Well … I guess if the newspaper industry could draw up an ideal candidate to head the new Office of Open Records, she might be it.
(Terry) Mutchler, 42, is a native of East Stroudsburg and a Penn State University graduate who worked for The Morning Call in Allentown and The Associated Press in Harrisburg, New Jersey, Illinois and Alaska. She earned a law degree and worked in media law for a Chicago law firm before being named by the Illinois attorney general to be the state’s first public access counselor.
Mutchler is Gov. Ed Rendell’s choice to head the office, and she’ll make $120,000 a year, quite a pay raise I’m sure compared to her days covering fish stock and ice melts in Alaska.
The Open Records Office was established earlier this year when the Legislature and governor approved a sweeping overhaul of the state’s laws governing public documents. Mutchler’s office will oversee implementation of the new law as well as rulings on any disputes.
