As California faces a $20 billion deficit, it's comforting to know that that state law makers are hard at work … keeping public information from you. The Associated Press this week reports that all but one member of the legislature refused to hand over their public schedules.

The news service wants to find out which members met with what lobbyists and then match that data with how they voted on issues before the body. But that's been a no-go so far. Secretary of the Senate Gregory Schmidt told AP that ” … individuals and groups contacting the Senate do so with the full expectation that their communications will remain private, and the law and our internal practices defer to that expectation.” (Because special interests trump taxpayers' right to know, right?).

Likewise, the Los Angeles Times finds that assembly members want to keep their office salaries, which come out of your pockets, a secret. State chief administration officer Jon Waldie told the paper the public has no right to that info because the file in question also contains details on 230,000 other state employees.

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