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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Dealing with that smoky haze ... Gov. Brown orders Oregon agencies to cut water use ... Firefighters on high alert for new lightning-caused blazes ... Dealing with that smoky haze ... Gov. Brown orders Oregon agencies to cut water use ... Firefighters on high alert for new lightning-caused blazes ... OUR VIEW Our View: Drawing back the curtain on government Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Mar. 1, 2015 at 12:01 AM Posted Mar. 1, 2015 at 12:01 AM What do you think? --> Have an opinion on this topic? Send a letter to the editor at www.mailtribune.com/sendletter or email ... » Read more X What do you think? Have an opinion on this topic? Send a letter to the editor at www.mailtribune.com/sendletter or email [email protected] . » Social News Gov. John Kitzhaber's resignation just as the 2015 legislative session was getting under way was unfortunate, but the timing also could yield benefits for Oregon government, if lawmakers seize the opportunity to make some needed changes. Gov. Kate Brown says she intends to pursue some reforms, and one Republican lawmaker in particular has announced plans to introduce a variety of ethics bills in the wake of the scandal that ended Kitzhaber's political career. For the most part, Oregon's political history has not been marred by the kind of systemic corruption common in other states. To some degree, that is the result of Oregon's public records and public meetings laws. Once among the strongest in the country, those laws have been weakened little by little over the years as lawmakers carved out exemptions. Former Attorney General John Kroger launched an ambitious effort to overhaul the statutes, but the legislation died under pressure from the public agencies that would have been affected by the changes. Among those changes was a proposal to set short deadlines on responses of public agencies to requests for public records. That's also among the proposals of Rep. Julie Parrish, R-West Linn. Governor Brown says she, too, supports more timely releases of public records, and has vowed her office will quickly catch up on public records requests that Kitzhaber allowed to accumulate for months. Other changes being discussed are strengthening the state Ethics Commission by increasing its funding and giving it more independence from the governor; banning the governor's family and staff from earning outside money for work related to state government, and giving the Legislature the power to impeach the governor. Oregon is the only state that does not provide that power. None of these ideas has yet been drafted into bill form, and the Legislature has plenty of business already on its plate, not the least of which is adopting a budget for the next two years. But these reforms are too important to put off until some future session, when the sense of urgency has faded. At the same time, lawmakers should be careful not to enact drastic changes before they have a better idea of what actually occurred within the Kitzhaber administration. Despite the governor's resignation, no criminal charges have been filed and no wrongdoing has been proven. The most important reform is to draw back the curtain, to limit the ability of officials to shut out the sunlight that ensures government is functioning in the public interest. Strengthening public records rules is a good place to start, and those changes should apply to all of government, not just to the governor's office. Straying into ethical gray areas or crossing the line into real conflicts of interest is more difficult when the public can see what its elected officials are up to.      MailTribune.com Writer Posted Mar. 1, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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