Why Keep Public Salaries Secret?

Well, I can’t think of any good reasons. As long as these entities and their employees want to pretend that they are public servants then they need to walk the talk: transparency!

But , in today’s Eugene Register-Guard you will find this as the quoted key reason:

“I could see people being upset ,” Barnhart said. “Some people don’t want their spouses to know how much they make. This is going to make it available for the world to see. I don’t know what kind of liability we have for their privacy.”

Help me with this, please!

Some people do not want their spouses to know how much they make? Where to begin??

Is Barnhart talking for himself? Are there really people still living in an age when their significant other was a chattel?

If your spouse is not sharing this basic information with you it is time to see a counselor or move on to a new partner.

As for the county’s dilemma: publish the information. Worker’s that do not like it can move to the private sector.