Guthrie legislator renews Open Government Pledge

Rep. Jason Murphey has again promised “to support legislation to strengthen the letter and the spirit” of Oklahoma’s open government laws if re-elected to the House District 31 seat. In signing FOI Oklahoma’s Open Government Pledge for legislative candidates, Murphey also promised “to support at every opportunity” the state’s public policy 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 Guthrie Republican has done that since signing the pledge when it was created in 2008. In 2011, Murphey received FOI Oklahoma's Sunshine Award for his attempts to require the Legislature to comply with the state Open Meeting and Open Records laws.

Other Murphey-sponsored bills created the data.ok.gov and documents.ok.gov transparency portals and the cars.ok.gov website through vehicle tags can be renewed.

In 2012, Murphey joined the FOI Oklahoma board of directors.

Murphey faces Democrat John B. Tiller in the Nov. 8 election.

House District 31 covers all of Cashion and parts of Cedar Valley, Cimarron City, Edmond and Guthrie.

FOI Oklahoma invites all candidates for state, local and legislative seats to sign its Open Government Pledge. Instructions and lists of signers can be found on FOI Oklahoma’s website.

Joey Senat, Ph.D. Associate Professor OSU School of Media & Strategic Communications Mass Communication Law in Oklahoma