Apparently Governor Pawlenty passed on his recommendations on Minnesota-focused NTIA/RUS broadband stimulus applications. I wish I could share the list with you but the Governor has decided that information is not a public document. So I don’t have it. StimulatingBroadband has done a great job gathering information on the situation here in Minnesota.
The short take is – most states (all maybe) have made this information available but Minnesota has decided not to make it available. They’ve listed a bunch of legal reasons – but even legal counsel quoted in the StimulatingBroadband wondered how long the list could remain under wraps. I don’t know if the NTIA/RUS will keep the list secret.
It’s frustrating. The Minnesota Ultra High-Speed Broadband Task Force has been so transparent with their information. I’ve gotten spoiled. Also I think the NTIA/RUS has made strides to be transparent with their processes so it seems against the spirit of the stimulus ideals not to maintain transparency. There are a lot of applicants in Minnesota waiting to hear about what their chances are for funding. Should they be getting ready to hit the ground running with the money; should they be coming up with a contingency plan?
I don’t know how much weight the Governor’s list will have but being as the volunteer reviewers still seem to be in a holding pattern I have to think the States’ views are going to matter. So I guess I’ve got to say – come on Gov throw the hometown team a bone, let us know what you said.
Lots of folks are wondering why the list is closed. As the article indicates, Minnesota maybe trying to avoid criticism for their choices. The article says, “the decision to treat the NTIA response as non-public fuels a growing debate over whether States preferred public and government projects over private ones. It would appear that Minnesota could be shielding its rankings from the same type of criticisms other states are facing.” An underlying factor, may be the criticism they received for endorsing the Connection Nation mapping proposal. (I’m not making excuses, just trying to understand.)
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It doesn’t quite add up. If you had requested a short list of projects under consideration by the governor and he objected to its release citing executive deliberative privilege, it might be understandable.
Consider asking a public interest or first amendment law firm to take on this case and look into getting a writ ordering the governor to provide the requested information. There should be nothing secret about it at this point in the process.
This is incredibly frustrating. The Obama Administration should not allow it to happen – they are supposedly all about transparency but the NTIA appears to be the lease transparent agency among those in stimulus programs. On top of this, our absentee governor has shown zero leadership on broadband. I want to see what decisions his administration has made because it will have a significant impact on our future.
I should have added this earlier – but last week I learned that the list didn’t come from the Governor’s office but from another state office. A detail – but I wanted to add it.