an article on the public records act, not a discussion about whether it is O.K. to be gay or what causes people to be gay. The question is whether our hard fought public disclosure laws, that are there so that we can keep tabs on the government, should be compromised out of some fear that people are going to be harassed for signing a petition by a terrible phone call. I think it is obvious to most people that legislating and voting are two distinct functions. One is meant to occur in private and is even a secret to the spouse as far as who you are voting for or what. The other is a very open public process called legislating. There is a provision for citizens to take part in that, but there was never any guarantee that...

The very broad mandates of the public disclosure law are obvious. The citizens have a right to know what the government is doing, and this includes the right to know what our legislators are doing and who is advancing what legislation. If we cannot have knowledge of this we as citizens cannot make informed decisions about our government.

It is a treacherous path indeed to use litigation to interfere in what has been basically a right to receive information. On the other hand, constitutional violations do not occur or arise from mere inconveniences. It is a mere inconvenience, and speculative in any event, if a signer receives a phone call or knock on the door as a result of the petitions being public records. I don't...