Washington Coalition for Open Government

Colette Weeks has succeeded Juli Bunting as executive director for the Washington Coalition for Open Government. Bunting will continue as a part-time coalition adviser until she retires at the end of the year.

WashCOG will honor open-government advocates, journalists and legislators at its annual Sunshine Breakfast on March 14 in Bellevue, Washington. State Attorney General Nick Brown will be the keynote speaker, and tickets are still available.

WashCOG is pleased that the governor has paused state agencies’ practice of auto-deleting text messages, but what happens next will show how serious the state is about accountability and transparency.

Washington’s newest governor has always said he supports transparency in government, but has hung up a bit of a curtain so far; he has not met regularly with the Olympia media covering the state legislature, The Seattle Times reports. WashCOG weighs in.