The Democrats have made a lot of noise about how they follow the Open Meeting Act (OMA) and the Access to Public Records Act (APRA). This is ironic, since under their watch the Town Council was cited by the RI Attorney General for violating the Open Meeting Act. This is a new first for Smithfield!

As for the APRA, Bernie Hawkins has bragged that they created a form! Well, the APRA requires that records be made available upon verbal request or that someone need only send a letter to request records. Creating a form actually adds a barrier to getting these records, as the Town now requires this form be completed.

The policy Democrats have made concerning public records create an extra layer of bureaucracy and are actually illegal.

Their thinking is that if they keep bragging about how they follow this law, people will believe it.

And really, is actually following the law an accomplishment to brag about? Do you go home and tell your kids all about how you didn't break any laws that day?

Republicians had always followed both the OMA and APRA, we just never bragged about it. We understand that following the law is pretty basic. It never occurred to us to consider it an accomplishment. Oh, yeah, and unlike the Democrats, we were never cited for breaking that law or any other.