I don?t know Debbie Crane very well, but I know from my few instances of working with her over the years that she demonstrated the utmost integrity and efficiency in dealing with my public records requests and my questions.

This stands in stark contrast to most of her (former) fellow public information officers in other state government agencies, where all too often the response has been: ?Wait ?til our lawyers are done with it;? ?We?re short on help;? or (after several weeks) ?we?re still working on it.?

Or this non-response when I?ve called, or e-mailed, to ask questions ? especially from Governor Mike Easley?s office: silence. It got to the point over the last few years where I didn?t bother to ask any more.

Debbie, on the other hand, always answered the phone herself or returned my calls. My requests for records were fulfilled promptly. She took time to direct me to places on the Department of Health and Human Services Web site where I could find more information that I wanted. She answered all my questions that weren?t clear in public records.

It quickly became obvious to me that Debbie ? who served at the pleasure of the governor but was fired earlier this week ? played by different rules than those that Easley communications officers like Cari Boyce (now with Progress Energy), Sherri Johnson and Seth Effron observed. Debbie always demonstrated to me, without needing to verbalize it, that she believed her first loyalty was to the taxpayers who paid her salary, over elected officials who have a political agenda that obviously includes obstructing or delaying access to information ? especially for the likes of me.

This is the strongest reason why public information officers should be completely out of the process when it comes to citizens or the media requests for documents. North Carolina law states, ?the public official in charge of an office having public records shall be the custodian thereof,? and that person ?shall permit any record in the custodian’s custody to be inspected and examined at reasonable times and under reasonable supervision by any person.? No mention of a public information officer or communications director in the loop, is there?

Yet in almost all cases with the state government, at least in my experience as well as my Carolina Journal colleagues?, we?ve been forced to request records through the PIO.

Why is this a problem?

Because these people are hired to protect the reputation of their elected (or appointees of elected) bosses; to spin information to look more favorable for them; to delay until they can create a strategy to respond to what may be an unpleasant public revelation; to make sure their bosses can get re-elected and therefore prolong their jobs; or to wage political combat. Some even come to work for these elected officials after performing the same role in their campaigns.

Compare this to (in most cases) the dispassionate bureaucrat ? the ?custodian of records? ? whose only interest is usually to get us what we want quickly so they can get back to doing their regular work. They are less likely to have an agenda to fulfill or a public persona to protect. That?s why they are appropriately tasked with the responsibility to provide documents ? so the forthcoming information will be timely, complete and undiluted.

Debbie?s allegation that public information officers were told to not return calls from my organization is not surprising, based on my experience. Nor was the claim that the PIOs were advised to communicate via telephone rather than email, so as not to create a public record (another common response: ?No documents exist pertaining to your request?).

But if, as Debbie alleged, they were told to delete emails (as the Department of Transportation?s Ernie Seneca admitted he habitually does), then an outside investigation is warranted. And how widespread was the practice of the governor?s public information officers telling agency officials to lie, as attested to by Debbie and former DHHS controller Gary Fuquay to N&O reporter Pat Stith?

I believe one day soon we (including Debbie) will look back on her firing as a good thing, because it freed her to be able to tell the truth about dishonest practices in the peoples? government. We all should thank her, because she took her role as a public servant seriously.

And Debbie, if you need some work, give me a call ? I need someone to help me manage all the public records requests I?m making lately. Seriously.