Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Utah Governor 'Honored' With Blackhole Award

Posted by samzenpus on from the prize-nobody-wants dept.

The national Society of Professional Journalists plans to 'honor' Utah's Gov. Gary Herbert with the first-ever Black Hole award for a restrictive new open records law. From the article: "David Cuillier, SPJ's Freedom of Information Committee chief and a journalism professor at the University of Arizona, said he'll try to present the award to Herbert on Wednesday. The award, Cuillier said, is part of Sunshine Week, an annual initiative begun in 2002 to promote greater transparency in government. Nominations were gathered from around the country, but Cuillier said 'there was no question' the award should go to Herbert as the chief executive of the state."

5 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Was he supposed to be the by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The goal is to promote openness. So you give the 'award' to someone who you can specifically and publicly name and shame in order to generate some buzz.

    Now if only the buzz weren't on a website with more javascript than a tutorial site...

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  2. I'm surprised and disappointed by overshoot · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Why not President Obama? Unlike his Nobel Prize, he's actually done something to deserve this one.

    After promising us the most transparent Administration ever, he's actually (hard as it is to believe) racked up a worse record on FOIA requests than the Bush43 administration, set new records in cracking down on whistleblowers, and (to top it off) actually taken to torturing a political prisoner to fudge up a case against WikiLeaks for doing the exact same thing that the New York Times did [1].

    [1] No, not the whole bit about knowingly publishing Administration lies -- that's totally cool and the fact that Wiki doesn't play that kind of ball may be part of the reason that they're in the Administration black book.

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
    1. Re:I'm surprised and disappointed by mr1911 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The only thing different about Obama is that his worshipers bought his load of BS hook, line, and sinker. He is a career politician who will say or do whatever it takes to further himself. Those that believed his "hope and change" story probably send money to Nigerian princes too.

      --
      This post comes with a double-your-money-back guarantee!
      Any offense taken to this post is at your sole discretion.
  3. Re:Bad Bill by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "...the main issue was the cost of storing all the data and accessing it"

    Funny, politicians never consider that when imposing (usually surveillance related) requirements on private business.

  4. Re:give it to the legislature, not the Governor... by unjedai · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That makes no sense. If he vetoed it and his veto was overridden it would still become law so that, as you say, "it COULD be hashed out in public". But you'd have sent the message that this bill sucked and was vetoed. I don't see a reason why you would sign a bill you are against. Just makes him look stupid if you ask me.