The St. Petersburg Times: Public deserves to see pension accounts

EDITORIAL

Perhaps it’s not surprising that, amid the 2006 bull market, the entire Legislature was hoodwinked into surrendering one of Florida’s core values: transparency in government. That was the year lawmakers agreed to expand public records exemptions to shield the state’s private equity investment deals after some firms threatened to not do business with the state’s pension fund, one of the largest in the nation. But five years later, Wall Street’s credibility is in tatters and lawmakers have a chance to make amends. They should not extend the State Board of Administration’s overly broad public records exemption for private investments and let it expire in October under current law.

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