Opinion : In the Color Me Shocked Category...

When I tend to rail against "government" and the utter waste of time some of these departments are, I consider the IPIB to be one of them. And now so are their bosses at the Office of Ombudsman. 

The state has set up the Iowa Public INFORMATION Board as a ruse, in my opinion, to make citizens feel like they can know about everything happening in every level of government. That is UNLESS you request this information. 

Now the board has the authority to obtain records that should be public. But let me just save you some time, they won't. They could fine officials who violate the laws, again, let me save you some time, they won't.

They could even follow the same rules that they are supposedly enforcing, but they won't. 

In a story published by Iowa Capital Dispatch, it was reported that they are now being sued. Yada, yada, yada. 

The story also reported that the state agency that oversees IPIB, Iowa's Office of Ombudsman, had asked for tapes of illegal meetings, and IPIB refused to turn them over. What a surprise.

As a result, well you know already, but I'll tell you, nothing happened. The office of the Ombudsman did absolutely nothing to force them to. 

But that's to be expected. They are all here from the government and they are here to "help" after all. 

*wink, wink*

And just for giggles, the gal that oversees IPIB, Erica Eckley is paid a whopping $103,307.60. Now I get it. State jobs are simply a place of training. If you do good at the state level, you qualify for a job in Washington D.C. Learn to rip off taxpayers here and you'll be a pro there!  

I think it's time for the state elected officials to fire everyone in both the IPIB AND the Ombudman office. They are both proving that the laws don't apply to them, and never to elected officials.

Oh, wait...