Good stuff from Paul Sunyak, editorial page editor of the Herald-Standard

By now it’s pretty clear that Republicans in the state House aren’t interested in passing an open records bill until they’ve exhausted every stalling tactic in the book. The latest ruse is feigning concern over whether the latest incarnation of the bill, already approved by the state Senate, would be a boon to identity thieves.

Members of the Grand Old Party also have a fresh concern that a modern open records bill wouldn’t protect victims of domestic violence. And suddenly they want to hear more from 9-1-1 dispatchers, who don’t support letting courts decide if a transcript of a fire, police or ambulance call should be made public.

These are stupid arguments that are exposing House Republicans for what they are: A group wholly committed to stringing out the process as much as possible. This bill has been debated for over a year, has been batted back and forth between the House and Senate, has been rethought dozens of times from every possible angle.

And still we have 100 members of the House, all of them Republicans, urging a delay of several more days. None of their reasons for doing so has any real merit.

No one wants to make life harder for victims of domestic violence. But if someone is arrested in connection with such an incident, the names of the accused and the victim are already listed on police reports, same as for any other crime. And if someone gets a protection from abuse order, that information is already publicly available. So what’s the big deal?

Regarding the 9-1-1 dispatchers’ concern, how many times have you seen a reality TV show that plays the tapes of those calls? This doesn’t seem to be a problem in other states. Why the resistance here? Maybe the dispatchers fear anyone finding out if they screw up.

Identity thieves? That’s a good one. No one’s proposing putting ultra-sensitive personal information, such as Social Security numbers, into the public arena. That’s an obvious red herring, designed to whip people into an unnecessary worry.

One Republican representative, David Steil of Bucks County, has taken up the cause of real estate agents, who reportedly are concerned that under a new open records law, they will be barred from obtaining home sale prices and other housing data.

Steil should know better; he was co-chairman of the Speaker’s Reform Commission convened last year. Instead, we have him saying, “We don’t want to make society more dangerous.”

I fail to see how letting the courts decide whether a 9-1-1 transcript should be public does that, or how permitting greater access to government documents endangers domestic violence victims.

I’m with state Rep. Josh Shapiro, D-Montgomery, who co-chaired the reform commission, who says the bill already passed by the Senate includes safeguards against identity theft and to protect domestic violence victims.

The same sentiment is echoed by Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Republican Leader Dominic Pileggi, who says the bill “strikes an appropriate balance between opening government records and protecting personal information.”

And I’m with House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese (D-Waynesburg), who says the notion that anyone wants to make domestic violence victims’ names public is “sheer folly.”

DeWeese also points out that after 13 months of vigorous debate and analysis (my words, because the ones he uses are bigger), it’s finally time to, “Put up or shut up.”

That’s what needs to happen to move Pennsylvania into the modern era. House Republicans have had plenty of time to raise objections, get input from all parties and marinate over all facets of the proposed legislation.

An updated open records bill should have been on the governor’s desk last year. When it wasn’t, we were told by late January. Now it’s into February, and Republicans want more time.

The GOP clock is running out.