In writing about access issues concerning performance review information earlier in the week, I was bissfully unaware that in Illinois this is a current bone of contention between the state legislature and Governor Pat Quinn. A bill to exempt personnel evaluations of all government employees from public scrutiny under the Freedom of Information Act was passed earlier in the year. The Governor vetoed the bill, exempting municipal and state police evaluations, but leaving others open to FOI scrutiny. Moves are underway to attempt to override the veto to restore the blanket exemptions. Some in the media thunder:
To assert that members of the public have no right to any information pertaining to personnel evaluations is contrary to the principle of open government. Some unionized state employees, for example, were guaranteed they wouldn’t be laid off for at least two years. The notion that we shouldn’t be able to see how they’re performing their jobs to assess the wisdom of this agreement is outrageous.
Update: thundering didn't help- both houses voted to overturn the veto.
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