Public data is supposed to be public

Updated 9 pm on April 5, 2013:

I am concerned about recent events.

I received an email that indicated it was from Carla Heyl.  She has indicated in the past to me that she is a lawyer who works in Minnesota Court Administration.

The Heyl email stated that another contract to ‘digitize’ and destroy public court data was ‘recently’ signed.  I am not sure the date of the signing, but I’m concerned it could have been after I raised the alarm about the destruction of public documents, and the resulting lack of integrity of court data.

Here’s the email referenced above; you can read the words (more on the sentiments…later):

That data belongs to the public.  We do not want to risk loss of integrity.

Stop.

Now.

P.S.  That means preserve the data. 

How much money was really SAVED?

There has been so much propaganda in the MN State Court System about how it needs to save money.  All government entities (and all private entities – don’t forget) have had to tighten their belt.  As always, the issue for the Public is what are the government decision-makers choosing to pay for, and not.

Lorie Gildea is a big proponent of “efficiency.”  But what does that really mean?

I was shocked to learn about the “digitization” projects in the MN State Courts.  From what I have seen (and I have not yet received even one single public document that I have requested), I do not believe this was handled well.  I’ll discuss this “project” in more depth.

But one bit of news can’t wait.

Last night when I was searching the MN Judicial Branch website (not an easy task; the search function is archaic, and the data is inconsistent), I located this First Judicial District newsletter.  Portions of it are reprinted below.

What you will notice is that MILLIONS of dollars have been added to the Court 2014-15 “budget” for salaries for tech people.

So how much money was really saved?

Could it be that the “administrator” justice has destroyed the integrity of 100 years of court records, all in the name of “efficiency,” but no money was really saved?

What is Jeff Shorba’s current role, and will he answer questions from the public?

The email that I received (see “A public question for Sue Dosal from a member of the public” posts, Part 2), said to ask Jeff Shorba or Kristina Ford.  I then sent the following email:

And then followed up with this email, which had my original questions:

I did not see any response.

Is someone going to answer these important questions?  I asked Shorba not to refer me to someone else.

(For out of state readers, these names are all part of the Minnesota Judicial Branch community.)

It’s past 5 o’clock

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