Some good news from Oregon following the September resignation of the state's public records advocates, Ginger McCall.

McCall, who was appointed by Governor Kate Brown under existing Oregon law, believed her role to be that of an independent advocate. McCall resigned in protest after members of the governor's staff attempted to influence her to covertly advance the governor's public records agenda and obstruct needed changes to the state's public records law.

The Oregonian reports that, at a meeting conducted earlier this week, the Oregon Public Records Advisory Council approved proposed legislation that would reassign the duty to appoint the state public records advocate from the governor to the council, insulating the advocate from direct political influence in legislative and other matters.

The likelihood of the bill's success in the upcoming session is uncertain, but it's introduction reflects an understanding of the importance of de-politicizing open government laws.

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As we wrote when the news of McCall's resignation broke on September 9, "The Office of the Kentucky Attorney General may be a political one, but the open records and open meetings process 'must not be politicized.'"

"This issue is particularly timely as we approach the November election for attorney general. The next attorney general must understand that he cannot alter or abandon a well-developed body of law that reflects a judicially recognized 'bias favoring disclosure' and a legislative recognition that 'free and open examination of public records is in the public interest.'

"He cannot make the same mistakes as Oregon's governor and attempt to subordinate the public's interest to his interest.

"One of the candidates will hold the office of attorney general for four to eight years. The open records and open meetings laws will live beyond his term, as robust, we hope, on the day he leaves office as the day he takes office."

Kentuckians deserve to hear from both candidates about their intentions relating to inplementation of their statutorily assigned open records and open meetings duties as attorney general.

We've heard from Mr. Stumbo and posted his responses to our five question survey. We have not received Mr. Cameron's responses.

As we stated in our earlier post, "Failure to go on record suggests a lack of candor and transparency that is inimical to Kentucky's open government laws."