O.G. "Corky" Thompson has promised to uphold the letter and spirit of the state’s Open Meeting and Open Records laws if elected to the Beggs Board of Education on Feb. 11. In signing FOI Oklahoma’s Open Government Pledge, Thompson also endorsed “the purpose of Oklahoma’s Open Meeting and Open Records laws to ensure and facilitate the public’s understanding of governmental processes and problems.”

He also pledged “to support at every opportunity the public policy of the State of Oklahoma that the people are vested with the inherent right to know and be fully informed about their government so that they can efficiently and intelligently exercise their inherent political power.”

The pledge was begun in 2008 as part of a national effort to spur public commitments to government transparency from candidates for president down to local contests.

Instructions and a list of signers can be found on FOI Oklahoma’s website.

Joey Senat, Ph.D. Associate Professor OSU School of Media & Strategic Communications