David Saad likens fighting for right-to-know requests to be fulfilled to going through the five stages of grief.
When private citizens fight for transparency in their local and state government, that fight is often protracted, difficult and expensive. It can also get ugly at times.
“You can write a letter to the editor to maybe shine some light on it, but in many of these small towns you know that people talk . . . and all of a sudden you’re ostracized,” said Saad, a Rumney resident who serves as the president of Right to Know New Hampshire, a group fighting for greater transparency in local and state government.
New Hampshire received a D-minus from the national Center for Public Integrity for its transparency. The center found one of the state’s worst areas was public access to information, where it is ranked second-worst in the nation.