VCOG is fortunate and proud to have as its new president Paul K. McMasters, First Amendment ombudsman for the Freedom Forum in Arlington.
McMasters has been a VCOG board member since 1998. He came to the Freedom Forum in 1992 after 30 years in journalism and active participation in the Society for Professional Journalists.
Paul is a nationally known First Amendment scholar, speaker, writer and television guest. As ombudsman, he works to educate and inform about First Amendment issues that arise in Congress, the courts, the media, and other areas of public life.
So what would lead someone from the national First Amendment stage to a state organization devoted to better access to government records and meetings? The answer is two-fold.
First, Paul says the First Amendment is an empty promise without access to government information.
“Access is essential if the freedoms of speech, press, assembly and petition are to have real meaning,” he says. “If political speech is to be persuasive in the public forum, it must be informed. It cannot be informed if the public and press do not have maximum access to information.”
As for VCOG’s narrow focus on access to Virginia government, Paul says that some of the most compelling debates are occurring at the state and local level.
“Every year, state legislatures across the nation take hundreds of bills that would restrict citizen access to vital information or keep them from attending or participating in the meetings of public bodies where important decisions are being made about everything from their livelihoods to their neighborhoods,” Paul says. “Panicked reactions to these concerns can rob citizens of the right to know. Without the right to know, all other rights, as well as security and privacy, are at risk.”
Paul says he wants to be part of efforts to reconcile difficult access issues.
“I can’t think of a better group of people to work with on these issues than the Virginia Coalition for Open Government,” he says.
Paul and his wife, Priscilla, live in Prince William County.