Harris unveils Sunshine plan, boasts of spat with Blunt
When Gov. Matt Blunt roped Jeff Harris into the on-going capital donnybrook over e-mails, it was gladly received as a gift by the candidate for attorney general who is highlighting his Democratic credentials.
Today, Harris tore off the wrapping paper.
The state representative from Columbia announced his plan to beef up the state’s open-record laws, and unveiled a web video boasting of his spat with the governor.
In May, Harris publicly blasted Blunt’s staff for their handling — or, as Harris and other Democrats would say, the mishandling — of government e-mails.
A short time later, Blunt sent Harris a Sunshine Law request seeking every e-mail his office has sent since 2003 — including back-ups.
Harris described the move as retaliation, but one that he considers a “badge of honor.”
In his release today, Harris said as attorney general he would bolster the Sunshine Law by:
- Establishing a Sunshine Law Enforcement Unit
- Preventing state officials from using private e-mail accounts for public business
- Push to strengthen penalties for violating the Sunshine Law
- Require new legislation to note whether it would effect the Sunshine Law
- Argue for a “legal presumption” that documents are public record
That’s a great video from Harris touting his credentials on one of the most important issues to Missourians right now.
Harris did the right thing when Blunt pressured him to hand over emails, and as attorney general it looks like he’ll take the sunshine law to a whole new level.
Too bad we can’t use the Sunshine Law to find out how many campaign documents the Koster team produced on state computers.
Harris has a great plan here and one would be hard-pressed to offer any serious critique of what is at best a weak law in its current form. Enforcement mechanisms are vital to the success of any public policy - and that’s something the Sunshine Law under a Jeff Harris AG administration would finally have.
Sorry I meant to say “one would be hard-pressed to offer any serious critique of” Harris’ plan and that the current law was weak.
My apologies for the confusion.
Nick, go back to work at the Harris campaign. You should be raising money fool.
Sorry, don’t work for the campaign.
HARRIS WAS IN THE AG’s OFFICE FOR ABOUT AS LONG AS PARIS HILTON WAS IN JAIL
8 months! Only 8 months!! I have written time and time again about the lack of experience Jeff Harris has vs Koster. I never had any idea how little experience Harris really had until now.
Did you know that when Jeff Harris served as an Assistant Attorney General it was ONLY FOR 8 MONTHS. This is all he talks about and he only held the job for 8 months.
For heavens sake, what kind of experience does he think he got in only 8 months. Did he take any vacation days? Did he catch a cold and stay home for a couple of days? Maybe he really only has 7 and a half months of experience as an Asst AG.
I have interns in my office that have 6 months stints. Was Harris really an just an intern? That might make a little more sense.
For crying out loud, who holds a job for 8 months and then brags about how much “experience” they earned. Most people don’t even put a job on their resume if they don’t stick with it for at least a year.
I think Paris Hilton was in jail for longer then Harris worked as an Asst AG.
Why would anyone ever elect a guy to be AG that could not even put forth an honest effort when he took a job as an Assistant AG. Why would anyone elect a guy that had such little interest in the AG’s office that he quit inside of a year of being hired. Harris accuses everyone else of being political opportunist and using this election as a stepping stone to the governor’s mansion. What did he do? Serving ONLY 8 MONTHS!! Was Harris padding his resume?
Harris’ slogan is “Real Democrat, Real Experience”. Real experience, my foot. I bet 99% of the people working currently as an Asst AG have more experience then Harris.
I must admit that when I have blogged in the past about Harris’ lack of experience, I had no idea he held the Asst AG job for such a short amount of time. Talk about exaggerating his experience. I thought when I would say “Koster has 10 times the experience of Harris”, I was using poetic license and that I was exaggerating a bit. Little did I realize that Koster really has 15 times the experience of Harris.
Think about it, Harris started his job. It probably took him 2 or 3 months to get to know everyone, figure out where the bathroom was and get worked into the equation. After that, he worked, at most, for 2 or 3 months before starting to think about quiting. He barely started, and he quit (we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that he did not get pushed out). For God sake, isn’t it kinda normal to call somebody “the new guy” until they have been there at least a year? Harris was still “the new guy” when he quit And now he wants people to believe that in this short 8 MONTH stint he somehow generated some huge amount of experience….please.
Does Harris have any other experience we should know about now that the whole Asst AG thing is kinda not all that impressive.
Sorry Jeff, experience is not something you can not just say you have. You actually have to work at it. And just a little more advice, it typically takes more then 8 months to gain truly valuable experience (i.e. knowing more then just where the bathroom is)
Looks like someone filed an ethics complaint against Koster after all: http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/12953