Judge Criticizes Beshear for Records

A Western Kentucky judge criticized Gov. Steve Beshear in a newspaper commentary published this week for fighting full disclosure of child-abuse death records. Without the records, the public can't know whether the state properly protects children in abuse and neglect cases, Circuit Judge Tyler Gill wrote in a commentary provided to several newspapers. State laws on confidentiality in child-abuse and other cases are used more to hide "state incompetence or misconduct" than to protect citizens, Gill wrote. "While we can always find some downside to open government, the consequences of government secrecy are far worse."