PUBLIC RECORDS BELONG TO THE PUBLIC

The Tallahassee Democrat's Capitol Bureau Chief Nancy Cook-Lauer is somewhat ticked off in the aftermath of the newspaper's getting information to do a story on provisional ballots which we noted last Monday. Seems as though some of the 67 county supervisors of elections were not able to provide the requested information until nearly two months after the election, and Palm Beach County was still having problems complying.

Ms. Cook-Lauer says that part of the problem is that she and her collegues who were compiling the information for the story were referred to "public information officers" --- glorified press secretaries whose primary duty is to put a positive spin on the elections office.

I know that here in Imperial Polk County, SOE Lori Edwards does not have such a "spin doctor", at least with that title. Public information requests and a slew of other duties are handled by her Administrative Assistant Missie Goodwin.

Hope Ms. Cook-Lauer didn't have any problems here. Should'nt have...Lori's one of the best in the region.