Jun 15, 2015 3 min read

W e’ve been told over and over again everyone loves a fighter, but there are some fights people should just walk away from. That’s what Gov. Tom Wolf needs to do in the ongoing conflict over Erik Arneson’s appointment to lead Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records.

By a 4-3 vote last week, Commonwealth Court said Arneson should be reinstated as the office’s executive director. A staffer for Senate Republicans and a former newspaper reporter, Arneson was appointed to the job in the waning hours of the administration of Gov. Tom Corbett, after Corbett delayed naming someone for months, then said he would leave the appointment to Wolf. When Corbett did an about-face, Wolf and his allies smelled a political motive, and the new Democratic governor booted Arneson just a few days after he took office.

Arneson’s colleagues vouched for his evenhandedness and integrity – he helped craft the commonwealth’s much-needed Right-to-Know Law when he was a Senate aide in 2008 that led to the creation of the Office of Open Records – and media organizations within Pennsylvania worried that, by firing Arneson, Wolf was trying to dilute the independence of the office and tie it to political affiliation. If nothing else, Wolf should have waited to see if Arneson engaged in any overtly political activity before handing him a pink slip.

In its ruling last week, Commonwealth Court said the leader of the open records office should be independent of the governor, and that’s in keeping with the Right-to-Know Law. “We find clear legislative intent that the executive director of the (Office of Open Records), an independent body, is insulated from the governor’s power to remove appointees at will,” said Judge Patricia A. McCullough, writing for the court’s majority. She emphasized the Office of Open Records is “structurally and functionally independent from the executive branch.” The court also pointed out the executive director of the open records office serves a six-year term, as opposed to the four-year terms allotted for governors, and that they make quasi-judicial decisions on what documents should be seen and what should stay locked away.

Media and good-government groups applauded the Commonwealth Court decision. Barry Kauffman, the executive director of the Pennsylvania office of Common Cause, told PennLive, “Everybody understood this was going to be one of those offices that needed a high level of protection against attempts at political influence. The office had to be clearly independent, as long as it was following the law.”

Wolf announced Monday he will allow Arneson to serve while he appeals to the state’s Supreme Court. However, considering the battle looming over the state budget that looks to be contentious, the fracas over Arneson is one brawl where the governor should throw up the white flag and head rapidly in the opposite direction.

Arneson deserves the chance to prove himself in office – he should have been allowed that opportunity in January – and Wolf should shift his energy and attention to other issues of greater importance, both to him and his constituents.