In addition to the tinfoil helmet that comes with the costume, TechMan frequently wears the hat of a professional journalist, a fedora with a press pass stuck in the band, and the baseball cap of the average private citizen.

A Web site launched recently by a new group, the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition, interests both the professional and the private TechMan.

The purpose of the group, as it states at www.openrecordspa.com, is to "work to give all Pennsylvanians access to their federal, state and local governments and their proceedings.

"Why should I care?" you ask. It is because state legislators thought you didn't care that they passed pay raises in the middle of the night. Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency members might have thought twice before spending thousands at posh resorts if they had known their spending records were open to inspection.

The PaFOIC was formed to do something to lift the shades. (In the spirit of full disclosure, TechMan must report that he was a member of the group that met in York to found the group in 2005.)

A few interesting facts enumerated on the PaFOIC Web site:

Pennsylvania's open records law is ranked as one of the worst in the country.

Pennsylvania lawmakers have exempted themselves from the state's open records law.

In Pennsylvania, the presumption of the laws is that most records are secret and the burden falls on the citizen to prove otherwise. In most other states, the presumption is that government records are open and the burden falls on the government to prove otherwise.

The PaFOIC feels the time is ripe for change. Why?

The housecleaning of the Legislature after the pay raise debacle has created an atmosphere of reform not seen in the state in recent times. As a result, several bills to reform the open records laws are being introduced.

The PaFOIC backs House Bill 443, introduced by Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-South Union. A copy of that bill is on the Web site.

Another reason to move now for more open government involves technology.

Inconvenience was the biggest weapon the bureaucrat and politician had against shining the light on government. Even if a record were open, getting it often meant a citizen had to go to the agency where it was filed, request a copy and wait until someone had time to fetch it for you.

Then you had to pay a fee to have copies made.

But now things are different. With more and more government records being made available online, you can find what you need from your living room. And you can search records to find exactly what you want and then print it out.

Of course there are privacy concerns, but those can be dealt with.

So, through a combination of technology and a modern open records law, maybe Pennsylvania might no longer be known as a state whose government skulks in the shadows. Support the PaFOIC if you think that is a good idea.