Elisha Hodge Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Tennessee Coalition for Open Government

TCOG improves public access in its first 10 years

By Deborah Fisher|2014-09-10T09:01:26-05:00December 8, 2013|Categories: Office of Open Records Counsel, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government|Tags: Elisha Hodge, OORC, TCOG news|0 Comments

By Deborah Fisher, Executive Director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government celebrated a milestone last year. It turned 10 years old. As its new executive director, I spent the first couple weeks on the job researching the group’s activities, and the accomplishments have been impressive. TCOG was founded 10 years ago to improve government transparency in Tennessee.Image courtesy of Stuart Miles of FreeDigitalPhotos.net Those who were in on the ground floor – including the Tennessee Press Association, the Tennessee Association of Broadcasters, The Commercial Appeal, The Tennessean, Knoxville News Sentinel and the Chattanooga Times Free Press – should be proud. The support of [...]

Open Records Counsel gets increasing number of inquiries

Reported at Dec. 2, 2013 meeting By Deborah Fisher Executive Director, Tennessee Coalition for Open Government The number of inquiries and complaints to Tennessee’s Office of Open Records Counsel is pacing ahead of last year, with three more months to go. The office answers questions from citizens, government entities and media about public records and open meetings law, and is authorized by law to informally mediate and assist in resolving disputes concerning open records. Last year, for the period between March 2012 to February 2013, Tennessee’s Open Records Counsel Elisha Hodge received 1,408 inquiries or complaints. By the end of November, her office had gotten 1,484, already a [...]