The woman hired six years ago to oversee sweeping changes to Pennsylvania's open records law is waiting to see if she still has a job.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Tuesday that Gov. Tom Corbett hasn't decided whether to reappoint Terry Mutchler to a second six-year term. Mutchler, a former Associated Press journalist, took the $142,358-a-year post after lawmakers voted in 2008 to grant unprecedented access to the inner workings of public agencies.
Corbett spokesman Jay Pagni said the governor will decide "at the appropriate time." Mutchler's first term ended more than three months ago.
"Every day you come in (and), for me and my family, we wonder if that's my last paycheck," Mutchler said. "I'm willing to take that, but it's very, very stressful on the staff."
The new law took effect in 2009, and the paper reports that Mutchler's office has handled more than 11,000 appeals of denied Right-to-Know requests, answered more than 50,000 emails and phone calls, and conducted about 1,400 training sessions for public officials, journalists and citizens.
The law radically changed access to records by presuming that all records are public unless a government entity can prove they fall under one of the law's exceptions. Before, the person making a request had to prove why a document should be public.
The paper reports that state officials from both parties have sent Corbett at least five letters on her behalf. Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson County, and Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware County, cited Mutchler's "unimpeachable integrity" and fairness in a recent letter.
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Open government advocates had measured praise.
"The Office of Open Records has been a great resource," said Melissa Melewsky of the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. "While we don't agree with everything they decide, they keep a lot of people out of court, and that's a good thing."
