Texas bill to close travel records for governor's security detail 'inappropriate interference with the people's right to know'

The Houston Chronicle in a weekend editorial noted proposed legislation that transparency hawks will find pesky: a bill that keeps secret the travel vouchers for Department of Public Safety officers who provide security for the governor and other state officials.

The bill, authored by Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, would block media access to documents showing reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by members of security details for the governor and others.

It appears to be a response to this story by the San Antonio Express-News that detailed the pricey cost of security for Gov. Rick Perry over a seven-year period.

Supporters of the bill provide a flaccid rationale.

“I don’t know what might be in there, but it might not be good to have it out there,” Rep. Sid Miller, R-Stephenville tells the Chronicle. Might not? 

In a previous story, the Chronicle quotes public safety committee member Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, who disagreed with the idea.

“It’s an outrageous, inappropriate interference with the people’s right to know,” he said. 

There’s more to this. What else can fall under the rubric of travel? Reading the bill, it would seem that to avoid the pesky public prying eyes, one could categorize anything under travel.

Walk by the demolished governor’s mansion, and you will see three or four DPS cars sitting outside; sometimes they are empty, sometimes not. Is this someone padding his end-of-career salary in order to get a larger pension? What kind of expenses are they racking up in terms of travel?

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